Warm summer nights should be spent in the high grass in Hampstead Heath above the ponds. For midsummer bring herring, snaps and songs and stay until sunrise!

I’ve always been very fond of the ICA and its maverick spirit, less so in the latter part of this decade. These days the place is magnetic. To feel this incredible and unique place for arts and expression, breathing, breathing invigoratively, is rewarding to a London dweller or/and visitor. Its incredible transformation, revived from near death by Stefan Kalmár, is felt as soon as you enter the space, it feels open and alive, with vibrant and human energy in staff and visitors; risky, independent, engaging, resounding, and topical to our times programming, which is focused on breaking barriers in imagination an intellect rather than visitor record numbers. It is a breath of fresh air and an example what London art institutions are capable of if they open themselves to welcoming in an outsider and their passionate vision. And they have the best membership in town!   

Music venue 

Leila McAlister's grocery shop and café off Arnold Circus, Shoreditch. You can find the best of everything, from jars of horseradish to eggs and croissants.

Fortitude Bakehouse, a craft bakery, hidden away on a quiet mews in Bloomsbury.