LIWF day 1

12-May-09 - LIWF first day: the local cab service provide a BMW 7-series with blacked-out windows and vast leather-upholstered seats. It was very comfortable but not cheap at £8 for a five-minute ride. Excel was as awful as ever: no lifts from street level to the concourse and a three-mile walk to the Press Office (which is always at the far end) to sign in; two flights of stairs down to the loos etc. etc., but I've done this all before. This was my post of 21-May-09:

My only beef about this event is the location: ExCel in East London, aka the outer spiral arm of the galaxy. When it was at Olympia I could get there in just over an hour and a half
- two trains door-to-door. Now it's four trains and anything up to three hours, including the Central line sardine-tin packed with Canary Wharf workers and the 'will I live long enough to get there' wait for the DLR from Canning Town and then the million-mile walk (no lifts, endless stairs) to the main entrance. Why on earth they can't simply lay on a shuttle bus from London Bridge I really don't know. But then, I really don't know how there can be so many design faults in a new building. Take the loos for example. (1) they're down two flights of stairs. (2) They're accessed by single rather than double doors, so you stand there for ever waiting for a stream of people to come in or out. And (3) after YEARS of bad examples there STILL aren't enough cubicles in the ladies', which means queues outside the (single) door. Have they learned nothing from the past mistakes of public buildings? Answers on a postcard (clue - it has two letters and begins with 'n').


Nothing has changed, except that even more people seem to be sharing my views. If this is a 21st-century venue for a major world capital city why is there no direct train from central London? Why are there no lifts from the station platform or the taxi rank to the main concourse? And how long before someone out of the enormous crush of people getting out of the tiny DLR carriages on to the tiny DLR platform falls into the path of an oncoming train? It's just a disgrace, and they're building a whole new extension on to the thing to make it even more horrendous. They never learn. Come on, Boris!!

The fair itself, however, is comprehensive and, frankly, a 'must visit' for anyone in the business. My plan was just to spend the morning there today having a quick look round to get my bearings, meet the people from the Rioja Alavesa campaign to get the final brief for my presentation tomorrow morning, and perhaps have a glass with a couple of old friends, a bite of lunch and back to the hotel to finalise the PowerPoint presentation, and it worked well. I bumped into Reg Ward, the man who introduced me to Mario Sandoval, my co-author of COOK ESPAÑA, DRINK ESPAÑA!, and he was working with Giles Cook at Alliance Wines. They're just launching a range called 'Los Pecadillos' based on the seven deadly sins. 'Envy' is a Verdejo/Sauvignon from Rueda, 'Sloth' is a rosado Garnacha from Campo de Borja, 'Lust' is a Graciano/Garnacha from Navarra and 'Pride' is a Rioja. That's as far as they've got - Gluttony (probably a PX), Avarice and Wrath are still in the pipeline, but all are pegged to retail between about £6.50 and £10. The wines were all good, especially 'Lust' which, although it was only a tank sample of the 2008 vintage, was showing well.

Next up I spotted old chum Graham Hines, looking astonishingly robust and in good health. He was originally the director of the Sherry Institute but had to leave through ill health and went through several rather serious operations. I've seen him a few times since his 'retirement' but not looking as well as this, nor, indeed, as pleased with himself now that he's back in harness (this time as a freelance) promoting Sherry. This is excellent news, indeed, as the last PR agency to handle the Sherry account appeared to be quartered on another planet, given the contact they had with me in spite of many e-mails and 'phone calls. We may expect an upsurge in interest, perhaps, at last.

Also present were several refugees from the CWW dinner the previous night, some of whom looked as if they'd stayed rather later than they should have but, of course, the work has to be done. I introduced myself to the lovely Nora Goitia from the Bilbao Chamber of Commerce, who was masterminding the Rioja Alavesa presentation the following day. We worked our way through the PowerPoint presentation and discussed how to approach the subject, and I took the final copy away with me to add in the last details. Then it was down to the Press Office, sign in, pick up e-mails and head back towards the main entrance, some several miles away. On the way I shared a salt and vinegar crisp with Jo Maclean of Codorníu, who was having lunch on the main concourse. She very kindly sent me a range of new vintages from most of the Codorníu properties a few weeks ago, and I was fascinated by a red and white branded 'The Spanish Quarter'. They're Vino de Mesa with grape variety and vintage date under the new EU regulations, which don't actually come in until July but hey, this is Spain. I have the empty bottles on my desk and I will be writing about them when I get time, honest.

There are bars, kiosks and restaurants all along the main concourse but it's busy and noisy and crowded and besides, I had formulated a cunning plan. Between the main entrance and the railway station is the Fox bar, which has an upstairs café-bar and a downstairs café-bar... And a lift. Better yet, the downstairs bar has an exit directly to the taxi-rank, which is a bonus. So, I ensconced myself downstairs with a plate of bangers and spring-onion mash with red onion gravy, and a pint of Guinness (sometimes only Guinness will do) which was not only very good but very reasonable at a tenner all in.

Then it was back to the Travelodge, an hour's siesta, and to work on the PowerPoint for tomorrow morning. This was completed by about 18:00, after which I sauntered down to the cafeteria for a Thai Green Curry and a modest Sauvignon Blanc from the Vin de Pays de Gascogne whilst reading through the local Docklands freesheet.

I know what they're trying to do at Docklands, and the architecture is occasionally magnificent, but somehow it's still seems to be an attempt at civilisation bolted on to a wasteland. Huge office buildings and towers of yuppie flats are still going up, but there doesn't appear to be anybody there, nobody walking down the streets in the evening, no atmosphere. There are trendy bars and cafés but they all feel a bit ad hoc, and there must be shops, newsagents, perhaps even post offices somewhere, but I didn't see them. It feels 'empty' somehow. Like a human-scale toytown, a bit like Milton Keynes. I admire what the planners have tried to do there but MK has been going for more than 40 years and it's still a soulless place, with minimal atmosphere and deserted streets once everyone's got home from work. Maybe Docklands will develop its own character in the next 40 years, but there's not much sign of it yet.

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