Private Essex island beloved by Stormzy and Rihanna for sale at £25m
It has been described as England's own version of Sir Richard Branson's Necker Island, an utterly secluded, totally escapist — and achingly beautiful — 380-acre private retreat connected to the mainland twice a day at low tide by a Roman causeway.
Osea Island, which has been inhabited for more than 5,000 years and was once a retreat for Edwardian drunks, has in recent years become a renowned celebrity party destination.
The private island, on the estuary of the Blackwater river in Essex, has in recent years been owned by Nigel Frieda, 72, a music producer. Under his ownership, singers including Rihanna and actors such as Jude Law have rented areas of the island and partied there. It was also the spot where grime artist Stormzy
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Tatler Asia
23-05-2025
- Tatler Asia
Dining news: Prince and the Peacock introduce new summer menu, The Upper House unveils Green Room cocktail lounge, and more
Ando $ $ $ $ 1/F Somptueux Central, 52 Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong Slice of the action Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong is warming up its ovens for a four-day pop-up from June 19 to 22 with Daniele Cason of The Pizza Bar on 38th, flown in from its award-winning Tokyo perch. Held in a transformed chef's table setting on the second floor, the event previews the omakase-style pizza bar set to open permanently in late 2026 as part of the hotel's ongoing revamp. Lunch and dinner services will feature a degustazione menu (HK$1,888 per person) of seven Roman-style pizza alla pala topped with the likes of Warayaki tuna, duck sausage with zucchini and fennel, and Wagyu with black lemon. A Fior di latte dessert with lemon jam and Okinawa mango finishes things off, with optional wine pairings starting from HK$498. Expect 48-hour fermented dough, seasonal ingredients and pizza with a crisp, airy crust. Green light on cocktails Above The Upper House Green Room cocktails, including The Wild Card, The Everyman, Girl Next Door and The Dreamer The Upper House has quietly lifted the curtain on the Green Room, its once-whispered cocktail lounge now stepping fully into the spotlight with a refreshed drinks list and weekly after-dark programming. Bar manager Gail Lanorias leans into the ethos of 'complex but not complicated' with new signatures such as the Golden Child, a heady mix of sage-infused Nordes gin, rosemary syrup and pineapple, and the red bean-and-yuzu-spiked Star Crossed Lovers, topped with matcha soy foam. Designed with Wes Anderson-esque flair in lacquered green and Pevla stone, the space strikes a sweet spot between elegance and eccentricity. Fridays now play host to Moonlight, a late-night series featuring regional guest bartenders, Mono x Moonlight snacks and the occasional drag spectacle. Next up: Bar Us on July 11 and Hope & Sesame on July 18. The Upper House 88 Queensway, Admiralty, Hong Kong It takes (more than) two Bar Leone, Hong Kong's reigning champion of neighbourhood Italian cocktail charm, marks its second anniversary with a ten-day series of guest shifts from June 1 to 10 featuring some of the world's most celebrated bars. The festivities kick off with Miami's Café La Trova (June 1), where Cantinero legend Julio Cabrera brings Cuban flair to Bridges Street. On June 7, it's a double act with Viceversa's Valentino Longo and Overstory's Harrison Ginsberg, while the finale on June 10 sees The Connaught Bar's Giorgio Bargiani fly in from London, Martini in hand. Known for its cocktail popolari ethos, Bar Leone's anniversary programme doubles as a global roll call of bartending's finest, all served with a side of warm hospitality and a touch of dolce vita. Guest shifts begin nightly at 7pm, until the bottles run dry. Bar Leone $ $ 11-15 Bridges Street, Central, Hong Kong Indian summer Above Flower prawns bathed in coconut, mustard and cinnamon, amongst other dishes Above The quail pepper roast at Prince and the Peacock comes with quail eggs and lemon Prince and the Peacock, tucked within the stately walls of Tai Kwun's Central Magistracy, welcomes the warmer months with a new lineup of spring and summer dishes from chef Palash Mitra and team. The updated menu deepens its exploration of regional Indian flavours with plates like bhapa chingri , flower prawns bathed in coconut, mustard and cinnamon, and machli angeethi , where Indian Ocean mackerel is marinated in green herbs before being roasted over embers. There's fire in the quail pepper roast, cooled by boiled quail eggs and lemon, and flair in the Patiala shahi koftey , where soft cheese dumplings come studded with nuts and royal cumin. A sweet finish comes via bahapa doi , a steamed yoghurt flan with rose cookies, or the daily sorbet, a dairy-free nod to an ancient recipe, finished with cashew. Dinner is served nightly from 6pm. Prince and the Peacock Address: 2/F, The Magistracy, Tai Kwun, 1 Arbuthnot Road, Central, Hong Kong Pearls before twilight Above Qura Bar makes the most of peak caviar season at Regent Hong Kong Qura Bar at Regent Hong Kong is ushering in peak caviar season with a cocktail-forward twist on the classic tasting menu, available from June 2 to July 31. Partnering with France's Prunier, the team has built a four-course menu centred on sustainably sourced Oscietra caviar, five grams per dish, no less. Highlights include onsen egg with petits pois and vodka sauce, tagliolini with lemon confit and chives, and a sweet finale of marcona almond sponge with lime crème and coconut pearls. Each dish is designed to let the caviar's signature roasted walnut notes shine, with an optional pairing cocktail, Bloom & Sand, blending Belvedere vodka, elderflower and bitters for a Riviera-style finish. Bar bites such as the crispy potato croissant and cod croquette keep things casual, while Qura's art deco setting and harbour views do the heavy lifting on glamour.
