Quick, easy, cheap thai food. It's fairly new to me, but easily makes this list.

If you are lucky enough to get a table at this tiny 6 table only Café you are in for a real treat. The coffee is great, the cakes are delicious and the staff is friendly in this traditional wifi free (meaning no wifi here) Café. On a quiet day this is the best place to delve into your favourite novel while being caressed by the easy listening aural pleasure of Classic FM. But the real reason I come here is to overhear the conversations of the other customers. More than once did I have to put my book aside to pay closer attention to the charming, wonderful and often nuts conversations going on around me. I've overheard all sorts of discussions varying from 'Psychoanalysis' to 'Proustian ideas', 'Science Fiction' to 'Greek Mythology' and 'African Studies' to 'the takeover of DC Comics'.

The St Bride Foundation is the home of the St Bride Library, an incredible resource of printing history, in the form of books, printed ephemera, and tools from the trade. It also hosts many fantastic talks each year – check their website for details.

This is my favourite place to have a morning coffee in London. Its real chilled and the music is always perfectly set to welcome the day in, its usually something I have never heard before too. The coffee is good and the tip jar they have is the best tip jar in the world so make sure you bring a bag of pennies. Sit with your sketch book and have a lil think.

The best place for a glass of wine*. It's the perfect balance – not too formal, not too informal either. Food is consistently good. Lamb's Conduit Street is a little oasis in the midst of Bloomsbury. (*slightly overpriced)