InSpiral Lounge
Restaurant information
Established16 December 2007
Closed6 January 2016
Previous owner(s)Dominik Schnell
CityLondon
CountryUnited Kingdom

51°32′29″N 0°8′47″W / 51.54139°N 0.14639°W / 51.54139; -0.14639

The inSpiral Lounge and Walkers Quay in Camden Lock
InSpiral Lounge is located in Greater London
InSpiral Lounge
Map showing the location of The inSpiral Lounge in London.

The InSpiral Lounge was an organic vegan restaurant, eco-café and events venue in Camden Lock, Camden, London, England, overlooking the Regent's Canal and Camden Market[1] until its closure in 2016. It was the trading name of Ekopia Ltd.

History

The inSpiral Lounge was founded by Dominik Schnell, plus a team of investors, and opened on 16 December 2007. Annabella Willink was further appointed as co-director on 15 March 2010. Since its opening, the organisation had clear policies on nutrition, environment, music and creativity. It aimed to promote mindful choices and community spirit in a laid back yet energised setting.

In the evening the venue hosted live music performances and spoken word along with DJs well known in ambient electronica circles.[2] The venue regularly served as a backdrop for artwork from visionary artists. The premises were shared with Walkers Quay, which organises regular boat trips and dinners along the Regent's Canal to Little Venice.

inSpiral Lounge evolved from a previous project, IDSpiral, which ran an organic café and a replenishing chill out area, complete with nature inspired sculptures and light installations, at festivals such as Glastonbury and The Glade.[2]

inSpiral Lounge permanently closed to the public on 6 January 2016[3]

Food and drink

The menu was organic and vegan, and specialised in gluten-free cuisine as well as incorporating a raw food menu[4] It also included a juice and superfood smoothie bar, organic cocktail bar, medicinal mushroom infused coffees and their own range of 14 flavours of raw vegan sugar-free soft serve ice creams. In 2011 it branched out into a secondary wholesale organic living foods business making and selling a range of 33 products including kale chips, cakes, crackers, granolas and raw chocolate. They operated an online shop where amount their foods and nutritional supplement one could also pick up ambient and electronic music CDs.[5]

It was one of the first establishments in London to provide such an offering.[6]

Music

The venue had a built in DJ booth and hosted live music with open mic nights and notable DJs and performances by artists such as Gaudi, Dreadzone Sound System, Carbon Based Lifeforms, Raja Ram, Banco de Gaia, Alex Patterson from The Orb, Ott, System 7, Eat Static, Astralasia, Mixmaster Morris, Space Tribe, Matt Black from Coldcut and The Dub Pistols.[7]

Festivals and outdoor catering

The inSpiral Lounge provided catering, music stages and cafes at several notable events and festivals including The Glade Festival, Glastonbury Festival, Festival of Life, Camden Green Fair, Secret Garden Party amongst others.

Awards

In 2009 it won the Archant Food and Drink Awards for the best Theme restaurant and best Take-out in London.[8] It was also voted one of the top ten vegetarian restaurants in 2009 by the Vegetarian Society and was nominated as Finalist in the Archant Environmental Awards as the most environmental small business category.

Capital Growth roof garden

The inSpiral Lounge was involved with London's Capital Growth Project, an initiative run in partnership with the Mayor of London Boris Johnson, London Food Link and the Big Lottery's Local Food Fund aiming to create 2012 new community food growing spaces across London by the end of 2012.[9] inSpiral is growing space number 93 and is in the process of building a roof garden where food for the restaurant can be grown locally rather than flown in from abroad.[10] Further to the involvement with Capital Growth, in March 2009 The inSpiral Lounge approached Boris Johnson and Camden Council directly, requesting the use of land near Hawley Wharf for development into a growing space. The request was turned down by the owner, a large Brewery and the land next to Hawley Wharf remains a derelict eyesore to this day.[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Joe Fullman (26 April 2010). Frommer's London Free & Dirt Cheap. Frommer's. pp. 251–. ISBN 978-0-470-68377-4. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
  2. 1 2 O'Brien, Siobhan., View London Review of The inSpiral Lounge, 19/08/2010
  3. ↑ "InSpiral on Facebook". Facebook. Archived from the original on 27 April 2022.
  4. ↑ acyntha Crawley; Sam Crawley; Pam Bennett (2011). The International Raw Food Restaurant Guide. Ki Publishing. pp. 93–. ISBN 978-1-908021-00-7. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
  5. ↑ Newman, Sarah., The Camden New Journal – The Review – RESTAURANTS The Inspiral lounge – A love and plate relationship., Published: 21 February 2008.
  6. ↑ "Clode, Rachel., The Ecologist, Article, What's brewing? The rise of organic beer, 1 July 2008". Archived from the original on 10 March 2014. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
  7. ↑ Gadelrap, Roisin., The Islington Tribune, Article, 22 April 2011.
  8. ↑ "Archant Food & Drink Awards 2009 – Overall Winners". Archived from the original on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
  9. ↑ BBC News Article – Londoners urged to grow own food, Tuesday, 4 November 2008
  10. ↑ Capital Growth Website – Growing Space 93
  11. ↑ Paygon, Paul., The Camden New Journal, Letters to the Editor, 5 March 2009.
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