The local's guide to London

I’ve lived in London for over 20 years, but I’ve retained my outsider’s curiosity about the city and am still discovering parts I’ve never seen before. I like the way its gravity shifts and neighbourhoods evolve, and the fact its food is now so good that people are happy to queue a really long time for a
table at many of its establishments.

And, although I’ve travelled around countless countries and cities, I think London is the most cosmopolitan place on earth – there’s just so much eye-opening culture to experience.

These are some of the places I’d take any visitor to.

The Courtauld Gallery, The Strand

This art space dates back to the 18th century, but before you step inside, look around you at London’s latest public space: around 200 metres of the street reclaimed from traffic, landscaped and furnished with seating – a place to pause in the busy city. The Courtauld itself reopened in 2021 after a major renovation, bringing space and light to rooms holding some of the UK’s fi nest art treasures: Van Gogh’s
Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear and Botticelli’s The Trinity with Saints among them, along with intricately detailed Islamic metalwork from the 16th century. Exquisite.
courtauld.ac.uk

The Hill Garden & Pergola, Hampstead

Hampstead Heath is where Londoners go to escape their city for a few hours – walking dogs, playing with their children, flying kites, getting lost in the woods, duelling with pistols (well, in the 18th century at least). But, I’d been coming here for years before stumbling across the Pergola, a series of Italianate walkways to the west of the main heath, built in 1906 for a soap magnate. They are overgrown with vines and magnolia, slowly crumbling and very romantic – it still feels like a secret place to sidestep all those who descend on Hampstead every weekend.

Native, Mayfair

• 

• 

Close to the house where Jimi Hendrix and Handel lived, albeit in different centuries, this is a favourite place for lunch. It’s run by Ivan Tisdall-Downes and Imogen Davis, whose commitment to foraged and
sustainable food runs deep, with a menu that plucks ingredients such as wild garlic, meadowsweet, and seaweed to create pretty and incredibly innovative dishes. The bone marrow and white chocolate dessert is a longstanding favourite. It’s set within fashion forward store Browns, and has a lovely courtyard for summer – a rarity in these parts.
nativerestaurant.co.uk

Alfies Antique Market, Marylebone

I used to live near Regent’s Park and would always combine a walk to the modern Lisson Gallery – home to artists such as abstract sculptor Anish Kapoor – with a rummage around Alfies, a four-floor souk of antiques, vintage clothing, and jewellery. It’s particularly strong on 20th-century furniture, especially Art Deco, but you’ll find everything from Chinese ceramics and chandeliers to automobile collectibles – all drawing in collectors, stylists, and interior designers. Head to the rooftop café, if only for the views over the chimney pots.
alfiesantiques.com

Afternoon Tea at Cafe Royal, Piccadilly

Afternoon tea is something of an institution in London. Cake stands piled high with sandwiches and scones, tea poured into bone china cups, a piano tinkling in the distance – calorific time-travel to sometime in the 19th century. The Ritz is the (too) obvious choice, but I prefer Café Royal, which has all the glitz and history (Oscar Wilde, Princess Diana, Muhammad Ali) but none of the queues, and takes place in the Grill Room, golden light reflecting in the gilt-framed mirrors.
hotelcaferoyal.com

Alex Eagle, Soho

• 

• 

I’ve been walking around Soho for a couple of decades now, charting its constantly evolving streets, finding a surprise or two I hadn’t spotted before. Alex Eagle’s design loft seems to encapsulate the
neighbourhood’s independent spirit. It’s part gallery, part shop, and filled with an eclectic collection of beautiful objects: vintage Cartier watches, hand-blown glass, statement furniture, skincare, and the occasional painting, along with her own designs – from marble cubes and bamboo cutlery, to luxurious cashmere and classic wardrobe essentials.
alexeagle.com

A London Safari by Classic Car

Getting a black London taxi is a rite of passage here, but if you want to make a statement, there’s nothing to beat driving around town in a classic car. A few weeks ago, I was behind the wheel of a bright red 1966 Ford Mustang, cruising past the pastel-coloured houses of Notting Hill and hoping to be mistaken for a visiting Hollywood film star. RNG Classics has a fleet of vintage wheels in its collection – a 1971 Porsche Speedster, perhaps, or a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow – and popular routes to take include heading west to the Cotswolds for the day.
rngclassics.com

Maru, Mayfair

London has a growing appreciation of omakase – the Japanese culinary tradition in which the guest is served by the chef who selects each course – and this tiny place, tucked away in cobbled Shepherd’s Market, is one of the finest places to experience it. It’s the passion project of pony-tailed Taiji Maruyama, who curates a 20-course menu using mainly British ingredients (such as Cornish crab and Exmoor caviar) and even makes the plates you eat it off. It’s pure theatre, for an audience of just seven sitting at the counter.
marulondon.com

No. 9 Cork Street, Mayfair

London’s continuing position as a global art hub is partly down to the influence of Frieze, the contemporary art fair that spread its wings to New York, LA, and Seoul. This, though, is its only permanent space, opened in 2021 and hosting a succession of pop-up exhibitions from overseas galleries – from Mumbai’s Jhaveri Contemporary to Lagos’ Tiwani Contemporary. The city’s art fulcrum is shifting back to Mayfair from East London, and this is a key player.
frieze.com

Cédric Grolet at The Berkeley

• 

• 

At Le Meurice in Paris, people queue patiently round the block in order to walk away with a marble-coloured box of Grolet’s fabulous creations. Voted the World’s Best Pastry Chef in 2018, he crossed the Channel last year to open his London outpost, introducing the city to the French way of goûter, or sweet snacking. Most famous are his trompe l’oeil fruits, startlingly realistic lemons, passion fruit, and hazelnuts that are actually chocolate and ganache desserts. A sweet sensation.
the-berkeley.co.uk

Battersea Power Station

This is one of the city’s biggest landmarks, its four white-capped chimneys rising up over the Thames. As a Londoner, you’re so used to seeing it on the skyline and taking it for granted, but it’s recently been reborn and I’m discovering it anew. As well as exploring the original Art Deco turbine halls, there’s a theatre, cinema, and virtual-reality gaming, and the soon-to-open Arcade food hall. Everyone’s talking about the Iberian menu at JOIA (ask for a seat at the chef’s table), while for a new perspective of London, swoosh upwards in a lift to the chimney-top platform.
batterseapowerstation.co.uk

Garden Museum

• 

• 

The V&A and Science Museum are well-known, but London’s smaller museums are worth seeking out too – they’re often more personable and less overwhelming. Garden Museum is in a former church on the river and I visit throughout the year, watching how the seasons are reflected in the planting. There are rare species in the courtyard and garden-themed exhibitions inside, while the seasonal menu in the café is a reason to come in itself. Climb up the medieval tower for a view across to the Houses of Parliament.
gardenmuseum.org.uk

The Reading Room at The British Museum

• 

• 

Every time I visit, I still look up and marvel at the curvaceous glass roof of the Great Court, made up of
thousands of triangular panels. Right in the middle is a domed reading room that dates back to 1857, but here’s the thing: it’s been closed to the public for a decade. That’s now changed, and you can book a guided tour of the space, which once held 25 miles of bookshelves and was visited by Lenin and Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This is a masterpiece of Victorian engineering, rarely seen from the inside.
britishmuseum.org