Hayward Gallery — Attraction in London

“I Miss Concrete Cafe, Hayward.... This Replacement Just Won't Do....”

It's hard to understand why a) The Hayward gallery disposed of the wonderful Concrete Cafe & Bar and replaced it with a shop and b) inserted the most awfully run Cafe upstairs to replace it.

As a regular to the Hayward for over 20 years I've enjoyed both the Gallery and the various eateries surrounding it.

The Dan Graham, Waterloos Sunset Pavilion, still stands, but feels utterly underused with a few tables scattered around it's edges and a couple of chairs surrounding each as it was previously. It is, as always, cold in the winter, but one hopes they will utilise the space better in the summer months, if the artist allows.

The whole process of ordering at the till & taking a number board to your table, would be much better served with table service for food and coffee/drinks only orders taken at the counter, especially considering the small number of covers in the establishment (approx 50) and it's overall size.

The acoustics here are abhorrent and with just a few people chatting quietly, the cacophony of sound will soon become unpleasant. Think a busy pub on a Friday night without the alcohol, not really the best environment to reflect on the pleasures of an art exhibition.

The coffees, teas & mocha, all come in at what now has become the standard prices for such offerings pretty much anywhere in London (between £2.50 - £3.50).

The food prices, are as you'd expect considering it's location, slightly expensive, soup & roll coming in at £6 (the cheapest savoury on offer is the Asian Broth which comes without a roll at £5 - the breakfast pot of Blood Orange & Pomegranate seeds with rosemary honey appearing the best value at £2.50)

When I was there, there were no lunch time or coffee & cake offers, though would expect them in time.

I had gone into eat, but having had to wait 10 minutes in the queue (for literally 2 customers who were queuing as pairs debating what food they wanted), decided on a solitary Mocha instead, they use Monmouth Coffee here (so felt like a bit of sacrilege adding the chocolate), which was perfectly acceptable.

Ironically, since the refurbishment of the Hayward, the Southbank Centre seems to have changed their WiFi Supplier and now Google won't let me get on the system as they've not got an up to date certificate on their Splashpage (again, pleased to have only ordered a coffee as I was planning to work).

But the alcohol offering is the biggest let down here. Cocktails come in at £10 and a standard glass of House Red or White Wine £6.50 (175ml) or £8.00 (250Ml) or an astounding £25 per bottle. If you want to enjoy some bubbles whilst watching that sunset over Waterloo Bridge you'll be paying £45, but that's for Prosecco.... let me say that again PROSECCO, rather than champagne, which isn't even offered here.

Overall, a huge disappointment. I loved the vibe of Concrete Cafe and it's much missed, this new offering is pretty much the worst of all public gallery offerings but still run by Company of Cooks (I was expecting it to have changed to Benugo considering it's fall in standards) who ran Concrete for years.

I suspect that people will continue to use this venue when they use the Gallery (Be WARNED BOTH GALLERY & CAFE ARE CLOSED ALL DAY TUESDAY for some explicable reason), but I'd avoid it like the plague. Sadly there's not much left of any quality in the area, having been decimated by the chains (Giraffe, Strada, Eat etc.) but if you want something quirky cross Hungerford Bridge to Gordon's Wine Bar (though that's now struggling under it's own success since the birth of Social Media) or head to the Oxo Tower for the views or if you need a bit of solace the National Theatre's ground floor space is usually quiet regardless of numbers in there.

Concrete Cafe is a sad loss to the area, though I know wasn't everyone's cup of tea, but that was kind of it's point, like the Brutalist Architecture it was...

I went to see the Light Show last night. It's an outstanding exhibition but brought to life for me by an excellent curator tour. It gets warm inside because of all the lights so you might want to leave your coat at the cloakroom before entering. There's a strict no photography rule inside so just enjoy seeing the exhibits and consider how each makes you feel.

There are a few small rooms to enter through black curtains and each offers something different from a pitch black room with a light tunnel for you to put your hands into (which reminded me of nights out at Heaven in the '90s) or a single light bulb hanging down for you to ponder. A few sections require you to remove your shoes or cover them with clean over-shoes (provided) but play along as the group I visited with all liked different things.

For me the best was left 'til last as the final room with immense strobe lighting and water was completely mesmerising. While some of us hadn't spoken much before we entered the last room we all had something to say once we saw the water art. It's truly very beautiful and I couldn't have watched it for hours. It's a great show and worth taking your time to see all properly although if there's a queue for something don't waste your time as there's so many other great exhibits in here to enjoy.

What would may it ever better? If they dusted the floor more often! Huge dust-bunnies wafting around the floor of exhibits was pretty...

I made my second visit to the Hayward Gallery to view a collection of art by Tavares Strachan and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Tavares Strachan is a conceptual artist who was born in the Bahamas and still works there in Nassau as well as in New York. The basis of Tavares work is an overwhelming desire to be a pioneering black Explorer, either in space or polar expedition, which has been with him from a young age.

Tavares uses a selection of different medium s, including ceramic, bronze, textile, oils, and light.

The curation has been extremely well done and really draws you into the art. Many of the works feature pioneering black figures and historical references to significant pieces of history, including a model of a black star liner, a shipping company founded by Marcus Garvey in order to promote trade between the Caribbean and Africa. Sadly their are references to the slave trade in his works, but why shouldn't there be.

I recommend a visit to this exhibition and celebrate this clever...