Female Founders, University Women’s Club, Audley St Pub and Kensington Roof Gardens

Wolverhampton → London

A jam-packed two days in London began by stepping out of my country house in my city clothes. It's always weird when I "get dressed for London" and I have 20 minutes in the wheat fields and green trees before getting the train, it's a real mindshift from Country Mouse to Town Rat.

I left Wolverhampton on the 9.45am train and arrived by 12pm at my new home from home - the University Women’s Club. Since 1886, the UWC has been a home for women in the heart of Mayfair. It has the most incredible library and 18 bedrooms, one of which I am staying in this evening. It feels like a women’s boarding house in the 1950s and I love it. 

What Investors Are Really Thinking…

After I dropped my bag, I walked from South Audley Street to Pall Mall via Green Park and it was glorious. Being in the fancy side of town really puts a spring in your step. 

Arrived at the Institute of Directors to appear on a panel for EIS, the trade body for entrepreneur relief. If you are a founder, you should definitely be using this tax break so that your startup is more attractive to investors. The panel discussion which was on how do we get more female founded funded. Even though I don’t feel at all engaged in the entrepreneur community or start ups or general hustle era, I was happy to support my friend, the Director of EIS, Christiana Stewart-Lockhart.

However, I was totally incensed by a man in the audience who asked the most ridiculous question. All the way at the back at the room, he asked "What advice do you give a lady entrepreneur who is raising for reproductive health insurance and pitching to men like me who have no idea about that topic." I was livid. It's questions like these that highlight what happens to women in pitch meetings in all the time. 

I shouted back "So just to be clear, do you not have reproductive organs? Do you not have analysts who can research the market. Do you not have access to trend reports and newspapers. Wait - do you not have the same Google that I do?"

I continued..

"Your question is lazy. I've invested into technologies that I have no domain expertise in, but I'm smart enough to know that it's a growing market and I can assess whether I think that start up has a shot. This is problem. Every time a man says, let me ask my wife, or gets embarrassed because they ignore the experience of half the population, you're contributing of the declining rate of women being funded."

It’s funny what comes out of your mouth when you no longer care about being liked by an industry.

Pall Mall → Mount St

Onwards then, a Lime bike back to check in at UWC and have a little moment to decompress before walking to Mount St Gardens (gah! I love being in Mayfair!) to do a call with a team member on a bench. I then bounced off through the gates to meet India Cardona or India Edit for a chat about a project I’m working on that I think she would be into. 

We met at Audley St Public House - the ONLY pub you’ll really find me in. It’s owned and operated by the team at Mount St Restaurant so it’s has a diverse staff, incredible menu and art on the ceiling. I ate these breaded lamb neck bites and beef dripping chips and a half of cider, which was way too heavy but I wanted some “London food”.

Mount St → Royal Academy

India walked me to my next meeting - I say meeting but it was really a catch up with my darling Laura Weir. I really miss working with her (Laura consulted on our Stack Newspaper) and we walked around the RA discussing work, life and culture. I loved her outfit - grey suit, ballet pumps and Palace Skateboards tote.

Royal Academy → South Audley Street

I then took Laura back to my room at UWC so she could check it out (expect me to bring you all here at some point) and then she went for dinner on the next street, while I took a short cab to the new Roof Gardens Club.

South Audley Street → Kensington

Arrived in Derry St (incidentally Laura’s previous home at ES Mag) I headed up to the sixth floor where the brand new Roof Gardens Club was bustling. The brainchild of OVO Energy founder, Stephen Fitzpatrick, The Roof Gardens occupies the site of the former legendary Kensington Roof Gardens - where flamingos wandered about in the 1970s and takes its inspiration from its illustrious past, such as the Biba bar, while also bringing the modern luxury of the best clubs we know today. 

I had dinner with my long time friend - writer and host of the Deep Read podcast, Phoebe Lovatt and Rachel Muscat, CEO of Humanrace, the skincare company she cofounded with Pharrell Williams. We chatted all things about culture, beauty, writing and business, but mainly about our favourite TV shows. Rachel and I loved Hacks!

I love talking to Phoebe about culture. We could talk for hours on this shit. I was telling her about sometimes I feel like a Queen at court that is just bored and waiting for jesters to entertain her.  Culture has become so flattened that when I see or experience something genuinely weird or new, or like someones brain vomited out in their art, I am delighted. The last weird/interesting thing I saw was this video, and I watched it like 20 times in a row. 

We ate this amazing tacos, which Phoebe said reminded her of Contramar restaurant in Mexico City and I had lobster linguini. You can see I’m going all out on the rich food while I’m here so as well as being a Queen of the court, I might end up with some medieval style gout too. 

As we got outside, I got a good look at Phoebes incredible vintage Prada shearing green top. Yum. 

Back to my Boarding House

I then jumped in a cab back to UWC and had a bath before collapsing into bed. 

I wore sort of the wrong outfit, but I looked ready for business so that was the tradeoff. It was so hot in London that day that I was sweating slightly but I had on all my fave items..

Ganni Jacket - Perfect blazer/coat

Paris Georgia Dress - best all day dress

Ganni Bag - I never normally have a mid size bag but surprisingly great

Paris Texas boots but then I changed into...

Vibi Venezia Velvet pumps.

You can shop my wardrobe here.

This post (and day) is really long and I have another full day tomorrow…