J+A is a hidden and unpretentious café/ bar just off busy Clerkenwell Road - with outdoor seating!

This is a completely unexpected scenario in the heart of Shoreditch. The entrance is seamless, a standard corner-shop-type with a narrow door, leading downstairs to a peculiar setting in the basement. The drinks are carefully selected and mixed. There is always something to experiment that doesn’t disappoint.

A beautiful, neon-fronted, old school, single-screen cinema on Upper St. That anyone would choose to go to the Vue just up the road is baffling

Great little independent bookshop in central London run by Tamsin Clark. Weird and wonderful selection of photo books, magazines, artist books, poetry and more.

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'.