This is a really cute little cinema with big comfy chairs, just like how you might have a cinema in your house if you could and the lounge area is very stylish too. Be careful to get there early though as they have rammed in one row too many so the front row will make [...]

Boxpark is a pretty weird set up. Having taken over a disused space next to the fairly new Shoreditch station, it’s made up of a series of shipping containers. Pretty ingenious I think. That area used to be nothing and could have been turned into another glass skyscraper. The container units are all painted gloss [...]

Let me start by saying that I generally hate museums. I find things in glass cases painfully dull. Whenever I visit a new city I’m honestly more inclined to check out the supermarkets. On a recent trip to Washington DC, from the wealth of museums on offer I only went to the Smithsonian to see [...]

From enamel colanders and bread bins to horsehair brooms, linen dishtowels, stainless steel kettles and old-fashioned school notebooks, buying the most boring household items had never been so fun. Labour and Wait specialise in all things timeless, traditional and simple right down to the tin lampshades, buying a dustpan and brush has taken on a [...]

I found the Notting Hill Bookshop whilst escaping the thundering rain and deciding to look for a travel guide for my upcoming trip to Amsterdam. I drive my friends mad by buying one of each guide and insisting on keeping the books in perfect condition, so no bending of the spine, meaning the book can [...]

I’ve never been keen on Museums or Art galleries. I find that when paintings, furniture or artefacts of any kind are out of their intended habitat, they just become boring objects of which countless replicas have been made, so who cares if it’s really really old. The kind of ‘museums’ I love however are Buckingham [...]

I’ve just been on a trip to America and I promised a friend I would pick up some of her favourite sweets and peanut butter however I couldn’t be bothered to carry it all the way home so figured I’d just go to Cyber Candy the Holy Grail of sugar in every colour, shape and [...]

I found Book Mongers totally by accident when I was looking for Brixton Village. Brixton has many great places, give it time and no doubt it will be what Shoreditch has become, although I think it has a few years in it yet. Book Mongers is the sort of place that anyone who has a [...]

Blitz feels like a little piece of New York City. I couldn’t tell you what it was exactly that makes me say this, perhaps it’s the sophistication and service? Excellent service! super friendly, American style, the store assistants look like an extras from a Russ Meyer film, where do they find these people? Best described [...]

The times when I seem to find the best places are when I’m killing time waiting for Rafael. This time we’re going to see a band. I rarely if ever go and see bands. My days of that are long gone unless I know someone in the band. These days I prefer to sit and [...]

Episode is one of the few remaining vintage shops in Camden, which not so long ago used to be little but vintage shops and grungy bars. These days however Camden seems to be going up in flames to make room for lots of glossy new businesses which you would think would kill off the hippies [...]

Pop Boutique has been around for a long time, it was one of the first vintage shops I discovered when I moved to London. I went to Central Saint Martins (school of art) in nearby Soho where I had a lot of free time and more money than I have ever had since, (student loan, [...]

The Daunt Books flagship store is one of the most glorious bookshops you will ever see. It mimics a beautiful old library from one of England’s palaces and reminds me of Lord Groan’s personal library in Gormenghast. Here they don’t arrange books by alphabetical order but by country as it’s primarily a travel bookshop, so [...]

Jambala is a most welcoming little shop, chockablock full of books with shelves crammed to bursting and piles stacked up in every spare corner I can never walk by without sticking my head in and having a look around, no doubt finding a well loved JD Salinger or such like. It’s run by the London [...]

Don’t expect to be greeted warmly. No no, you’ll get a sneer that’s for sure – “don’t knick anything as I can’t be bothered to keep an eye you” from the store assistant (no doubt called India….Indiyaaaah um… seriously, someone named you that? I don’t think so). Obviously The Retro Exchange is used to people [...]