Building buys a pint for…Trowers & Hamlins

Hold the front page: could this be the first time ever Building has bought a pint for more women than men? The Trowers & Hamlins contentious construction law team has a fascinating ratio of five females to three males. It’s probably also the first time Building has bought a pint in a bar themed around vegetation. The Folly has the look of a jungle, with rows of palms and a ceiling-high tree trunk growing next to the bar. You might even say we’re turning over… a new leaf?

Ben, perhaps a little too chuffed at the arrival of his new baby over the Christmas break, “accidentally” drinks from my ale almost by way of introduction. But I shouldn’t take this personally, says Sue - this is a man with a penchant for other people’s food and drink. “He once ate the remains of a lamb chop from a stranger’s plate for a £10 bet,” she remembers. Ben doesn’t seem to regret it, perhaps because he needs the money to fund his second most expensive habit, other than his newborn: Apple products. “When I found out the baby wasn’t made by Apple, I wasn’t interested,” he jokes. We hope.

The unintended consequences of iThings for Christmas seems to be a common theme at T&H. Theresa got her boyfriend an iPad, but she was rather too generous. “He now takes it everywhere; the bedroom, the bathroom, the living room, the kitchen. It’s basically replaced me.”

Jessica has improved the smell of her house immeasurably with a bread maker, while Sue was given an even more elaborate gift: a potato ricer. “It makes really smooth mashed potato, like in a restaurant,” she says. “But it takes ages.” Maybe everyone could swap?

Not content with receiving a multitude of expensive presents for Christmas, certain members of the T&H team actually resorted to theft after their festive party. An innocent American tourist was deprived of his hat, because, in one giggly thief’s words: “It looked like it was made out of a bear! How could you not steal something that enticing?” A rhetorical question if ever I heard one.

The team seem to delight in rearranging letters. “Did you realise, Finsbury Park backwards is Krapy rub snif?” says Triada. (No, I hadn’t realised that.) She also maintains that she comes from a place called Crewchond, which sounds French, but then, after much confusion, it turns out to be a fancy reworking of Crouch End, a rather buggy thronged area of north London. Tim explains that the T&H canteen is called Treats, “because it’s T&H, plus eats… oh wait, that would be Threats,” he realises. Still, the complementary toffee shortbread at the firm does sound good, although Digby, who has just joined from Linklaters, won’t be drawn on whether their jelly baby encrusted cookies were better.

Now that’s contentious construction.