The Bedroom Bar, situated in Shoreditch’s pulsing pulmonary, Rivington Street (only a few minutes’ stroll from Old Street tube), runs a finely-tuned precipice in east London between the bloated bankers of Old Street and their drainpiped boho compatriots creeping in from the artier corners of Hackney and Hoxton.

Happily, there’s something for everyone here- especially as the Bedroom carries the successful Comedy Café as its subterranean sister venue. Cheap pints-a-plenty for the hard-up, and a cocktail list to enliven even the most hardy HBOS punter mean this place is one of the few locations where suits and students can rub shoulders in drunken joy.

Add in the fervent Indian décor- inclusive of giant Ganesha- and the dimly-lit corridors and plush sofas here are more than conducive to a bit of hanky-panky. The great and the good from London’s underground chilled house and techno DJ echelons flock here Bedroom each weekend, too: music, cocktails and giant elephants – what more do you want?

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Bedroom Bar | Bars, Music
62 Rivington Street | East | +442076135637
Thu 19:00 – 00:00, Fri – Sat 19:00 – 02:00

Beyond Retro has far surpassed the cult status it used to have a couple of years ago: now it’s a full-blown destination for the stylish shopper on a shoestring. Annoyingly found a fair little walk down Cheshire Street (just off Brick Lane – there is a branch in the West End but it’s disappointing), you’ll have long thought you’ve gone the wrong way before you find it. However once inside, you’ll either feel like a kid in a toy store or, if you’re like me, a little daunted by the sheer number of tat, class, crap and fashion gold.

Sifting through racks and racks of old t-shirts may not be your idea of fun, but there are genuinely some great items to be snapped up; especially in the coats section – leather jackets for 40 quid anyone?

There may be fewer basement bargains nowadays – the prices have upped slightly with the reputation – but make no mistake: Beyond Retro is London’s vintage king. If the shopping wasn’t enough, the shop also lays on gigs and events, though these seem to be few and far between. Anyhow, if you’re coming to Brick Lane (which you really should) then Beyond Retro must be near the top of your list.

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Beyond Retro | Shopping
110 – 112 Cheshire Street | East | +442076133636
10:00 – 18:00 daily

‘Pan Asian’ cuisine has come to be the norm in London, with chains like Wagamama, Tampopo and various spin offs the somewhat recent craze has created. While Busaba Eathai calls itself Thai, the menu begs to differ, with items like ‘Chinese broccoli with garlic and shiitake mushrooms’ it definitely spans further than Thailand on the culinary map. Jasmine smoothies and asparagus fried rice are a couple of the unique combinations you can find at this buzzing Soho eatery.

The stylish low-lit restaurant has large square wooden tables that fit 8 people, operating in a shared table policy. The service is quick. If you are alone or with a friend and want a great view people watching, take a seat in the front and watch Soho’s rich demographic walk by.

Located in the centre of Soho on Wardour street, Busaba Eathai celebrates its 10^th anniversary this year. Its overwhelming success has also spurred two fellow central locations off Totencourt Road and Oxford Street.

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Busaba Eathai | Restaurants (Pan-Asian) | Pad Thai £ 7.20
106-110 Wardour Street | Central | +448712238021
Mon – Thu 12:00 – 23:00, Fri – Sat 12:00 – 23:30, Sun 12:00 – 22:00

The east end’s vintage stores are hardly a best-kept secret to the fashionistas of Shoreditch, Hoxton and the like. But beyond Beyond Retro and Absolute, there is one tucked away treat to be had on the wrong side of Brick Lane.

The East End Thrift Store, unbeknown to all but the best of bargain buyers, is almost impossible to spot at first – you’ll have to get off at Stepney Green tube and stroll down the busy main road for a few minutes before you get close. But poke your nose down the right alley and you’re met with a brazen homage to all things old and cheap.

