Image by Phoebe Ferris-Rotman

During the day people bring their laptops or books and work, read and drink coffee sprawled over one of the many mismatched sofas or lounge chairs. At night tea candles are lit and hot drinks are swapped for alcoholic drinks as people unwind and meet friends in what was once the Old Truman Brewery in Brick Lane (check the Brick Lane article). In summertime, people swamp to the outside picnic benches and the alleyway, though there is always a lovely cosy feel inside.

The boho and versatile venue opens at a very early 06:00 for breakfast and soups, jacket potatoes and sandwiches are on offer for lunch and dinner. Live music attracts a younger crowd with indie bands on Tuesday and jazz on Wednesday. Bands play in the smaller room at the back on Sunday and a dj spins tunes on Friday and Saturday.

Cocktails made with fresh fruit are available on the weekend and all year round you can grab a burger or corn on the cob from the grill stand outside. Tables and benches outside in front are great for people watching or smoking.

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Café 1001 | Bars, Coffee & tea, Music, Snacks, Restaurants (intern.)
1 Dray walk, 91 Brick Lane | East | +442072479679
Mon – Sat 06:00 – 00:00, Sun 06:00 – 23:30

Copyrights Spotted by Locals London

Image by Phoebe Ferris-Rotman

Brick Lane offers a multitude of choice in terms of bars and nightlife but Casa Blue sticks out, not least because of all the fairy lights and candles glowing from within.

A lacquered wooden panel of peacocks is hung next to a watercolour painting of a naval fleet. 50′s memorabilia is plastered wearily to the wall. While the predominantly red kitsch bric-a-brac decor means your eyes don’t know where to settle, the kooky collection of plastic chandeliers, hanging baubles and blinking strings of light make a unique setting.

Even though the music ranges anywhere from the Beatles to Manu Chau, the tunes are familiar and well-chosen. There are comfy plus sofas and yummy cocktails. Food is also available. While the menu is limited, the house specialty comes in platter form – international mezze for two or more people. For only £5 each, sharing platters come with a selection of hot and cold tapas and you can choose Mediterranean, Indian or Greek cuisine.

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Casa Blue | Bars, Coffee & tea, Music, Snacks | Cocktail £ 6.00
228 Brick Lane | East
Sun – Thu 12:00 – 01:00, Fri – Sat 12:00 – 03:00

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Image by Andrew Sidford

Broadway Market on a Saturday is a snap shot of what life in Hackney is all about. A true mix of styles and cultures, young and old, traditional and new. It is a microcosm of what living in a truly global city is all about. 

Broadway Market is not a large street yet the market on Saturdays see this street crammed with life. The weekly stalls attract the crowds, but the shops, the pubs, the restaurants and cafes all join in. It is what I want a weekly market to be. Lively, but offering something for everyone. Go for the shopping, stay for the people watching!

The market is primarily a specialist food market where you can get organic meat, fruit and veg alongside fresh fish, cakes, bread, cheese, sausages, the lot – but you can also get vintage clothes, furniture, hand made brooches, bike repairs/spares or hit the shops instead of the stalls and get art books at Artwords, fabulous coffee at Climpsons, all your sewing needs at Our Patterned Hand or a proper East End pie and mash at the historic Cooke’s. The choice really is that varied.

Personally, I always make sure I pick up at least one samosa from the Gujarati Rasoi stall as they are simply the best I have ever tasted. But be aware, if you only get one you will have to go back and get another, and at £1 each why not?

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Broadway Market | Bars, Coffee & tea, Shopping, Snacks, Restaurants (Various)
Broadway Market,E8 4PH | East
Sat 09:00 – 17:00

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Image by Matt Bramford

The Sun Inn is my local so if you do decide to go there, you’ll probably find me in a corner. It doesn’t look much from the outside and Bethnal Green Road isn’t the most affluent street in London, but don’t let that put you off.

Inside there’s a warm greeting from the trendy bar staff and a small selection of candle-lit tables. I usually rush to the back where there’s a comfy sofa – or try and grab the big table, also at the back, if I’m with a bigger group of friends. It gets super busy on Friday and Saturday evenings, and if all the tables are taken there isn’t much standing room (unless you stand outside, which isn’t advisable when it’s freezing!)

