STORIES with The Gist

STORIES with The Gist — Music & Food
Thursday 16 July 2026 · Circle & Star Theatre, Hampstead

Everyone thinks they already know the story. The Gist is built on the suspicion that we all want the real one.

Online, The Gist gets beneath the brands, businesses and culture shaping the way we live — counterintuitive, fast, and watched two million times a month. On 16 July, its founder Huw Allen brings it somewhere it has never been: off the screen, into a room of 55, with the time and the company to actually have the conversation out loud.

Two halves. Two subjects. Two guests who have spent their careers on the inside of both — and a room close enough that the conversation doesn't stay on the stage.

This is not a panel. It's the long version of something you already know in ninety-second pieces.

First Half — Music, with Sacha Skarbek

Sacha Skarbek has written songs you've owned for twenty years without knowing his name. Three things on the table:

★ AI didn't kill the songwriter — the royalty split might
★ A song everyone knows is worth less than it has ever been
★ The fury over ticket prices — is the public angry at the wrong people?

Second Half — Food, with Mark Wogan

Mark Wogan talks about British food not as a critic looking in, but as someone with a stake in it. Three things on the table:

★ The biggest disruptor in British food isn't a chef — it's a drug
★ "Ultra-processed" — the words everyone uses and no one can define
★ A food culture never better at the top, never harder to afford in the middle

Hosted by Huw Allen

Huw Allen is the founder of The Gist, the media brand that goes beneath the stories everyone thinks they already understand — and gets there before you've finished your coffee. With more than 60,000 followers and two million monthly views across Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn and YouTube, The Gist has built its reputation on the counterintuitive take on the brands, businesses and culture shaping the way we live. This is the first time it has been done live.

Sacha Skarbek

Sacha Skarbek is one of the songwriters whose work you already know by heart. Classically trained, he co-wrote six songs on James Blunt's Back to Bedlam — including "You're Beautiful," "Goodbye My Lover" and "Wisemen" — before writing "Cold Shoulder" for Adele's 19 and the US number-one "Wrecking Ball" for Miley Cyrus. His credits run through Lana Del Rey, Duffy, James Bay, Jason Mraz and Tears for Fears. Two Ivor Novello Awards. A Grammy nomination for Song of the Year. He has spent a career on the inside of the songs that defined a decade — and knows exactly how, and at what cost, they were really made.

Mark Wogan

Mark Wogan is a broadcaster, podcaster and food obsessive who has built a second career around the table. He hosts Spooning with Mark Wogan, recorded at the Groucho Club and Mount Street, and presents on Virgin Radio — broadcasting, you might say, in the blood. Away from the microphone he runs a London food business, which means he talks about what's happening to the way Britain eats with something at stake in the answer. Sharp, funny and genuinely curious — exactly the kind of guest this room is built for.

Running time: approx. 90 minutes, including an interval, plus time afterwards to stay, talk and connect.

🗓 Thursday 16 July 2026 · 🚪 Doors 7:30pm · 🕗 Show 8:00pm
📍 28 Heath Street, Hampstead, London NW3 6TE
🪑 55 seats only

STEP IN. COME UP. BE PART OF THE STORY.