And that doesn’t mean bad. There are tons of treats on each peg; coats with no name, ties with no brand, and of course the obligatory wooly jumper rack. Charmingly unpretentious, cute 50s rock ‘n’ roll soundtracks your way round this backstreet beauty, picking out tees for a couple of quid or an old bomber for a fiver.

So if you want your vintage London experience with a twist, it’s worth the short trip eastwards to pick and choose in one of London’s unsung heroes.

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East End Thrift Store | Shopping
Assembly Passage | East | +442074239700
11:00 – 18:00 daily

There’s a reason Electricity is chocked full of revellers every weekend – it’s the perfect reason to get all your mates to Bohemian Shoreditch without a murmur of discontent. Somehow, amongst all the art-houses and backyard gig venues, Electricity manages to draw a pretty wide range of people with its unassuming style, good music and all-out fun dance floor.

Upstairs it’s more of the same, frankly, with dimly-lit Boho benches and couches filled with pretty girls and boys an their rosé wine. There’s a good selection of lagers ranging from Kirin to Paulaner, but it’ll cost you – pints are priced between a respectable £2.70 and a pocket-busting £4.30. Bar staff and quick and efficient, so although the bar looks about five-deep, you’ll only ever be waiting for a couple of minutes at most. If you want to line your stomach before all that reverie, there’s a decent selection of decent (not much more) food which, sadly, costs about the same as most good pub grub these days.

But it’s downstairs between Wednesday and Saturday that Electricity sparks into life. The blackened basement is bedecked with a groovy (!?) huge tiled dance floor which can get even the laziest clubber on their feet. Combine that with various great DJs spinning anything from modern electro to (the best) good ol’ 50s rock n’ roll legends. You’ll probably move on to Cargo or 333, but Electricity Showrooms is a Shoredtich classic.

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Electricity Showrooms | Bars
39A Hoxton Square | East | +442077393939
Check listings on website for opening times

Is there anything more English than cricket? Or rather, is there a sport less American than cricket? In an age of overtime, in-game ads and prawn sandwiches cricket is a game played (in its purest form) from 11am to 7pm, over five days by barely fit men in white flannels – and it can still end in a draw (I can hear those NFL fans writhing in their silly, oversized shirts now) Cricket is as old as father time and as stoic as the British army – yet it can still be very, very exciting.

If you do happen across London in the summer, there will usually be a game staged at Lords, the sport’s spiritual home – either by the lacklustre national team or its domestic custodians Middlesex. If you do catch an England match the place will be full to bursting with 30,000 wobbling pink Brits slow-roasting in the weak London sun. It really is a sight to behold; especially at around 4pm when people get roaringly spannered and start jumping on the pitch. And this summer the old boy hosts the Twenty-Twenty World Cup, a fast-paced festival of sixes, stumpings and more than a few silly-mid-offs.

In short, what I’m saying is: you can go many places in London which are cool, interesting and fun. But to take in something wholly English come to Lords. The clue is in the name.

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Lords Cricket Ground | Art & culture, Relaxing | Tour £ 14.00
Lords Cricket Ground | North-West | +442076168500
Tour Mon – Fri 12:00 – 14:00, Sat – Sun 10:00, 12:00 & 14:00

An unlikely spot for a bar, at midnight the small back room of this kebab shop turns into a venue for drinking and live music. When hordes of hungry post-pub drinkers pile into the fast-food joint for a late-night burger, the ones in the know are sat in the back, in a dark cavernous room with an old cabin feel and a ceiling that drips with mini stalactites.

Drinks are simple – beer or spirits & mixer, and reused Jack Daniels bottles turned candle holders set the mood in this cosy bar. The musical line-up includes live jazz every Friday and Saturday and rock & roll the rest of the week.

I was highly skeptical when my friends first dragged me through the grease-covered take away stop, but now I’m a convert. Once you’ve gone, you feel just a little special – and will be eager to show others this marvelous disguised drinking hole.