The pub offers a minimal selection of snacks, which could do with a bit of work. I don’t often eat there but if I do, the antipasti selection is good as an appetiser, and daily hotpots are a treat. They do have a great rotating selection of ales, though.

Midweek it’s my favourite place to catch up with friends and enjoy a (fairly) quiet drink. The staff come to your table to replenish the drinks, too – even at weekends. The music is usually a mix of soul and funk, at a volume that accommodates chat. The only problem with this place, I find, is that it’s so hard to leave!

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The Sun Inn | Bars, Snacks | A pint £ 3.90
441 Bethnal Green Road, E2 0AN | East | +442077290429
Mon – Wed & Sun 12:00 – 00:00, Thu – Sat 12:00 – 01:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals London

Image by Matt Bramford

Vertigo 42 was one of the first places I went in London. As a visitor, is was really special. Even as a resident of this city, it still is one of my favourite places to go.

It’s a little strange at first when you enter the building – it looks like any other of London’s financial skyscrapers, but a purple-carpeted ‘secret’ lift takes you to the 42nd floor – it only has a ’42′ button. When you arrive at the top, you’re rewarded with one of the best views of the city.

The bar itself is quite small – much smaller than I imagined it to be, and a small number of tables face the windows. The service is fantastic and prices aren’t as ridiculous as you’d imagine – champagne starts at about £55 a bottle, which between two of you, with the rewards of such an amazing view, is pretty reasonable. Booking is essential and I always ask for one of the linear window seats to secure a good spot.

In recent years the bar has become a bit of a cliché with the onslaught of a diverse range of bars with views (with the Shard at London Bridge expected to be superior when it opens next year) but I wouldn’t let that put you off… it’s quite something drinking champagne at 600 feet.

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Vertigo 42 | Bars | Champagne £ 55
Tower 42, IFC, 25 Old Broad St, EC2N 1HQ | East | +442078777842
Mon – Sat 17:00 – 23:00

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Image by Andy Bird

A few years ago Hoxton was simply the best place to go out in London. It was a thriving, bustling area full of interesting pubs, bars and clubs, but unfortunately now Friday and Saturday night in Hoxton is much more like a night in the West End with stag and hen parties littering the pavements. Luckily there a still a few good places to be found however, and one of them is the little basement bar Happiness Forgets.

Tucked away under a (good) Thai restaurant, Happiness Forgets is a great little find. I went in thinking it might be nice to stay for one or two but then, a few hours pass, and you realise you have spent the night there. Luckily for me, the bar shuts at 23:00, but they are trying to extend the licence!

It’s small (so don’t come in a large group) but has been well decorated with vintage furniture and miscellaneous ‘bits and pieces’ which I like. This is definitely not a chain!  

There is also a ‘no wallies’ door policy which has to be applauded seeing where it is. The music is good (no DJs) and the bottled beers to go with the cocktails have been well-sourced, including a personal favourite of mine, Meantime Pale Ale. The cocktails themselves are good, especially the Perfect Storm, which went down far too easily last time I went!

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Happiness Forgets | Bars | Cocktail £ 7.00
8-9 Hoxton Square, N1 6NU | East | +442076130325
Mon – Sat 17:30 – 23:00

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Image by Andrew Sidford

The London Fields brewery is, as you might expect, a small independent brewery in London Fields. They produce hand crafted ales in a railway arch, my favourite of which is probably the Session Ale, although I am also rather partial to London Fields Gold. The beers themselves are well worth recommending, but what separates London Fields Brewery is the fact that they have special ‘events’ on Saturdays in the courtyard outside the arch!

The events themselves aren’t a weekly thing, so you had better check the website or, better still, sign up for the newsletter as I have done. What comes with the LFB newsletter is all the details of forthcoming events and although they are different there is a basic principle behind them – have some live music, sell beers including guest ales (last time I went it was the excellent Meantime Pale Ale on draught) and have an Argentinian grill doing burgers, steak sarnies (which are great) along with festive treats like mulled wine and roasted chestnuts for the Christmas party!

All the events have been free so far and while there are downsides like the portaloos the courtyard is covered and heated, the bands are usually local and good, the beer is excellent and it is all quirky, independent and different, things which I really like. 

