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A Rhyme for London’s Restaurants

A Rhyme for London’s Restaurants

More than 60 icons of London’s restaurant and food world have come together to pay homage and share their love for the city’s restaurant scene with a poetic ode to the industry – A Rhyme for London’s Restaurants

 

It fell quiet in town when our restaurants shut down and we pined for a time so familiar Whilst the boarded-up windows and strange word furlough made it all feel a little Black Mirror….

 

Watch the full video here

 

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A Rhyme for London’s Restaurants was written by Lucy Golding, an Account Director at Gerber Communications – a London based marketing & PR agency working with and specialising in restaurants, bars and hotels. It is a poignant celebration of the city’s eclectic and diverse dining scene, and a reminder of all that diners can look forward to when normal life resumes. This follows the detrimental setbacks faced by the industry in the wake of Covid-19, after hospitality venues nationwide were instructed to close their doors indefinitely in March.

What started as a passion project, escalated rapidly to a city and industry-wide collaboration that now sees a total of 64 culinary luminaries brush up their diction skills with a few lines of spoken word, as part of a poem that highlights some of the capital’s favourite restaurants – old and new – across a multitude of boroughs. The line-up involves chefs, restaurant owners, cookery writers, journalists, critics and famous foodies who have filmed their part from various lockdown locations across the capital and beyond.

Since all restaurants were forced to close their doors nine weeks ago, an estimated 2.4 million hospitality employees have been impacted, including chefs, front of house staff, PR and marketing professionals, suppliers, and more – this is higher than for any other sector in the UK. Overall, The UK hospitality represents 10% of UK employment, 6% of businesses and 5% of GDP (UKHospitality.org). A Rhyme for London’s Restaurants brings together many of the people whose own livelihoods and businesses have been impacted by these closures and who passionately believe in the future of the industry and getting it back on its feet.

As well as being an enjoyable glimpse into the industry, A Rhyme for London’s Restaurants will raise funds for two vital causes that shine a light on the importance of food in communities – both for those most in need, and for the

restaurant and hospitality workers, and their families, impacted by recent events. These are the London Evening Standard’s Food for London Now campaign, which is raising funds to distribute food for vulnerable, elderly and poor Londoners (in partnership with the Felix Project), and Hospitality Action’s COVID-19 emergency relief grant.

 

Gerber Communications’ Founder, Tanya Layzell-Payne (who herself features in the video) commented: “When Lucy came to us with the poem we knew instantly we had to do something with it. It’s been a devastating few months for hospitality, but there is such a feeling of strength and togetherness in our world, plus a real fighting spirit that we will come out of this the other side. We’re so grateful to everyone who has already shown their support for the project, and I hope it will be received with the same positive and light-hearted sentiment it is intended to, plus raise some much-needed awareness and funds for the causes we are supporting.”

 

The Rhyme for London’s Restaurants line-up is as follows:

Fay Maschler, Jeremy Lee, Yotam Ottolenghi, William Sitwell, Rick Stein, Tomos Parry, Jon Spiteri, Stanley Tucci, Tom Parker Bowles , Jeremy King, Selin Kiazim, Natalia Ribbe, Oliver Peyton, Miranda York, Margot & Fergus Henderson, Giorgio Locatelli, Marcus Wareing, Jimi Famurewa, Alice Lascelles, Elizabeth Haigh, Jordan Bourke, Jeremy Chan, Seb Fogg & Laura Montana, Victor Lugger, Rosie Birkett, Marc Summers, Shamil Thakrar, Osh Rogers, Gordon Ker, Robin Gill, Amy Corbin, Tanya Layzell-Payne, John Chantarasak, Santiago Lastra, Miles Kirby, Matt Tebbutt, Angela Hartnett & Neil Borthwick, Andrew Wong, David Carter, Doug McMaster, Thomasina Miers, Mathew Carver, Sue Sethi, Clare Smyth, Ewan Venters, Simon Rogan, Sam Hart, James & Sandia Knappet, Marco Mendes, Richard Corrigan, Asma Khan, Clodagh McKenna, Ed Templeton, Paula Fitzherbert, Oliver Milburn, Laura Jackson, Felicity Cloake, Jessie Ware, Edd Kimber, Alex Head, Lisa Markwell, Henry Harris, Joe Warwick and Skye Gyngell.

 

A Rhyme for London’s Restaurants, the full poem and film can be viewed here Click here for our fundraising page@Gerbercomms #RhymeForRestaurants
For information or images please contact tori@gerbercomms.com

 

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