If you find yourself hungry in Mayfair, you'll want to avoid the Bourdon Street Chippy. But if it's a feast for the eyes you're after, you're absolutely in the right place.
The faux restaurant is the latest work by textile artist Lucy Sparrow, and it's an absolute delight. Everything — and we mean everything — is made from felt or textiles, beautifully decorated or embroidered, and incredibly realistic.
Step off a quiet Mayfair mews, via a reminder not to touch any of the installation or sit at any of the — very inviting — tables, into the restaurant section of the chippy. A quintet of booths, complete with check tablecloths, condiment racks and full plates of food is overlooked by a cafe-style menu board.
The walls are packed with portraits — again, made entirely from fabric — offering impressively accurate depictions of celebrities, many of them 'signed'. On your first sweep, you'll likely pick out EastEnders stars Barbara Windsor, Shaun Williamson and June Brown, and TV presenter Alison Hammond. Look again for Cliff Richard, Alan Rickman, the Chuckle Brothers, Sir Trevor McDonald and George Michael.
Wander through the archway into the next room, where you'll find a traditional chippy counter. Battered fillets, pies, and pot of mushy peas sit in a glass cabinet waiting to be ordered (every piece of felt artwork, by the way, is available to buy), illuminated with a blue light so reminiscent of a real chippy, you can practically smell the oil and feel the heat of the fryer.
One whole wall is packed floor to ceiling with bottles of condiments — HP Sauce, Heinz Ketchup, Hellmann's Mayo, Sarson's Vinegar, Colman's Mustard and Tartare Sauce. Judging by the gaps in the display on the first day, the Ketchup bottles have been popular with punters so far..
Behind you, a drinks fridge, itself adorned with felt Lucozade branding, is filled with felt cans of Pepsi, Fanta, Coke and Rio, each packaging design captured perfectly.
The longer you linger, the more details you spot. Food hygiene certificates, poster ads for Pukka pies, flyers for local funfairs, and even the cutlery laid out on the tables have been painstakingly recreated using felt. A community notice board gives it the feeling of a long-time local institution, rather than an art pop-up which will have disappeared without trace in a couple of months.
Our favourite detail, though — and one that most people seemed to be missing — is that even the banana-shaped wet floor sign is made from, you guessed it, felt:
We got more joy and entertainment out of this — free! — two-room exhibition than we have out of some sprawling, multi-room displays at some of London's largest museums and galleries in the past. If you find yourself anywhere in the vicinity before mid-September, do yourself a favour and swing by.
The Bourdon Street Chippy immersive installation is at Lyndsey Ingram Gallery, 20 Bourdon Street, Mayfair, W1K 3PJ. It's open 1 August-14 September, Wednesday-Sunday 11am-4pm, as well as bank holiday Monday 25 August. Entry is free.
Londonist's art critic Tabish Khan and artist and broadcaster Anna Gammans spoke to Lucy Sparrow about the exhibition in the latest exhibition of their podcast, The Good, The Bad And The Arty.
