An unassuming glass door on an otherwise plain facade hides a cavernous space, with high ceilings and huge sliding partitioned walls producing excellent exhibitions in a space you'll want to go back to.

For its seasonal changes, the rose garden, the Serpentine, the Serpentine gallery, the Summer pavilions, the café etc.

Hidden away in the backstreets of Finsbury Park, I used to share a house opposite this pub, where it assumed the role as our second living room. A real north London gem, I still go there these days for the tree-house-like, leafy terraced beer garden, which is perfect for summer evenings.

Set amongst one of my favourite housing estates in London – the Brunswick, Renoir cinema shows art-house films in it's two small but comfortable screens. I come here at least twice a month, and always on my own.

The gallery was extended into a neighbouring Victorian House space about a year and a half ago, with a real skill in judging the meeting point between the contemporary and the conserved. The architects — 6a — were also responsible for Raven Row near Spitalfields (another favourite place). I'm lucky enough to work part of the week next door, at Camberwell College of Arts. This is about great food and good books. The café — a real haven at breakfast time before work — is run by the nicest team of people, with intertwined relationships to Camberwell. This book, designed by James Langdon, represents the kind of find possible in the bookshop and also the quality of conversation content had, over the best coffee.