Great food and atmosphere in Brixton. Try their Vegan Viking pizza: Cashew cheese, pistachio pesto, red chillies, rocket and mint or their Cauliflower cheese arancini. And who doesn't like a bottomless brunch in the weekends?

Epping Forest is a 2,400 hectares area of ancient woodland between Epping in the north and Wanstead in the south, straddling the border between Greater London and Essex. I tend to get off at Loughton Tube Station (Central Line), which is about 10–12min walk to the forest.

Westerns Laundry is a restaurant and wine bar (natural wine) in a converted laundrette that does brilliant small plates (focus on seafood).

This vegetarian south Indian is a bit of a hidden gem, good curry friendly staff very reasonable with bring your own booze doesn’t get much better than that.

Since The Columbo Group took over The Jazz Cafe, it's become the best programmed venue in the city, focusing on jazz, soul, funk, disco and afrobeat.