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London Fields Brewery | Bars, Festivals & events | Per bottle £ 3
374 Helmsley Place, E8 3SB | East | +442072540008
Sat 11:00 – 23:00

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Image by Jeff Metal (JaguarShoes Collective)

It might not have been the original coffee bar in Shoreditch (that honour has to go to the now defunct Bean) and it doesn’t sell the best coffee in the area (that honour definitely goes to the Prufrock team serving out of Present) but the Old Shoreditch Station has always been – and still is – the best coffee bar in Shoreditch. 

Actually, calling it just a coffee bar is wrong. It is so much more than that. In the day it is a cafe serving very good coffee, cakes and organic sandwiches from the nearby Grocery, but as the light fades the Station turns into a bar serving whisky, wine and beer. If you catch it on the right night there might be an exhibition opening or a product launch or a small scale gig, while at the weekends (when it can get very busy) you will also most likely get a DJ. Oh, and during normal shop opening times you get access through to the next door fashion emporium no-one. 

When I had a studio on Hoxton Square popping in to the Station was a morning ritual. The Lattes and muffins I had on an almost daily basis might not have helped with the waistline but it always set me up for the day ahead. Now, sadly I am not close enough to go as often as I use to, but when I am in the area and have time I still try and pop in. 

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Old Shoreditch Station | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks | Latte £ 2.20
1 Kingsland Road, London E2 8DA | East | +442077295188
Mon – Tue 08:00 – 21:00, Wed -Sat 08:00 – 01:00, Sun 09:00 – 21:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals London

Image by Andy Bryant

The area around Liverpool Street Station in East London was once associated with poor slums and the scene of the crime for the Jack the Ripper murders. While the pub Jack’s victims use to drink at still stands, The Ten Bells, the area itself is now very popular with London’s artistic and unusual.

After a short walk from Liverpool Street Station, you’ll come across the Old Spitalfields Markets (105a Commercial Street) which is open every Sunday. Whilst these markets are definitely worth a peak, keep wandering towards Bricklane where you’ll find the Old Truman Brewery (91 Bricklane).

Inside the old brewery, you’ll discover up-and-coming designers selling a unique variety of handbags, clothes and jewellery. There’s also a few vintage clothing stores and chic boutiques dotted around the area, which is a refreshing change from the usual high street entourage of clothing stores.

After a spot of shopping, and a curry at one of Bricklane’s many Bangladeshi restaurants, keep your eye out for warehouse art exhibitions which seem to be popping up all over the place. And last but certainly not least, ensure you have a drink in the beer garden of Vibe Bar, before stumbling across the road to 93 Feet East (150 Bricklane). Whilst this place is sweaty and jammed, it has become an East End institution well known for its eclectic mix of live music and its intimate atmosphere.

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Bricklane | Art & culture, Bars, Coffee & tea, Music, Shopping, Snacks, Restaurants
Bricklane | East
Markets open Sun, most clothing stores daily.

Copyrights Spotted by Locals London

Image by Deanna Romano

The Dolphin Pub is the kind of place you feel you have to explain its appeal before admitting to liking it. From the outside, the pub looks like an old man’s watering hole while the interior screams tacky Victorian, if you can imagine such a thing.

However hit this place on a Saturday night for a drink or two and you’ll find yourself there till the early hours, dancing and singing along to handbag house intermittently mixed with karaoke favourites. Yes, the music selection is what keeps the crowd’s infectiously good vibe going, as one minute you’re gyrating to cheesy dance classics and the next someone has taken the microphone and is singing along to the best of the worst karaoke tunes. However, as the crowd is too drunk to notice whether you hit that note, there’s not need to be shy.

If you’re in need of resting your feet, or vocal cords as it may be, there’s a decent sized outdoor terrace where you can eye up the outrageously trendy and alternative types that flock to this pub. Like so much of East London, the most unlikely of places always attracts the heaviest crowds, therefore West End glamour types may not be impressed. However this unpredictably fun pub has the knack of removing inhibitions and class distinctions as the night wears on and the intoxication levels increase.

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The Dolphin Pub | Bars, Music | Pint £ 3.00
165 Mare Street | East | +442089853727
Mon – Thu 16:00 – 02:00, Fri 16:00 – 04:00, Sat 12:00 – 04:00, Sun 12:00 – 02:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals London