Five-star fury over hotel plans

by James Edgar, The Hackney Post

PLANS to build Hackney’s first five-star hotel on the site of the former Magistrates Court building on Old Street into are likely to be approved by the council in the coming weeks.

With 128 guestrooms, a restaurant, bars, conference rooms, and a gym, it will largely cater for businessmen visiting the City and the developers hope it will boost the economy in Haggerston.

But the proposals have enraged local residents and workers who argue that the seven-storey modern extension at the back of the old court, a grade two listed property, will dwarf the surrounding homes and offices.

An action group has strongly objected to the plans, raising concerns about the hotel’s size, design, security, and parking problems.

In a letter to Hackney Council, seen by The Hackney Post, Hoxton Street jeweller Lexi Dick wrote: “It is a greedy building, cramming itself into every square inch of space available, regardless of the surrounding buildings. It resembles a stack of shoe boxes.”

She argues that the looming edifice will reduce vital narural light in her studio by up to 30 per cent.

For Edward Woodcock, who lives in an apartment in the Timber Yard, the main concern is privacy. He said: “I will have a window facing right into the flat I own. They are saying my privacy will not be affected, because guests will not be in during the day and will be drawing their curtains by night. What about when guests draw their curtains in the morning? This is so lacking in common sense it’s laughable.”

But time is running out for the campaigners. Hackney Council’s planning sub-committee is scheduled to meet on 12 March to decide whether to grant planning permission to developers Mastcraft, who own and run a similar hotel on Great Marlborough Street in the West End, where rooms cost £250 to £450 a night.

Zsolt Moldan, the architect behind the design of the development, said that the hotel should make Hackney residents proud: “I think it will give enormous benefits to local residents and workers. We’re providing a big health and fitness centre, which will be available for them as well as considerable function and banqueting rooms.

“It will be the first five-star hotel in Hackney, which is quite something. I think people should actually be proud of it.”

Jonathan McShane is the councillor for Haggerston ward. He said: “Most people were quite pleased when they saw that a hotel was being developed there, but it was only when they realised it was going to be such a massive extension at the back of a nice old building that they became less keen.

“The hotel in principle is a good idea but the scale of this development seems out of keeping with the area.”

With approval from English Heritage and the Hackney planning service. it is unlikely the application will be rejected by the sub-committee, Cllr McShane said. “Frankly it’s highly unusual for councillors to turn down an application if officers have suggested it should be approved, especially with a big developer like this,” he explained.

'Dazzling Darren' hits 17 victories

by James Edgar, The Hackney Post

‘Dazzling’ Darren Barker defended his Commonwealth middleweight title in Bethnal Green on Friday night, winning in bizarre fashion.

A packed crowd at the York Hall saw Barker dominate the fight, which took his professional record to an impressive 17 wins in 17 bouts with 11 knockouts.

Despite comfortably out-classing his opponent Steve Bendall throughout the early stages, Barker’s victory owed much to a stroke of good luck.

An accidental clash of heads in the seventh round caused a deep cut above Bendall’s right eye.

Referee Richard Davies was left with no choice but to stop the contest, awarding the fight to the 25-year-old Londoner.

The bout, organised by Hackney-based promoters Hennessey Sports, saw Barker on top from the start.

He knocked his 34-year-old opponent to the canvas after just 20 seconds of the first round with a short right to the chin and a sweeping left hook.

Bendall recovered from the early fall, but never looked close to challenging the title-holder, in what was likely to be his last chance at the big time.

Light-footed Barker ducked and dived around everything Bendall threw at him, using his trademark jab to chip away at the senior boxer.

He showed discipline and maturity beyond his years as he applied steady pressure on his opponent.

A clear signal of Barker’s inevitable triumph came in the fifth round when the quick fists of the Barnet-based fighter proved too much for Bendall.

The southpaw found himself marooned on the ropes after a lightning four-punch combination.

Ironically it was not Barker’s fists that won him the match, but the pair’s accidental collision in the seventh.

Barker shimmied to avoid a right-hander and the pair clashed heads, causing the cut above Bendall’s eye.

The referee briefly let the fight continue, which allowed Barker to take advantage of the gash by landing three blows that caused it to start bleeding heavily.

Davies ended the bout soon after as experienced left-hander Bendall was unfit to continue, awarding Barker a win by technical knockout.

Bendall, from Coventry, had started the year well with an unbeaten run of three wins in consecutive bouts, and Barker did not underestimate the title challenger.

Speaking after the contest he said: “I never overlooked Steve Bendall. He is a quality opponent and he has proved that with the opposition he has faced. He was a stiff test. It was a matter of boxing smartly.”

Barker turned professional after winning the gold medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, and the young man promised there is more to come: “I am learning all the time so this was a good performance at this stage of my career.”

And Barker’s future looks bright, with plans to cross the Atlantic to take on the best America has to offer.

Fight promoter Mick Hennessy said: “Darren is an exceptional talent and has the potential to be a big star of British Boxing. I’m looking to get Darren US exposure this year.”

http://hackneypost.co.uk/?p=29#more-29

Review - There Will Be Blood

There Will Be Blood charts the journey of an aspiring miner, Daniel Plainview, at the height of the Californian oil boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But Daniel Day-Lewis’s sublime performance and the struggle between Christianity and money renders Paul Thomas Anderson’s tragic and simple plot almost immaterial.

The primary conflict in this tale of the American Dream is between Plainview and Eli Sunday, the local preacher of the community whose land Plainview buys to drill. The bullish masculinity of the tycoon and his men penetrating Sunday’s sanctified yet seemingly barren land does bear fruit – oil in vast quantities.

But Plainview’s own admittance of a lack of faith coupled with denying Sunday the chance to “bless the well”, result in his son being deafened and one of his workers impaled by an iron rod – signals of impending disaster. Their tit-for-tat exchanges run throughout the narrative, with blackmail causing the only times they come into accordance.

Some references signposting the audience towards religion are a little forced. The owner of the ranch Plainview buys is called Abel Sunday, and Plainview picks up his son from a basket to baptise his head with oil. But the use of the three vital liquids, oil for money, holy water for faith, and blood for life is subtle and thought-provoking. Indeed, blood is only mentioned near the conclusion of the film.

Day-Lewis’s acting is dark and disturbing. Devoid of affection or sexuality, his only motivation is financial. He uses his young son merely as a tool to gain the trust of the people he is trying to con, “I’m a family man, I run a family business. This is my son and my partner.” And his selfishness and greed is uncompromising: “I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people.”

Paul Dano’s portrayal of Plainview’s nemesis Eli Sunday is understated, measured and unsettling. His staring eyes and blank expression coupled with a hushed, monotonous tone of voice give a degree of menace to his god-fearing character, while his preaching scenes are wild.

Jonny Greenwood’s score moves from haunting string dissonances and metronomic percussion in the opening to polyphonic melodies by the end. This reflects Plainview’s successes in the flow of both oil and money, but is a poignant contrast to his mental and physical deterioration into alcoholism and the lonely abandonment of his family.