Times
29-04-2025
- Times
These are the five best museums in the UK — have you visited them?
On the day that Art Fund announces the shortlist for its museum of the year award it's customary for pundits to catalogue all the ways in which the UK's 2,500 museums are under threat. Let today be no exception! Since last year's award there has been a general election, won by a party that promised to support museums and find ways of increasing public access. Some emergency funding has duly been provided: £120 million to be shared among the national museums; £20 million to help civic museums to stay open. But no one believes museums are out of trouble. With some shining exceptions they are struggling to reach the visitor figures they had before the pandemic. Their heating bills have gone through the roof. If they are backed by a local authority they have probably been clobbered by cuts to their subsidy. They aren't getting as many school trips as education budgets tighten. And in many museums vital maintenance work is being postponed. Yet it's also customary on this day to point out that, against all odds, some museums are finding exciting new ways to present their collections and engage with audiences they have never reached before. Five such instances are on this year's shortlist — none of them, refreshingly, from London or the home counties. Each will receive £15,000, with £120,000 awaiting the winner, announced on June 26. Here are snapshots of all five. Origins: This magnificent 500-acre open-air site, surrounded by woodland, was visited by 838,000 people last year, making it the most popular attraction in northeast England. Jewels in its crown: Reconstructions of how life was lived in this industrial heartland at various times in the 19th and 20th centuries, complete with staff in period costumes and even historically themed food outlets. 'We have an original drift mine here, a stunning Georgian manor farmhouse and a 1940s farm,' says Rhiannon Hiles, the chief executive. 'The rest is translocated [has been brought in from other places], to use a very museum-y word.' Recently: Beamish has just extended its historical range with the creation of a 1950s town. Challenges: The museum's founder, Frank Atkinson, wanted the museum to recreate communities within living memory, so in the next decade or two the Beamish will need to expand to the 1970s or 1980s. If it won the £120,000: 'We run a brilliant wellbeing programme which needs more investment,' Hiles says. 'We have a waiting list of groups of people with, for example, dementia who want to use the museum. I hate having a waiting list. We need to address that.' • Pull in the young — a daunting mission for our museums Origins: Founded in 1971 by two artists in a former Edwardian school building, it's now a thriving multipurpose arts centre with theatre, gallery, cinemas, rehearsal spaces, café and in its crown: It provides working space for 80 artists and creative companies. 'They are the beating heart of the organisation,' says Hannah Firth, Chapter's artistic director. 'We do a lot of co-curating with them, and I think it's vital to give Welsh creative talents support and space so they can work without leaving Wales.' Recently: Lots of schemes have been launched to make the centre accessible to all, including pay-what-you-can tickets, packed lunches for children in school holidays, and a 'no questions asked' community larder. Challenges: Several vital cultural organisations in Cardiff are in financial difficulties, and the Welsh government doesn't seem to have many answers. 'It's a very tough time to run an arts centre,' Firth says. If it won the £120,000: 'We missed out on our 50th anniversary because of Covid,' Firth says, 'so we want our 55th year to be a celebration of our achievements and those of the wider arts community here.' Origins: Splendid 18th-century mansion rescued from dereliction by the philanthropist Peter Moores. Jewels in its crown: Six world-class art collections, cheerfully unrelated to each other, from British folk art to Chinese bronzes,and 120 acres of parkland designed by Capability Brown. Recently: Last year an ambitious Sculpture in the Park exhibition featured work by Sarah Lucas, Permindar Kaur, Helen Chadwick and others. 'Peter Moores used to say things like 'open doors, open minds',' says Geraldine Collinge, the chief executive. 'He wanted to create an accessible gallery in the middle of the country. We try to build on his legacy.' Challenges: 'Our visitor figures are 20 per cent up on pre-Covid figures, but we have to make sure we get the pricing right to fund everything we want to do without putting people off,' Collinge says. 'Under-18s go free, we have a community pass for local visitors, and last year we launched a £2 ticket for people on income support and pension credit.' If it won the £120,000: 'We would continue to invest so more and more people discover this wonderful place,' Collinge says. • The idea of 'free' museums needs to be put out to pasture Origins: 'We started out in the late 1990s up on Crumlin Road, between the two communities,' says Peter Richards, the co-director. 