Power to the KPH and the sisterhood

It's good to see that Vince Power, the chippy Waterford-born impresario who founded the Mean Fiddler group, has lost little of his grit, even if he has lost most of his business empire.

Power gave a typically pugnacious interview to the Observer newspaper in Britain last weekend about his battle to stop developers taking control of the Kensington Park Hotel (KPH), which isn't a hotel at all but a bohemian pub in London's Notting Hill that is run by Power.

The KPH is apparently an institution among the old arty set in Notting Hill, which has been taken over by mega-rich property types in recent decades. The property company that owns the building has issued a quit notice to the leaseholder, who is too ill to run the pub.

Power apparently runs it for him, on power of attorney. The former Glastonbury promoter told the newspaper he is determined to fight against the developers, who intend to terminate the KPH’s lease on September 5th.

He was pictured by the Observer standing outside the pub, scowling like a bouncer. I wouldn't like to be the one who has to evict him.

“The fight for this place is what gets me out of the house in the morning,” he said. Rather provocatively, he has booked a number of live acts for the KPH for the weeks following the supposed quit date.

Meanwhile, he is also doing his bit for his home town, as an ambassador for the Three Sisters bid by Waterford, Kilkenny and Wexford to be the European Capital of Culture for 2020.

Joining Power's sisterhood as Kilkenny's ambassador is hurling god Brian Cody, while Wexford has put up children's author Eoin Colfer.