COMING NEXT WEEK ...AND MORE

Here at Connoisseur HQ we've just come off the back of a rather manic and definitely hectic week, we're not complaining though, far from it.
Our new Woodbank Polos went up on Monday and were virtually gone in two days which was rather crazy. Crazier still - were our limited edition Harris Tweed scarves which sold out in 4 minutes!! Now they were limited but that was frighteningly quick. We are still waiting on a batch of the L/S polos still to arrive so there will be some more over the next few weeks.

NEXT WEEK we have two brand new tees that have finally arrived.


The excellent and unique artwork of the always great Bill Murray commissioned from Andy Watt, will be available on both White and Khaki tees and we have The Good Doctor Mr Thompson making his long awaited bow on both White and Navy tees each with different colourways. This one also features some pretty snazzy and most definitely 'kool and the gang' silver ink detail to boot! Two seriously ace tees even if I do say so myself!

Over the coming weeks leading into the cold months we will be going hat mad with our selection of bonce warmers. The cult favourites the Weirs are on the way, also some lovely wool watch caps, a restock and new five panel options and some villainous flat caps! BUT spearheading all those is one of THE best bucket hats you couldwish to wear. The 'Arne Naess' hat has been a (slow) work in progress for some years and finally with the collaboration of our Scandinavian brothers at Our Culture it's come to fruition, we've got it nailed and we've created a pretty super titfter!

More on that soon! YHN

MIKE LEIGH'S FIVE MINUTE FILMS.

Some classic early kitchen sink shorts from one of our favourites, Mr Mike Leigh.

WOODBANK L/S POLO OUT NOW.

The Woodbank l/s Polo is now available to buy whilst stocks last, these are a lot more limited than last years offering, and come in four colours; Army, Marine, Chocolate and Azure.
Please note: we haven't had our full quota on these so there will be a full sizebreak in the Marine colour in the next few weeks if anyone misses out. Woodbank II. YHN

CONNOISSEUR PRODUCT UPDATE...

Okey dokey. There's been a lot happening here at Connoisseur HQ and lot's of new product is on the way of which we keep getting asked about - so we thought it high time we get another update post out there.
Firstly, after a couple of delays the new Woodbank Polos, this time in Long Sleeve and with a choice of four colours, but much more limited than last years version too, these will be available to purchase next week.

We've also got some new tees of course, there's plenty in the pipeline but this time we'll highlight two excellent pieces featuring commissioned artwork from illustrators. Firstly Andy Watt who's work you'll have seen in The Guide, FHM and GQ with his superb take on the great ever lasting subdued cool dude Bill Murray. Why Bill Murray? why not?
Released alongside Mr Murray is our continued work with our friend and cohort Mr O'Toole as we finally bring the Good Doctor to a tee. The Gonzo t-shirt sees another of our portrait and quote combos with a snazzy silver ink on Mr Thompsons' famous aviators and cigarette holder, cool 'huh!?

Coming shortly too we have some ace new super quality heavyweight sweatshirts, with a classic 'Nam influenced design and our College varsity style sweat on the way as well as a limited re-run of the fucking aceness Connoisseur take on the cult Wanderers logo.

Our lovely and limited edition Harris Tweed scarves have been patiently waiting for the bizarre extended summer to get to normal and the Autumn/Winter to finally kick in. These lovely pieces handmade by one person way up north on the Isle of Lewis come in super limited quantities and kick start the Connoisseur winter fun with a restock (including new choices) of our Made in the USA five panel Midtown caps, in addition to those there are some spiffing tweed flat caps on the way too, named in honour of Salford hardman-come-mountaineer Don 'the Villain' Whillans who wore his flat cap everywhere, even up Annapurna, probably.


Then, then, then.... come this years Weir hats. Our favourite and popular cult bobble hat is into it's fourth year now, with the style seemingly becoming more popular over that time too, we have not only one but two releases of three colourways plus a new fairisle style hat too. AND AND ! If that's not enough there's also some luvverly premium woolen 'watch caps' also made in England with Highland 2000 coming too. Wahey.

All details, prices, release dates and images to follow as they come. YHN

OUT & ABOUT : SHEFFIELD.

'Imagine my sheer horror when someone else turned up wearing brown chinos.'

REBEL ART.

