This may not be much of a secret but deserves a mention. I find it hard to go anywhere near this place without having to go there. Freshly baked Beigels hot salt beef and it never closes, 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

Even if you have seen it hundreds of times it will still stop you in your tracks. A great piece of architecture and apparently the largest brick structure in Europe.

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.

A green oasis in Hackney, offering affordable, beautiful plants. A jungle full of inspiration. (Pic from meltingbutter.com)

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.