Hive Health

Did you ever visit us on Regent Street? Did you catch any of the guides’ commentary from the tour bus below? Then you know that Soho, a former royal hunting ground, is named for a huntsman’s cry – SoHOOOO!

Now the clarion has called us to W1F.  Monday morning, after convening in a café, we were led through the doors of National House, 60-66 Wardour Street.

We walked into our new office on the 4^th floor. It’s great. Come see.

So much thanks again to Jas, Tim and Ian who chose the premises wisely. And spent all weekend shifting, cleaning, sticking. We have a much larger, shinier foorspace now, art on the walls, lots of light. Plenty of storage. Our own boardroom, a perfect little kitchen and two charming loos. I would happily live here.

The bits
My favourite bit is the nap/ reading area. It’s a quiet corner with about 30 foam cubes that you can arrange into a bed, or a fort.

The faithful pink sofa, that lived at Tim’s when our old premises got too crowded, is back in business

Unfortunately we couldn’t get the vending machine up the stairs/ lift. We are looking into crane hire.

Kinsey is still hankering after a piano. Pipe down girl.

We’ve got a microwave and a sweet dishwasher, and a new fridge called Candy. Michael keeps threatening to bring in his Breville (grease) devil.

1950 steel lockers arrive end of October.
The launch
So we spent our Monday all energized and excited by the new space. It was hard to work with a party flirting at a distance like the brush of an intrepid fox. We’d been told to look sharp, but the evening plans were secret. At 6.30 we went to a cocktail bar. On the way, I looked in the Starbucks window to check my face out. Someone sitting at the counter ducked out of my sight. I thought this unusual, but my attention was diverted to the right by Justin Lee Collins.

Anyway, we had a few cockies and shot the breeze. Two hours later, Tim made some calls behind his sleeve. Time to wend through the streets…back to National House. Our office had been transformed into a restaurant. A handsome silver service situation with candles, flowers, wine. Tim’s wonderful sister Nicky stood by in chef ensemble…guess who was evading my sight in the coffee shop!

Wine was poured, starters delivered:  tuna carpaccio on a futon of baby leaves. Nicky’s walnut bread was stunning. She served up beautiful beef fillet with silky fennel and creamy potato roundels. Two tarts turned up for dessert: passionfruit and chocolate amaretto.

The time, the place, the moon – all perfect.

The office turned out to be a great dancefloor. The nap area came in handy as a chillout space. The cubes tend to separate if used for bouncing.

I got home at 3.30am.

We are still working our way through the cheeseboard, the cakes and the whole honeycomb. Jas threw the biscuits away yesterday. Everyone got the hump so she got more. So in a way, we haven’t stopped celebrating.