Live threads through my favorite city — London
Not a guidebook
This is not a "best of London" list.
It’s a living map of places I go — and I would send a friend, not a tourist.
Some you’ll know. Some you might not. Some will change (or close) by the time you read this, because London moves fast. Mostly: it’s full of places with a pulse. Where someone is making, baking, growing, spinning, fermenting, stretching, writing, or just building something weird and good.
Roughly grouped by area, with short descriptions and links. No paid ads, no weird hype. Just a lot of love for a city that’s alive, exhausting, and still brilliant. One may say it is the best city in the world.
I’ve mostly lived around east, north, and west London — so my knowledge is thinner on the south and a few other corners. There’s tons more out there, obviously. This is just a slice of the city, filtered through my taste. Take what you need. Try some good walking tours (eg open city). Wander the rest.
I’m always up for hearing about somewhere good. Feel free to send it over.
See you out there.
East London
E5 Bakery – Sourdough dreams in a converted warehouse — Link
The Dusty Knuckle Bakery – Legendary bread. Period. Link
Doña – Mezcal, music, and mischief in a velvet cave — Link
EartH — Retro cinema + gigs = East London cool — Link
Cafe OTO – Jazz, noise, experimental soundscapes till late. One of a kind. Support oto <3 Link
Libreria bookshop — kaleidoscopic maze of literary discovery tucked just off Brick Lane in East London. Like Borjes Babel. Link
Night Tales Loft – Rooftop parties with railway chic. Link
Columbia Road Flower Market — flowers. what else do you need? Link
The Jago Dalston – where Passing Clouds once ruled.. Link
Perilla – Fine dining disguised as your mate’s supper club. Link
Angelina – Italian-Japanese lovechild of a restaurant. Link
Revitalise urban spa — contrast therapy/ sauna & cold plunge at Stokey. Link
Lea Rowing Club — get into a rowing boat, flow in the canal. Link
Casa Fofó – Neighbourhood tasting menus. Link
Blackhorse Workshop & Cafe — full of practical courses and wonderful cafe and community events. Link
Gunpowder Spitalfields – Big flavours, small plates. Link
Walthamstow Trades Hall — carpet’s loud, the pints are cheap, and the karaoke is gloriously off-key. Hosts a variety of events, including live music, comedy nights, and community gatherings. Link
Bubala – Vegetables that will make you rethink your life choices. Link
Algha’s plantroom — industrial heritage site at Fish Island. Link
Fold — artist-led, community-driven nightclub and arts space. Link
Gwada / ጓዳ the best vegan Ethiopian in Dalston. The most lovely owners. Link
Monohon Ramen – great soupless ramen (abura soba). Expect queues. Link
Donlon Books — bookshop specializing in art, photography, counter culture, music, theory and hard to find books @ London fields. link
Walthamstow Wetlands — 211 hectares of wild London: herons, reservoirs, and Victorian pump house charm. Free entry. Lots of walks and learning runs organised by the London Wildlife Trust. yes, that beauty is in London.
The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities – Taxidermy meets tequila. Freaking weird. Link
Nagare Coffee – Precision pour-overs for the caffeine nerds. Link
Hackney Wick Baths – community centre, ecstatic dance, baths, sounds. Link
Ridley Road Social Club – Hidden sounds. Link
Om Being — somatic practices like meditation, dance, intuitive movement, breathwork, vocalisation, and sensory. link
Weirdough Bakery — best bakery near Walthamstow. Link
BRAT Restaurant – Fire-kissed seafood from Basque country dreams. Link
Ginette French cafe — cosy French cafe just off Dalston. Link
Giant steps — travelling sound system from Brilliant Corners (more recently at The Bath House). Link
BLACK CACTUS — Genuinely the best BBQ in London at Blackhorse. Link
Renegade Urban Winery - Walthamstow — London-made wine, warehouse vibes. Link
The Create Place — Community arts space near Bethnal Green. Link
Bethnal Green Working Men's Club — Iconic London venue, a century of community heritage / drag and karaoke. Link
Folklore Hoxton — Eclectic gigs and late-night sounds. Link
St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace — A medieval church reborn as a sanctuary for dialogue and peace. Link
The Well Garden — Holistic health treatment studio in East London. Link
Central London
Host Café — Coffee with a stained-glass glow. Inside a church. Link
Wellcome Collection — Where art and science meet. Link
Pushkin House — UK’s oldest independent Russian cultural centre, nice programming. Link
Treadwell’s Books — Atmospheric bookshop stocking literature on magic, spiritualism, tarot readings, and events. Link
Tate Modern — Industrial-size culture injection — obviously. Link
Below Stone Nest — A subterranean, late-night drinking spot on the outskirts of Chinatown. Link
Hunterian Museum — Spine-tingling stroll through centuries of surgery, skeletons, and weird science. Link
Reference Point — Books, art, and late-night hangs. Link
The Meditatio Centre — A quiet old church in Clerkenwell for deep stillness, silent Saturdays, multifaith groups, and the occasional poetry session. Link
The Poetry Society — Verse, voice, and vibrant new voices under one roof. Link
The Horse Hospital — Avant-garde art in a Victorian stable. Link
Bertha DocHouse — UK’s first cinema dedicated solely to documentaries. Link
Sadler’s Wells — Ballet, breakdance, and everything in between. Link
Kairos Social Club — Counter-club for the climate-curious. Link
Institute of Contemporary Arts — Radical ideas, films, tunes. Link
Top Secret Comedy Club — Raw, ridiculous, and often dangerously funny. Link
The Newspeak House — Hackers, thinkers, political dreamers convene here. Link
London Night cafe — cafe for the nocturnal ones. Link
Gresham College / LSE Talks — Free knowledge bombs, weekly. Link
Speedboat Bar — Thai curries and party spirit straight from Bangkok. Link
Inner Space (Covent Garden) — Free meditations. Link
North London
Soma hŌṃe (N16) — Stretch, chill, sip cacao, repeat. Link
Cecil Sharp House — Beating heart of English folk culture in Camden. Link
The Old Church (Stoke Newington) — Repurposed old church, full of beautiful events. Link
Rasa (Stoke Newington) — Keralan vegetarian curries and unusual snacks behind a pink facade. Link
Low Profile Studios / New River Studios / Drop Studios (Harringay warehouses) — DIY gigs, studio spaces, keep an eye on events. Link
Rigpa Buddhist Meditation Centre — Tibetan Buddhist Centre in North London. Link
The Jazz Café (Camden) — Soul, jazz, and live legends. Link
Union Chapel — Gothic style, 19th-century congregational church & venue for live music, comedy, spoken word. Link
Romeo & Giulietta Artisan Gelateria — Get your creamy ice cream and go hang at Clissold Park. Link
The Clarence Tavern — Pub grub but make it gastronomic. Link
Lee Valley Wildlife Discovery Centre — Overlooking Seventy Acres Lake, this centre offers 360-degree views from a five-metre viewing tower, overlooking wetland and grassland habitat. Link
South London
Venue MOT Unit 18 — If you find it, you’re in. Link
Ormside Projects — Industrial techno bunker. Link
Avalon Café — Cafe by day, underground rave by night. Link
Forma HQ — Artist-run space, bookshop, rooftop garden. Link
Jazzlive at The Crypt — Jazz tunes in a literal crypt under St. Giles Church, Camberwell. Link
Silk Road — Very yum Northern Chinese eats. Link
Sauna Social Club — Sauna & listening lounge in Peckham. Link
Sydenham Hill Wood and Cox's Walk — Unique mix of new and ancient woodland in Dulwich. Link
This list isn’t finished.
Neither is London.