The Light, which is currently a very popular and thriving bar -restaurant is the first building that you see when you approach Hackney from the City, it separates the two very different areas of London - and therefore is considered very important. Locals are not simply fired up over the loss of an important historical building, but also over the loss of a community hub to a building that is not an appropriate replacement - and doesn’t fit in with the scene of the street.

The campaign has had a helping hand in form of support from a number of local celebrities including Tracey Emin and Suggs. However, usual forms of protest are being abandoned and opposing residents are going ‘independent’ on this one. The idea is that Shoreditch was once considered outside of the City walls of London and therefore escaped its jurisdiction. Shoreditch was considered to have a small extra parochial ‘liberty’ providing it with a separate status from the city. This liberty was thought to have been abolished around 1900 – turns out that might not have been the case and the independence liberty could still apply – making the re-developments impossible.

Let’s hope this is another victory for independence.

Check out the Save the Light official site if you want to find out more, or show your support.

Photo by munksynz over on Flickr

The British Sandwich Association is running Sandwich Week from May 11th-17th and are encouraging small/independent and larger sandwich bars to use this week to reward their most loyal sandwich eating customers and just generally get very excited about sandwiches.

The British Sandwich Association has recently had a website re-vamp and it is looking pretty swish and some of the new features are rather cool. They have a whole host of sandwich recipes to inspire you if you are feeling bored of your existing ones. They have broken them down into helpful ingredient based categories, making it easier for you to get to a good recipe, fast.

They also have sandwich of the month - this month’s is an alternative take on the ‘classic’ smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel. April’s sandwich is salmon, sour cream and chive dip bagel – yum! If you fancy getting the scoop on what the celebrities munch on at the moment then check out the ‘Celebrity Sandwiches’ section. With offerings from Anthea Turner and Tamzin Outhwaite you can’t go far wrong.

Anyway, I hope this inspiration enough for you all to swap your salads for a sarnie this week to show your respect the nation’s favourite lunch food.

Photo taken by Jimbrickett over on Flickr

Here at welovelocal.com are all for supporting local seasonal produce, buying locally always has fantastic benefits to the local economy, and buying seasonal produce really does help globally as air miles are reduced, thus lowering our countries carbon footprint.

However after reading the BBC article and watching the clip of a very fired up Gordon I can’t help but wonder if what he is suggesting is possibly taking it a little to the extreme? Fining chefs who do not have seasonal produce on their menus, outlawing out- of -season produce from restaurants and creating government legislation to make it all happen!

Whilst it’s true that seasonal produce is far tastier, sustainable and imaginative we need to be educating both consumers and chefs alike about the importance of this produce as opposed to outwardly banning the use of anything else. The National Farmers Union pushes this point further - that education is key as so much of farming is already tied up in legislation.The suggestion is that we need to focus on educating consumers about menu transparency and its benefits in order to move forward.

There certainly seems to be a huge move towards menu transparency today with restaurants priding themselves on their local offerings. It seems now, more than ever eating establishments are using their local and seasonal credentials as a unique selling point.

So it seems as a nation we are taking the steps in the right direction, but I suppose Ramsay wants us to take the final leap. It certain is understandable, but is such government action necessary, can we not make the right decision alone?

What do you think?

Tip: in season at the moment are; tomatoes, salad leaves, courgettes, berries and yummy apricots!

Photo by Becca G over on Flickr

Received this awesome picture yesterday. We’ve had welovelocal.com cakes (made with my own fair hands) , stickers and signs but the pizza tops them all!

John W, uploaded this marvelous creation to welovelocal.com when reviewing his local Kebab shop - Turkish Delight. Now, seeing that kebabs are usually consumed when under the influence of alcohol I’m not entirely sure if John modified this Turkish Delight pizza himself, or the kind ‘kebab man‘ whipped it up for him?

Anyway we think it’s awesome - cheers John!

I had been searching for a good all round community blog in Brighton for a while and the problem was that it has just too many blogs to choose from – I was a bit overwhelmed! After much searching, sorting and reading I think have found a gem.

‘Unique to Brighton’ really does have a loads going on, and although it is not technically a blog it is fantastic community resource. Not only does the site list, photograph and explain all unique businesses that started out as Brighton and Hove specialists, but it has a pretty comprehensive News and Events Bulletin that does what it says on the tin and keeps a strong grip on all local goings - ons in Brighton and Hove.

Unique to Brighton started out in 2005 listing independent food outlets, and today it lists over 7 different types of business categories (impressive stuff). All the photos that accompany the listings are kept up-to-date and if you are looking to find something unique in the area then you can’t go far wrong with this website.

Currently they are campaigning with the Federation of Small Businesses to keep Trade Local in Brighton and Hove as part of the wider UK scheme. The aim is to raise government awareness in order to secure the future of independent shops in the UK. This isn’t the only local campaign that they are behind others include Real Nappy Week, Brighton Frocks and Fair Trade Fortnight.

It’s great to see an independent site rocking local so well- keep it up!

Historic food store Fortnum and Mason have a lavish special St Georges day menu on, Borough Market is moving from London Bridge into central London to celebrate English food and Carnaby Street has been decorated with England football shirt bunting. However, on a more local note, none seem more eager than the residents of Morley in West Yorkshire who started their celebrations weeks ago. The market town dedicated a whole weekend to festivities and their list of events taking place stretches over three pages long. The English flag is flying in the local park and, coloured flowers have been planted, not to mention the St George parade and long bow competitions. The town made the conscious decision to aim for the most elaborate celebrations and it has certainly paid off, they have experienced record numbers of visitors and lots of press attention for being the most patriotic town in England!

