Punk Pilgrimage: Exploring London Through the Sex Pistols’ 1977 Haunts
I first cared about Sex Pistols because of a bus stop in Wallsend, not some grand moment in rock history. I was about fourteen, it was lashing it down, and…
Rachel was born in Newcastle and spent fifteen years trying to convince people in London that the north of England is more than a long weekend in the Peak District. She had mixed results.
She worked in food and hospitality for most of her twenties — front of house, catering management, a brief and chaotic stint running a small supper club in Gateshead — before moving into writing about the things she'd spent years doing professionally: eating well without spending a fortune, finding places that feed you properly, and understanding why regional food in Britain is far more interesting and varied than anyone gives it credit for.
Rachel's articles tend to start with a specific meal and end up somewhere unexpected — a conversation with a fishmonger, a detour to a village she'd never heard of, a café that turned out to be the best thing in a twenty-mile radius. She's interested in the living, breathing culture of the places she visits rather than the heritage version served up for visitors.
She now lives in Yorkshire, which she considers a lateral move rather than a retreat, and is working her way through every independent bakery in the county with the focus of someone who takes this very seriously.
