Freelance photographer Liz Johnson Arthur has worked for everyone from Sunday Times, Observer magazine, ID, Dazed & Confused, the Face, Fader magazine. Toured with M.I.A, Blur, Seun Kuti and Lady Gaga to name a few, and during all this time her Black Balloon Archive has been growing and growing - with no end in sight.
There are many quirky book stores in London, but I really love the selection that Daunt Books have, they often have bespoke editions which you won't find in other book stores. Also, the people that work there are so helpful and knowledgable. I can never stop myself from walking in!
If you want a peaceful day out of the busy city, Highgate doesn't really feel like London. The cemetery is interesting and peaceful, there's a tour of the old half which is definitely worth the money. Karl Marx, among others are buried there.
Being an East London boy at heart I am partial to an occasional fix of café culture. Pellici's has been running since the start of the last century, to which me, my father and my father's fathers have all enjoyed its mix of tasty Italian/London grub and energetic atmosphere. If you're visiting, make sure you drop by, as it will provide a valuable, forever-depleting education into what East London is really all about.
Brilliant Corners...Great sound system, vinyl only, dancing, left field, fourth world, jazz, afro, and some refreshing cocktails to help with all the sweating. Probably the only place i will actually dance in.
They also do amazing Japanese food earlier in the evening.
A treasure trove in the The City of London. The Archive of London. Strongrooms hold kilometres of shelving; boxes of matter that has somehow been catalogued and categorised in a traceable manner by the public, for academic, genealogical and other research. This beautiful book is from a box on Epping Forest. On the same visit, I looked through photographs of Blitz singsongs in Bethnal Green Underground station, 1980s anti-Thatcher / pro-GLC gig posters and paper concertina optical models of the Crystal Palace.