The Algerian Coffee Stores – caffeinating London since 1887
I blush as I write this, but in over 40 years in London, yesterday was the first time I’ve ever bought anything in Old Compton […]
London Icons
The London Plane – our very own tree
In Brunswick Gardens, a stone’s throw from the Coram foundation, is one of the ‘Great Trees of London‘, a huge, and 230 year old, London […]
Feeling Sorry for Marble Arch
If it’s possible to feel sorry for a pile of stones, the Marble Arch is probably deserving of sympathy. Like a Hollywood megastar now scratching […]
Spook Central – the MI6 Building at Vauxhall
Trains from Clapham Junction to Waterloo generally stop at Vauxhall, and whenever on the service I look at the passengers getting on or off at […]
Book Review | Public House: A Cultural and Social History of the London Pub
[This review was first published on The London Society website in February 2022] As a London Blue Badge Guide I take Americans around London – the Tower, […]
Duck Island Cottage – Westminster’s Swiss Chalet
It’s somehow absolutely typical of london that some of the closest neighbours to George Gilbert Scott’s huge Italianate Foreign Office building is a pair of […]
National Covid Memorial Wall
Along the Albert Embankment wall of St Thomas’ Hospital, directly over the Thames to the Houses of Parliament is an incredible piece of public guerrilla […]
The India Club
Dishoom does the ‘Indian Cafe’ experience very well indeed, and if you’re prepared to queue, serves some great tasting food and impressive cocktails. But if […]
Brick Lane’s Beigel Bake
Forget your hipster bars and street art tours, single estate coffee and craft beer, upcycled furniture and bleeding edge fashions, the most compelling reason to visit […]
Bar Italia, a Soho Institution
I’m having a coffee in the last of the Soho coffee bars. An absurd statement on the face of it; there are probably more places […]