THE LONG LAUNCH…
JEFF GALVIN
WE FOLLOW THE GALVIN BROTHERS AS THEY COUNT DOWN TO THE OPENING OF THEIR NEW CITY RESTAURANT
THIS week my two boys Daniel and William and my brother Chris’s children, Jessica, George and Joey visited the site of the restaurant and were totally overwhelmed by the 30m high ceiling, marble pillars, church-like arched windows, and beautiful limestone walls. I was reminded of the legacy that we are creating for our children and how important that is to us. It makes the 20 hour days seem more worthwhile. But I also reminded myself that Daniel and William – who are three and 18 months – must leave their crayons at home when next visiting. They’d put Bansky to shame.
One of the features that we have been keen to incorporate into La Chapelle is a cigar terrace. Chris has been doing plenty of research into the idea and is very taken with the Garden Room at the Lanesborough hotel. He has instructed our architect to design a canvas “sail” canopy to cover this area.
These sails are about three times the price of an umbrella, and need to cover a large space. So it is slightly worrying when 13-year-old George observes that our sail looks “rather like a thong”. Having ascertained that we could only fit about six people under this, the architect is given the brief to come up with a larger sail. As Chris says: “Think Bridget Jones’s bloomers.”