Coffee roastery, café, pizzeria and cocktail bar inside an old warehouse just around the corner from Broadway Market.

One of those rarely found shops that inspires one to craft and creativity. A huge selection of high quality papers to print and draw on, to cut, fold, glue or just wrap presents with.

I spend many hours in the bookshops along this stretch, namely Henry Pordes for second hand books and new discounted titles (pile on left of photo), as well as Koenig Books for new art books with lots of great discounts in the basement. (photo right). In 2001 the rents for much of this strip were increased to align them closer to market value but thanks to public support they were reduced again. Unfortunately some bookshops still closed down; Koenig replaced the beloved Zwemmers - a real institution - but thankfully still provide great books, although others are no longer bookshops at all.

This painted of the shopping centre by my brother, Leo Verhoeven, shows a rather idyllic vision of the shopping centre we both share. Its pretty rough, full of budget shops and funny cafes and framed by a shanty town style open air market. I have a real soft spot for it as the classic under dog, thats so often slated and condemned but lives on.

One of the few remaining bastions of alternative Soho, The Crobar is a metal bar which attracts a friendly crowd and serves a top selection of beer and whisky