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Marathon | Bars | Gin & tonic £ 3.00
87 Chalk Farm Road | North-West | +442074853814
Sun – Thu 00:00 – 02:00, Fri – Sat 00:00 – 03:00

Maybe it’s the location (parked just a few minutes’ walk from Electricity Showrooms) or maybe it’s the shady surroundings, but Hoxton’s excellent Macbeth is still left well alone by the masses and swooped upon almost exclusively by rag-tag fancies living down the road.

But we should all be going there, for this ignominious backwater is home to some of the best live nights a fiver can bring; if you can ignore the boudoirish scarlet decoration for long enough. There seem to be hundreds of buzzing nights laid on, the best couple being Bronze Club, a feverish fealty to the best new acts run by pantheons of pub pop Golden Silvers (Gold, Silver, Bronze – geddit?); and Plan B Magazine (the best British sound rag), where great young artists can be seen in their prime for less than a pint five minutes away. The drinks ain’t too expensive, if not the best in town.

So instead of settling for all that glitters on Shoreditch’s glam high street, take a stroll towards the light and sample some genuine Hoxton heroin chic.

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The Macbeth | Bars, Music | Entrance from £ 0.00
70 Hoxton Street | East
Mon – Thu 11:00 – 01:00, Fri – Sat 11:00 – 02:00, Sun 12:00 – 00:00

Central London, dating back thousands of years and having been largely flattened in the Second World War, is not laced with the cloud-hugging skyscrapers dotted round other European cities like Moscow or Frankfurt.

But for this reason, there are some staggeringly vast views to be had across the city, not least from the London Eye or Centrepoint. But the Eye’s expensive, and you’d do well to get up Centrepoint most days.

But there is an alternative. Tucked away between The City’s monetary monoliths sits Sir Christopher Wren’s (he of St. Paul’s Cathedral) Monument to the Great Fire of London in 1666. A huge Roman column topped with a flame, the pillar stands 202ft tall, and 202ft away from the spot in Pudding lane where the devastating fire was said to have begun. If you can stomach the 311-stair ascendence the views can be awesome on a good day.

Also good is the price – £3 entry anyone? That’ll do very nicely thank you!

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The Monument | Art & culture, Relaxing | Entrance adults £ 3.00
Monument Street | Central | +442076262717
09:30 – 17:30 (last admission 17:00) daily

I’ve been living in London for quite a while now, and there are thousands of places people meet to start a night out. But everyone I’ve ever met seems to pick the same spot for a bit of pre-inebriation pints – The Punch & Judy in Covent Garden.

And there are a number of reasons why. First is its location: smack bang in the centre of the west end, on top of Covent Garden market and just a stone’s throw from a good old fashioned central London bar crawl (start here; move to Walkabout then round the corner…). Being a stone’s throw away from Covent Garden tube means even the most uninitiated will find their way, which helps a lot in this city.

Second is the setting. Perched atop the market and overlooking the monolithic, if slightly weathered temple opposite (with handy massive clock), the P&J’s picturesque veranda bar is a great place to take in the weather (on that rare occasion), and a good selection of good beers breaks the Fosters chain for a couple. You can even watch the street entertainers on the cobbles below, getting a commentator’s view of fire-eaters, jugglers and the like (don’t actually commentate though, got me into a spot of bother once). The music isn’t even that bad.

The Punch & Judy is the best place to start your foray into Soho, Piccadilly, Chinatown or wherever. So send a text around and start a bit earlier. It’s worth it.

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The Punch & Judy | Bars
Unit 40 The Market, The Piazza | Central | +442073790923
Mon – Thu 11:00 – 23:00, Fri & Sat 11:00 – 23:30, Sun 12:00 – 22:30

To be honest, Bermondsey Street in general needs a very loud mention. The cute thoroughfare is just a five to ten minute walk from London Bridge station but instantly feels like you’ve been transported into another town altogether. The insular feeling is both eerie and welcoming, and there are plenty of great places to spend the evening – not least The Garrison, a full-blown gastropub serving excellent food.