'It was deemed to be the epicentre of civil unrest. Then we transitioned to a former electricity switch room. We are now on our third iteration, in Queen Street in the city centre.' Jewels in its crown: Golden Thread is Belfast's leading contemporary art gallery, showing Northern Irish artists and international work. Recently: The move to Queen Street allowed expansion to two large gallery spaces and a community and participation hub. 'That's placed right at the front of the building, with big windows so that people passing can see what's going on inside,' says Sarah McAvera, the co-director. 'That makes the place much more approachable.' Challenges: 'Arts funding per head in Northern Ireland is among the lowest in Europe — a fifth of what it is down south [in Ireland],' McAvera says. 'And Belfast has some of the highest deprivation rates in the UK. That's why it's really important that everything we do, including workshops, is free.' If it won the £120,000: 'That money would be genuinely life-changing,' McAvera says. 'It's over half of what we get each year from the Arts Council. We could use it to do extra projects we couldn't contemplate otherwise.' • Museums take note: we're tired of colonial guilt Origins: Though now in new premises, its collections are among the oldest in the UK, dating back 200 years. Jewels in its crown: It houses the Stone of Destiny, now back in Perthshire after 700 years, and the 3,000-year-old Carpow Logboat. 'We reckon we tell 10,000 years of history,' says Helen Smout, the chief executive. Recently: The museum reopened in March last year in the former Perth City Hall, following the £27 million redevelopment of a building closed for nearly 20 years. Since then it has attracted 250,000 visitors. This summer's big exhibition is about Macbeth, the man and the play. 'Both Birnam Wood and Dunsinane Hill are just up the road,' Smout says. Challenges: 'When we opened last year there was a lot of 'what's it going to do for us?' scepticism among local businesses,' Smout says. 'We have to show them that the hotels are full and the shops booming because of the extra visitors we have attracted.' If it won the £120,000: 'I would set up a transport fund for schools that are struggling to send classes here for a visit,' Smout says. Which museums do you think should be considered for the award next year? Let us know in the comments
Times
23-04-2025
- Times
Why this inclusive airline is now flying to Saudi Arabia
Richard Branson flew into Riyadh with his trademark Virgin Atlantic cabin crew dressed in red today. His party-on, LGBT friendly, carrier has launched daily flights to and from the Saudi capital — a dry town where homosexuality is illegal. The bar aboard Virgin's Airbus A330 closed as it entered Saudi airspace and Virgin warned guests: 'Please note, in Saudi Arabia it is illegal to show same-sex affection in public.' Branson did not get the memo.'There are plenty of gay people in Saudi Arabia,' he said shortly before landing at King Khalid airport and walking into the dusty desert air. 'I've got a lot of gay Saudi friends who do not feel uncomfortable living in Saudi.' However, he conceded: 'They don't have a Heaven nightclub in Saudi.' Heaven or no Heaven, Virgin Atlantic's founder is all-in on Saudi Arabia. Not only has he launched daily flights from Heathrow, but he has signed a code-share agreement with Saudia, the national flag carrier, meaning that Virgin passengers can easily transfer to flights from Riyadh to Jeddah, AlUla and the Red Sea airport for new coastal resorts. Travellers can also earn and spend Virgin Flying Club points with Saudia. Virgin is negotiating the same arrangement with Riyadh Air, which will be launched this year as Saudi Arabia's answer to Dubai's Emirates — a super-connector airline. It will be based at a new six-runway, seven-terminal hub at King Khalid airport that is expected to be completed by 2030. Riyadh Air is owned by the Saudi government's sovereign wealth fund. Branson's new flights are surprising because Saudi Arabia is an odd destination for the carrier, whose razzle-dazzle service is better suited to destinations such as Las Vegas, where Branson celebrated the airline's 40th anniversary last year. The billionaire publicly pulled out of investment talks in Saudi Arabia after the 2018 murder of the Saudi-born US journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. So why has he changed his mind? 'I made a point, even after that incredibly unpleasant incident, of keeping in touch,' he said. 