April 25th Rosenthaler Platz in Berlin was the point of a fascinating guerilla street art event. It started with bikers that poured paint in front of cars that waited for green lights. The cars then had no choice but to move which in turn saw the busy the road transformed into a giant blank canvas. Water based paints were used, I'm sure it's clean now. YHN

BADA BING!

Ohhh! There he is! The greatest series in the history of television is celebrated right here with the greatest Sopranos tee you could ever wear. The No Risk, No Reward tee is out from today 10:00AM.
Featuring excellent artwork from our regular associate Mr O'Toole and topped off with some ace on location photography by 'a friend of ours' in New Jersey . It's here, get it or we'll set Chrissy's big pussy on you. YHN

OUT & ABOUT : ATHENS.

Looming bankruptcy, thousands on the streets in protest and general strikes, there are probably better times to visit Athens. That said the purpose of my trip was to work on the Greece-Croatia fixture in the EURO 2012 Qualifiers and there’s nothing like a vital football match to distract the masses. In between work there was a chance for a spot of sight seeing, but to avoid swathes of loud, badly dressed American tourists I checked out a couple of the lesser know destinations.
Being a sucker for football grounds of all shapes and sizes, when I visit any country the ‘to do’ list often features the name of some ramshackle stadium. This time was no different and I soon made my way to the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium. Built in 1922, it was until recently home to one of the cities three big teams, Panathinakos.

In England, old stadiums rich with history and memories soon get torn down for luxury flats or a supermarket, but ‘The Leoforos’ as it is also known still stands proud. With it’s urban location slap bang in the Ampelokipoi district of the city, it’s very much a surprise that the Greeks haven’t followed the route of many in this country.

It took me an hour just to walk around and appreciate the exterior of the stadium such was the variety and detail in the many displays.




Even the club have got in on the act, placing huge photos of great moments in their history along the top of one of the stands.

When you’ve played in a European Cup Final and been managed by the great Ferenc Puskas, there is much to be proud of and supporters and the club have joined forces to makes sure visitors are aware of times gone by. Alas there seemed to be no way in and unfortunately I didn’t get to see the interior, but even from the outside you can tell it would’ve been something special to see a match there.
If football is my number one passion, military history runs it a very close second. Whilst it won’t be on many visitors to Athens list, the Greek War Museum a couple stops down the excellent and cheap metro system was next.
As a regular visitor to the excellent Imperial War Museums both in London and Manchester the benchmark was high. That said whilst the Athens version is more traditional (artefacts behind glass cases) than the modern experiences available in England, it’s no less interesting or enjoyable. Such is the sheer number of weapons, medals, pictures, uniforms on show there is almost too much to see.








Whilst I’m a partial for anything related to the two World Wars in the 20th Century some of the older material going back hundreds of years were just as fascinating.

And not everything was behind a glass cases including a set of fighter jets outside!

Certainly worth getting off the well-beaten tourist track if you’re ever in Athens. During the course of work over the next few days I did see the popular sites such as The Acropolis, The Ancient Agora and The Panathenaic Stadium but give me a War Museum or an old football stadium any time.
The Greece- Croatia fixture was billed as the Cup Final. A win for the visitors Croatia and qualification for EURO 2012 would be confirmed, but a win for Greece would see them overtake the group leaders and be in pole position with one game left. A red-hot atmosphere spilled over into violence in the first few minutes when this happened….

Seems a group of 100 masked PAOK Athens fans wanted to extract some revenge on the Croatians after an incident in Zagreb in December 2010.
Order was eventually restored and until the 70th minute that was as interesting as things got both on and off the pitch. But then Georgios Samaras slammed home a rebound from a corner and the 30,000 Greeks went mental. They did so again soon after, when Fanis Gekas headed home from yet another corner. The sheer elation of both goals was reflected in the wall of sound emanating around the stadium – it was very noisy and for the first time in a while the Greeks were the ones with smiles on the faces.
Despite being from deepest darkest Somerset, I’m very much a City boy and if it’s hustle and bustle with a bit of tourism thrown in then Athens is worth a visit. I’ll be honest once you get past the cheap but delicious chicken or pork pittas available seemingly on every street corner, the food isn’t all that. It’s also probably not the best time to assess a city on its nightlife when it’s in the depths of an economic crisis. I’d definitely go back for another football game, one of the Athens Derbies maybe, it’s just a shame it won’t be at the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium. Word and pictures: Seb White.