Lifestyle

Everyone on Islington Faces Blog has a story. Gillespie Road looks so ordinary but it is home to an astonishing array of sport-related businesses – there’s the old Arsenal stadium (the reason the tube was renamed Arsenal in 1932), the Gunners’ Fan Club and The Sarah Toner School of Ballet. Here ballet teacher…
Everyone on Islington Faces Blog has a story.  Pat Tuson, 68, best known locally as leading the Gillespie Festival team, grew up in the East End but it’s Islington birds and blooms that feature most in her urban and plant photographs.  Interview by Nicola Baird Pat Tuson: “I’ve always been a bit of a whiz with…
Manuel  & Stella Saavedra: puttin’ on the Ritz Everyone on Islington Faces Blog has a story. London is a big draw for people all round the world. Manuel Saavedra – born in Spain – and his wife Stella – from the Philippines – came here to seek their fortune in the late 1960s. They met in the heart of London in…
Roy Griffiths: carpenter artist Everyone on Islington Faces Blog has a story. If class, career and cancer can make or break a life then the experiences of furniture maker and shop owner Roy Griffiths shows how to turn adversity into advantage. Plus quick detours around the swinging ‘60s, art and Zen Buddhism. Interview by Nicola Baird “I was a war…
Everyone on Islington Faces Blog has a story.  At 92 Gillespie Road there’s Arsenal Food & Wine, open from 6am-11pm, and next door the Four Angels cafĂ©. Shop owner and Arsenal fan Cemal Kilinc talks about 10 years running an Islington corner shop. Interview by Nicola Baird “We had a family tragedy in 2011 and…
Stephen Coles: vicar of St Thomas’ Everyone on Islington Faces Blog has a story. “I’ve promised not to write a book until I’m 80. That way no one will be offended,” says Stephen Coles who has been vicar at St Thomas’ Finsbury Park since 1989 and a priest since 1982.  So how do we find out what he…
It’s not just children who love Tina’s Ices – the electrically-powered, super quiet ice cream van parked by Highbury Fields playground. When the sun comes out you may well spot builders trying to cool off, adults treating themselves and even dog walkers in the queue. Tina De Freitas knows there’s…
Clara Macedo Cabral: cultural explorer Everyone on Islington Faces Blog has a story. Clara Macedo Cabral met her husband Titus in her native Portugal: less than a year later the pair were living in Highbury. It’s been a culture shock – but one that has inspired three books about Portugal. Interview by Nicola Baird “I miss Portugal, mostly the…