The Blog

coronation chair westminster abbey

The Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey

11/01/2018 donbrown 0

Whenever I’m taking Americans around Westminster Abbey, I like to mention that when Columbus stumbled across the Americas, King Edward’s Chair (commonly known as the […]

The India Club

11/01/2018 donbrown 0

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 […]

Going ‘Behind the glass’ at the Churchill War Rooms

08/01/2018 donbrown 0

Already a huge hit with visiting Americans, the queues for the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum are only going to get longer with the […]

Chiappa “organ builders” at Eyre Street Hill in EC1.

17/12/2017 donbrown 0

Apparently they’ve been here since 1877, when this would have been the heart of London’s ‘Little Italy’, the area around Saffron Hill and the Clerkenwell […]

buckingham palace with lifeguards

Michael Fagan and Buckingham Palace

14/07/2017 donbrown 0

There might be red-coated soldiers from the elite Guards regiments standing sentry around it (not to mention large numbers of coppers with Big Guns), but […]

commit no nuisance sign on wall

What’s the meaning of “Commit no nuisance”?

25/06/2017 donbrown 0

As you wander around London you might see, either on an old sign, or painted up on a wall, the message “commit no nuisance”.  There’s […]

Brick Lane’s Beigel Bake

27/04/2017 donbrown 0

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

27/04/2017 donbrown 0

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 […]

Billingsgate – the early morning market

08/12/2016 donbrown 0

It’s five a.m. – 5 o’clock in the morning – in a misty Canary Wharf. You can’t see the top of 1 Canada Square and […]