But opposite is The Woolpack, a rare find nowadays in London in that it seems to fully embrace both the past and the future of the public house without ending up like an anachronistic Jackson Pollock disaster. Beautiful old pews and tiled walls sit perfectly with the modernist lighting and bar; the wallpaper could have either been taken straight from a Limehouse opium den or a swanky Mayfair apartment. And this is its beauty. The drinks may be steep (£3.70 for a Staropramen) but the food is priced very well, and really excites. A very open menu, with various titbits if you’re not in the mood for a full-blown meal.

I think the thing I like the most, then, about The Woolpack is that it manages to sit astride the precipice between gastropub and local drinking hole perfectly. There could be tons of pretension with all the glorious decor and the adventurous cuisine, but there really is none. A great place to share a chat and a drink with friends. Check out Bermondsey Street, and make sure you come to The Woolpack – there’s even a nice garden if the sun ever shines on London!

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The Woolpack | Bars | Main meal £ 8 – 12
98 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3UB | Central | +442073579269
Mon – Sat 12:00 – 23:00, Sun 12:00 – 22:30

British Mexican. Hmm…two contractions sure to inspire suspicion in the even the most bloaty-headed mind. Like Scottish and goalkeeper; or Tory and orgy.

But there may be hope yet. Because Wahaca’s uniquely British – and specifically London – take on Mexico’s national cuisine is a fervent modern marketplace humming with sizzling platters and spicy sauces. If you want Mexican on the go, there’s no better place in the west end, or White City (see the website for both addresses).

For the greener-minded, Wahaca only source their extremely good quality meat from ethical farmers – everything’s free range, well-fed etc. For a tenner a dish you’d pretty much be forgiven in expecting rubbery, fast food Mexico-to-go but no; Wahaca’s forefront dishes are succulent and enjoyable. There’s even a decent drinks list.

The atmosphere may not be to everyone’s dim-lit boudoir tastes, but trust me – you’ll learn to love it as long as you don’t expect a royal buffet. I recommend the Wahaca selection for an affordable bit of everything. You can even but fresh ingredients from their market range. What more do you want? An inexpensive start to what will usually be a wallet-burning evening.

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Wahaca | Restaurants (Mexican) | Two courses & drinks +/- £ 25.00
66 Chandos Place | Central | +442072401883
Mon – Sat 12:00 – 23:00, Sun 12:00 – 22:30

To look at it from the outside you’d be forgiven you’d stepped back in time to a Victorian workhouse. And inside the theme rarely strays; with chipped wood panels and oddly ornate lighting it could well be a seedy sixties strip joint.

Well, you’d be right, kind of. By week Ye Ole Axe – beloved and be-hated in equal measure by its Shoreditch siblings – is still an institution of dubious reputation (it has naked ladies in it). But it’s at the weekend when it gets interesting. For the uninhibited pound-in-the-jar madness that rules Monday through Thursday equates to one of the most manic, subtle-as-a-hammer nights you’ll find this side of Solom.

Friday night means Love Me Do – an endless stream of rock n’ roll hits from the sixties and beyond, where shoegazers meet drunken fools in a heady mix of dancing and all-round fun. Think Beatles, Stones, Elvis, Holly. No nonsense, no nuance.

Saturday night, however, brings Rockabilly Rebel – to my knowledge the only night in central London you can while the hours to The Trashmen or The Cramps all night. An anomalous homage to sweat and switchblade haircuts, the place drags in all those who’ve missed the Cargo or 333 boat. So lower your standards – and your hair – and you’ll be shakin’ the twist quicker than Chuck Berry can say Rock n’ Roll.

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Ye Olde Axe | Bars, Music | Entrance £ 5.00
69 Hackney Road | East
Fri 00:30 – 06:00, Sat 23:00 – 06:00