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.

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

This is one of the only buildings in London that can lift depression. Each concrete block in the building is hand cast and hand hammered. Certainly the best bannisters in town.

Specialising in photography & fashion books and magazines, this independent shop can be a goldmine for rare and out of print books. Also if you’re lucky you’ll meet Otis, the lovely pug-cross resident.

The Nightingale is the antithesis of the hundreds of soulless gastropubs that a lot of decent pubs have recently become and remains everything a proper pub should be. Britain's pubs haven't had it easy lately. The smoking ban and the general effects of the recession have hammered the industry hard. The Nightingale continues to be what it has always been, a proper pub at the heart of the local community. Its annual charity walk has raised nearly £500,000 for good causes in over 30 years and it seems determined to do the things a pub should do and do them properly. Once inside you feel like you could be in a country pub instead of in the middle of South London. There's no jukebox and the TV is hardly ever on, but there’s a great atmosphere with a good set of locals and good drink and food. Bliss.