Fulham Pier – the river-facing side of Craven Cottage's dramatic new football stand – is officially open after the unveiling of a series of artworks along the Thames riverwalk.
The pictures, by artist Yinka Ilori, are based on 100 objects mudlarkers have uncovered at low tide on the foreshore close to Fulham FC's transformed stadium.
The stadium itself only hosts football matches on approximately 25 days a year. So the Fulham Pier project aims to create a multi-use venue for the other 340 days on the now-uninterrupted walk between Hammersmith and Putney bridges. Cllr Sharon Holder, Mayor of H&F, said:
Fulham Pier is a new jewel in H&F's riverside crown. It brings world-class culture, dining and entertainment to London's footballing capital and is yet another reason H&F is the best place to live, work and socialise."
Pottery history
Yinka's '100 Found Objects' artwork series included large 'lenticular' pictures facing the riverside walk, giving an almost 3D look to mudlarkers' discoveries of clay pipes, pottery and medals.
"I'm obsessed with Fulham's centuries-old history of potteries," he explained. Inside is a 10-metre digital work of art featuring the area's local flora, including specimens grown in nearby Fulham Palace's walled gardens, and plants reflecting the area's diversity. The digital greenery sways in response to sound!
More than £500,000 has been spent on art for the different spaces in Fulham Pier, including many works commissioned from H&F ceramicists. Yinka will be taking part in free workshops during a weekend of activity at Fulham Pier from 20-22 June, to allow locals to look around. All welcome.
River walk connections
For seven days a week, the public can now use and enjoy the Riverside Market. It is accessed via multiple entrances from the river boardwalk, with floor-to-ceiling windows facing the Thames and a choice of food from 10 different vendors – seven of them born in Hammersmith & Fulham, and many of them in their first bricks-and-mortar spaces.
Because of the financial structure of the project, it is even able to offer rent-free deals to young food entrepreneurs to help them get established. Another name in the Riverside Market is rapper Tinie Tempah, whose 'wRAPS' are also on offer.
Elsewhere in the new stadium development is Brasserie Constance, a first-floor restaurant with outdoor terrace tables (named after 20th century educator, author and florist Constance Spry OBE). It opens in early July, under Michelin-starred chef Adam Byatt. On matchdays it has TV screens showing sport, but they all retract and vanish on all other days.
Down a stunning spiral staircase or lifts is The Orange Box, a theatre and performance area with retractable seating, named after fans' nickname for an old part of the Craven Cottage terraces. It will host comedy nights and concerts.
Fulham Pier director Glen Sutton said the area deserved something special. "Just look at that river view," he said.
"If we didn't make the most of that we'd be nuts! It all separates us from what goes on over there, on that rectangle of green," he added, gesturing towards the football pitch, glimpsed through glass doors.
The whole community
Meanwhile, Fulham FC chairman Shahid Khan hailed the food halls, restaurant, theatre, spa and hotel built on seven levels within the riverside stand as "something that will serve the whole community".
He also agreed that the aim had been to make the most of the riverside setting of the oldest football club in London.
"It has to be the best of everything, but it also has to be very approachable, open and welcoming," he said. Intriguingly, there is absolutely no mention of Fulham FC – no logos, no names – inside Fulham Pier, except for one discrete club badge on the third floor, at the top of the spiral staircase.
Still to come, within the Fulham Pier venue, is a 13-suite hotel and a luxury spa with rooftop swimming pool. Both are due to be completed by September.
