The many book stores dotted along this strip can provide hours of inspiration. Aside from those selling new books, several specialise in second-hand and antiquarian books.

These giant spectral cylinders are great at different times of the day but my favourite time is around dusk when the buildings in the city start to light up. The Gherkin and the new Shard building are framed in the lowest ring then the shifting colours of the sky are almost split in the following ellipses.

SOAS university has a small gallery space dedicated to exhibitions about Asia, Africa and the Middle East. There's a small but beautiful Japanese zen garden on the rooftop (currently closed for refurbishment)

My all-time favourite place. Whitewashed ex-smokehouse where Fergus Henderson pioneered the resurgent interest in offal dishes. The restaurant is brilliantly unfussy, retaining lots of the smokehouse’s original features, and the food very British, making St. JOHN something of a London institution. The restaurant has a winery and bakery.

Excellent Turkish bakery. I highly recommend their £2 gözleme.