Pssst … DID YOU KNOW that there’s a beautiful and varied shopping street in central London that you might not have visited yet?
And that one cafe recently went viral?
It’s called Connaught Village, and we had a lovely time exploring it, let us tell you about it.
A Basque cheesecake café has recently opened here called La Maritxu- it sells two products- Basque Cheesecake, and Coffee. But if you’re worried about that affecting business, it hasn’t. There have been queues around the block at the weekend, and cheesecake has been – selling out by 4 PM.
A Basque cheesecake (native to the region in Northern Spain), is like none we’ve tasted- it’s baked at high temperatures and has no base- so it’s just pure delicious creaminess. La Maritxu is run by two sisters from the Basque region, Lucia and Maria.
Lucia used to be an architect but would make Basque Cheesecakes in the evening. Friends said how much they loved it, so the sisters decided to take the plunge and set up a business. La Maritxu has been flocked to by food influencers recently, and has gone viral on Instagram.
This post from Loulouexplores got over 100,000 likes https://instagram.com/reel/C1pZiq4ItG2/
This one, EatingWithTod, also got over 100,000 likes. https://instagram.com/reel/C2R7yW8Iubf/
You can also see more details on their website here: https://lamaritxucheesecake.co.uk
And there is SO MUCH to discover – there’s this beautiful cheesemongers, Buchanans, which supplies cheeses to some of London’s finest restaurants.
Matthew here says this is the best goats cheese in the world, Sinodun Hill- a nice clean taste, with a real depth of flavour.
Matthew also says the Baron Bigod does very well. Their website is here … http://buchananscheesemonger.com They also sell some beautiful crockery and chutneys, and we like the look of this book:
And then there’s London Chocolate- a bean-to-bar chocolate maker. The hot chocolate here is so thick it’s like nothing we’ve experienced- like a liquid shot of chocolate. We met a customer who’d come from another part of London, and said it’s the best in the capital.
Alex owns the business and has been here for 2 years.
He said he would rather the street here was pedestrianised- as there’s a lot of traffic that’s just cutting-through. “If the street was more people-friendly, it would be a nicer place to hang out” he told us.
Dawn Green has the most beautiful shop called Kokoro London (https://kokorolondon.com). She sells stunning fashion and jewellery pieces, and has been here for 8 years. But despite the queues around the block at Maritxu, footfall on the street as a whole over the years hasn’t been what businesses would like, or what we think they deserve.
Dawn also thinks the pedestrian should be put first, and told us Elizabeth Street in Belgravia is perfect- slower traffic, and wider pavements. And she thinks a Low Traffic Neighbourhood could work.
Dawn told us that Elizabeth street is “more human-centred, that the pedestrian is more important than the traffic there”.
We went on a weekday to Connaught Village and were very surprised by the amount of traffic here. Lots of businesses talked about the heavy through-traffic and how it made the atmosphere less nice for walking around.
We met with a representative of the residents group Hyper, who in 2020 devised plans for a large piazza at this end, which they say many locals they’ve spoken to would be in favour of.
They’ve created a design too. Their idea is motor traffic couldn’t pass down Connaught Street, but could still loop around onto Kendal street on the right.
They think this would reduce traffic, and make the area more people-friendly, which would help footfall.
A piazza!
The area certainly is an absolute gem. And we feel everything should be done to cut through-traffic and increase footfall here, and we hope Councillors will be bold in their thinking.
Some plans have recently come out, so we’ll be looking through them and reporting back – in the meantime, add it to your bucket list of places to visit in London.
And if you do, make sure to take in the colours of the beautiful knitwear, and Westminster’s own version of the Flat Iron building!
