Not the most exciting place inside, but a lovely rooftop area which not all that many people seem to know about, 2 mins walk from Old St station. If it’s packed then The Red Lion is just up the road.
Behind Markfield Beam Engine is the River Lee which travels from the Chiltern Hills all the way to the Thames via Tottenham Hale. There is a special light along this stretch of the river possibly due to there being about 10 massive reservoirs behind the levee on the other side of the river, offering an amazing sense of space. A great place to walk, cycle and feed the ducks, swans, geese and coots.
My favourite restaurant as the moment which was a former boxing hall. You sit on the old spectating seats and get served butter chicken on pine cones which infuse their flavour into the food. A really different experience.
I grew up in Brighton which is full of cheesy bars like this. If you can handle being surrounded by multiple screens playing Kylie at full volume, its pretty much the cheapest bar in central london. The cliental is so varied its great for people watching and completely un pretentious.
Designed by Wells Coates, the Isokon Building opened in 1934 and was the first apartment block to be built using reinforced concrete.
The Isokon Gallery is open at weekends telling the story of the Isokon building, the pioneering modern apartment block as an experiment in new ways of urban living.