Fear not, if you are feeling a little detached from the festivities, and in need of some inspiration then English Heritage is on hand to rectify the situation. They have created a guide all about how to celebrate the national day including fact, recipes and a breakdown of all events taking place ordered by regions.

Enjoy!

Photo by rbrwr over on Flickr

The British Beer & Pub Association has released dismal estimates that claim that four British pubs are shutting every day! The rate of closure is fourteen times faster now than it was in 2005, and with only 57,000 pubs left in Britain compared to the 69,000 we had in 1980 the situation could be getting pretty worrying.

The problem doesn’t seem to be so much with the city pubs; it’s the decline in the trusty village pub, which is seeing a downturn in popularity due to tougher drink-driving laws and the cheap availability of beer and alcohol in super- markets. The result is pub beer sales are at an all time low - they haven’t been as low since the depression of the 1930’s.

You have to stop and ponder the loss of British identity if we lose our pubs. This isn’t a simply case of loss of a national pastime (drinking) but also another great hit to our already flimsy community. Pubs are often breeding ground for good local communities and local identities.

So, more people are swapping their twice weekly trips to the local pub in favour of a trip to the supermarket for cheap discounted beers to take home a watch alone in front of the TV, why? Come on people let’s get out a little more, keep our local boozers open – give them your money, or we will lose them for good. You never know you might even meet some local peeps!

If you’re in need of inspiration try searching pubs in your local area here, see what you get. Remember to be specific, the most popular pub name in Britain is The Red Lion, closely followed by The Royal Oak!

Photo by JL2003, over on Flickr.

It is no secret that there has been a big revival in the nations love of breakfast of late, especially the English breakfast. Here on welovelocal.com one of our most popular and thriving groups is ‘For the Love of Breakfast’ where reviewers happily share their glorious, and not so glorious breakfast experiences with each other. Every foodie review or culture capturing piece of literature that you pick up is filled with guides to the best breakfasts and brunches around - most of which are pivotal around the fried English breakfast. So what do we do now we are being told that only the uneducated (or those with a degree below a 2:1) would dare consume an English Breakfast?

There are two sides to every coin and although this particular article entices arguments around the encroachment of the draconian nanny sate on our free will, I think the issue is more one of balance. Who realistically has the time to eat a big boy breakfast everyday? The truth is we don’t - and that is just it, we’re not all truckers who’s only convenient source of food is on a roadside, and we do have a clue what we’re doing (even those of us without a 2:1). It’s all about moderation and quality and if ‘trendy’ has its way then we will continue to spend our Saturday mornings queuing up in the doorway of some painfully trendy cafe haunt for our free range, totally organic, hand reared and home grown £8 English Breakfast – and enjoy every minute of it too.

News just in from Twitter – Our very own PM, Gordon Brown is still up for a good old full English! - Go Gordon!

So on that note, I thought I would include some top places for breakfast as recommended by you:

If you’re in London why not try The Cock Tavern or the ever popular Breakfast Club. Plymouth has its own breakfast hot spot in the shape of Elviras Cafe. Brighton’s fave is Billie’s Cafe for a traditional ‘breakfast hash’. Birmingham has the Victoria Square Cafe or the crazy Mr Egg to re-fuel.

Photo by robby-T over on Flickr

In essence, if you re-address your work/life balance in favour of ‘life’ then you will inevitably slow down, enjoy the simpler and often greener things in life more. I know many people love work etc, I am just putting the idea out there. The principle, in a nutshell is that working less will mean you will probably earn less (boo), therefore become thriftier and greener naturally (yay). Your overall consumption should decrease - and this will have a positive effect on the environment. Failing this the website has list of other things you can do to downshift - even if it is just a little, like shopping locally for a week.

This may well be a wee bit extreme for most of us but there are less radical measures you can take to get back in touch with your creative side, balance your life and possibly become a little greener. Back in December the Carsonified team took a step back from their computers and took a week out to do something creative (idea week). They came up with the fabulous hugmymac.com, they made fabric cases (hugs) for Mac Books and iPhones – the results were pretty impressive and I think they even surprised themselves.

I think the main point here is downshifting doesn’t have to mean re-arranging your entire life, it can be as simple as changing one or two things, it could make a big difference – who knows you might surprise yourself!

Photo supplied by hAdamsky’s over on Flickr.

I was over on the Wedge blog and Diana Bird’s post ‘Local Lives in New York’ was really interesting. She was talking about a new documentary film that is out called, ‘Twilight Becomes Night’. It’s a documentary about local shops and their closure in New York. Virginie-Alvine Perrette ( the filmmaker) follows the lives and stories of five Neighbourhood stores in NYC watching them in their struggle for survival against larger competitors.

It is amazing the way the short clip cuts straight to the point of shopping locally. It is also refreshing to see the way the community actively want to prevent their towns from becoming homogenized. The shop owners talk openly about ‘character of place’ being constructed by people and businesses - the idea these two things help to make an area unique and different from other geographical places. The documentary focuses on what neighbourhood shops means to local people and the larger community that they serve - when a local business is lost a part of the social fabric of the area is lost with it.

It is really moving, and although based on American neighbourhoods it’s still extremely applicable to the UK. We mirror what is happening in the US in the respect that we too, are losing local neighbourhood shops fast. I think it is a great piece of filmmaking, and anything that can help raise awareness about shopping local is all good.