Pop up fun

There are, I have read (in the trendier left leaning newspapers and magazines that I do not of course buy, but find in the better class of train carriage or clap clinic waiting room), about pop up restaurants.

Pop up restaurants are not, it would appear, giant three dimensional cookbooks with seating for thirty and a turbulent chef hidden in the index, but rather restaurants in unusual places. Disappointingly, what is considered ‘unusual’ in these circumstances is anywhere well ventilated, spacious and in a trendy postcode.

When I hear ‘pop up restaurant’, I have certain expectations. I want to open doors to the most unusual places, I want to open the door to trap three of a public lavvie and find a candlelit table, two chairs and a hot plate there, or be climbing a tree, mountain or loft ladder and find a place at the top renowned for doing interesting things with ducks.

Of course, for those of us in the real world, we have known about pop up restaurants for years. They are layby cafes and they serve up the very best in greasy baps and tea.

Why though, draw the line at pop up restaurants? I rather like the idea of pop up libraries, swimming pools (okay, ambitious that one), cinemas (already being done through mobile cinemas), film studios (the next logical step) and, already here, pop up theatre in the form of site-specific theatre…but site specific theatre that you’d actually want to see – for instance you slip into your chair at your check-out for a nine hour shift and next to you is played out not some bloody monologue about feminist bar codes, but rather a feel-good musical rom-com! With lasers. And sequins.