'I think the Saudis have changed dramatically in the last six or seven years. It's by no means perfect, but it's definitely moved dramatically in the right direction. Saudi Arabia will go closer to Dubai over the next 20 years.' Saudi women can now work freely, travel without a male guardian and drive, while the arts, previously banned, are beginning to flourish. • Emily Maitlis's Saudi minibreak: I was told not to go 'full burqa' As well as the new flights, Branson is in talks to start Virgin Voyages cruises in the Red Sea and to open a hotel in Riyadh. It is unclear whether its snug bar would be named the Shag Room, as at other Virgin hotels. Note that all new hotels here are built with bars in anticipation of a loosening of restrictions on serving alcohol. Who is going to fill the daily flights? Religious travellers? Western tourists? Shai Weiss, chief executive of Virgin Atlantic, said that 80 per cent of customers on the new route are Saudis travelling between Riyadh and London or catching connecting flights to the US. American carriers do not fly directly to Saudi Arabia. Branson hopes that more Brits will take advantage of the partnership with Riyadh Air when it launches flights to Asia, Africa and Australia. Virgin Atlantic no longer flies to China or Australia; its easternmost destination will soon be South Korea, a route that Branson announced on Wednesday morning, with flights to Seoul scheduled to begin in March next year. Riyadh Air's chief executive is Tony Douglas, a Briton who built Heathrow Terminal 5, oversaw construction of Abu Dhabi's new airport and ran the Gulf city state's airline, Etihad. And the new carrier is snazzy — at his office near King Khalid airport Douglas showed me the seats — in dark purple with gold accents — that are being installed on its new lavender-coloured Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets taking to the skies before the end of this year. Douglas has spent an estimated £28 billion buying 72 wide-body Boeing 787 Dreamliners and will order dozens more long-haul jets — either Airbus A350-1000s or Boeing 777-9s — this summer, enabling him to serve 100 destinations by 2030. 'We're the biggest start-up since Emirates,' he said. True, but why would anyone opt for Virgin and Riyadh Air over Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad and Turkish Airlines, all of which offer spiffy services to every key destination east and south of the UK via their hubs in, respectively, Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi and Istanbul — especially when you can drink alcohol freely on board and in the airports if you wish? As a Saudi company, Riyadh Air cannot serve alcohol anywhere in the world, on the ground or in the air. The answer, Douglas said, is that Riyadh Air 'is the Virgin Atlantic of the Gulf'. He pointed out that, like Virgin, Riyadh Air is 'proud to stand out in the crowd, with fresh, distinctively designed aircraft livery, cabins, uniforms, branding and service'. Business analysts expect the rules on serving alcohol to be changed in the next few years to allow Riyadh Air to serve booze outside Saudi airspace. Other airlines are joining Branson in a race to Riyadh because Saudi Arabia is now the fastest-growing new business and tourism destination. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto ruler, is lavishing more than £75 billion on tourism and sport — a tenth of the total budget for his Vision 2030 programme, designed to diversify the economy away from oil. British Airways (BA), which has flown from London to Riyadh on and off for decades, operates at least one direct flight a day to the Saudi capital and in November launched daily Heathrow-Jeddah flights. The Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air last month started a direct Gatwick-Jeddah service; Saudia is adding an extra daily Heathrow-Riyadh flight, bringing its total to four, and also adding Gatwick-Jeddah flights. These carriers generally cater to different customer categories: BA mostly businesspeople and Saudi high-rollers; Wizz to religious travellers en route to Mecca and lower-budget tourists; Saudia mainly Saudi nationals of all income brackets. Saudi Arabia exceeded its target of attracting 100 million tourists a year in 2013 and has raised its target for 2030 to 150 million a year. Multi-entry Saudi tourist visas take a few minutes to obtain for travellers from most nations and, while the museums of Riyadh can be a little dull, the Red Sea resorts and AlUla desert cultural centre are among the best new attractions in the Gulf. • My holiday in Saudi Arabia: the world's most controversial country Fahd Hamidaddin, chief executive of the Saudi Tourism Authority, insisted that 'everyone is now welcome' in the kingdom, but conceded that some travellers may have doubts about visiting. 'Come and see for yourself,' he said. Thanks to Branson and his peers, this has never been easier — or better value. Limited service used to mean that return fares to the kingdom were some of the highest in the region, but a Heathrow-Riyadh return in economy class with BA is now about £800, while Jeddah flights are about £600. Catch the Wizz service from Gatwick to Jeddah and the fare can be as little as £ Arlidge was a guest of Virgin Atlantic, which has Heathrow-Riyadh returns from £447 (
