For me, spring in London is when it’s at its best – the city has woken from its winter cocoon and the excitement of long nights, picnics in the park and a continuous stream of festivals generates an infectious buzz in the city. Therefore, with the Queen’s Jubilee and the Olympics set to take centre stage – so will your social life – regardless whether you like the royals or have even seen the Olympics.

To kick-start the celebrations off, the historic Andaz Hotel, next to Liverpool Street station, is running a series of Jubilee Afternoon Tea ceremonies in the exquisite 1901 restaurant until June. Themes include, the Brandy Man and the Empress of India, and pay homage to the Queens of England – and their most famous legacies.

March is dedicated is to Queen Elizabeth I, and aptly named ‘The Virgin Queen’- as she never married. Expect miniature hamburgers and hotdogs, chocolate brownies and peanut brittle to celebrate her American connections, mixed with a quintessential favourite – cream and jam fresh scones. Ensure you save enough room for the cocktail, made with Appleton Estate Rum, mandarin and passion fruit purée, ginger beer – possibly the best I’ve ever had.

If the American theme doesn’t float your monarchist boat, the next few months will have Austrian, Indian and traditional British themes.

To help you feel even more royal, each guest will also go in the draw to win a pair of diamond stud earrings!  God Save the Queen indeed!

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Andaz Hotel | Bars, Coffee & tea, Restaurants (Sandwiches) | Jubilee Afternoon Tea £ 45
40 Liverpool Street, EC2M 7QN | East
Mon – Sat High Tea 15:00 – 16:30

This once derelict house was bought by the Late American artist, Dennis Severs. Severs had been inspired by ‘Olde England’, so he renovated the house to reflect the 18th and 19th centuries. Eager to share his passionate creation with the public, Severs opened his house up to visitors.

With no signage outside, the house looks like any other Victorian townhouse. Although once inside, it’s quite a different story, as I felt I had entered a time capsule and had been ejected out somewhere between the 18th and 19th centuries.

Spread out on four floors, each of the ten rooms tells a different story. Props such as the remains of half eaten toast and cups of tea make the visitor feel as if someone just left the room. While the more permanent structures, such as the uneven floors, low beamed ceilings, antique furnishings and the smell of gas from the fire places lingering through the air allows the visitor to visualize and smell yester-year. The flickering of candles leave you feeling as if your presence is being observed by the occupants of the house, which of course are only as vivid as your imagination will allow.

Since Severs death in 1999, funding to keep the house open has been limited, therefore Severs intricate interpretation of centuries gone by can only be kept alive for as long as people continue to visit this special little place.

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The Dennis Severs House | Art & culture | Entry from £ 7
18 Folgate Street | East | +442072474013
1st & 3rd Sun 12:00 – 16:00, following Mon 12:00 – 14:00

Taxidermy and bric-a-brac aren’t the surroundings I’d usually pick for a cocktail bar, however this place not only pulls it off, it does it in style. Situated in an old meat packing factory, this kitsch establishment is a favourite with the fashion and media world. Even Madonna, the material girl herself had a birthday there.

Its location, down a gritty East London street, combined with the unusual choice of stuffed animals and dolls is a stark contrast to the glamorous clientèle draping off the ornate sofas.

The cocktail menu is impressive, as is the care and attention put in to making each drink. The extensive list features titles such as the Moulin Rouge, Kangaroo, Restless Romance and Dr Strangelove; all of which are made with the finest tipples!

Be sure to call ahead and reserve a sofa to make the most of your evening!

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Lounge Lover | Bars, Music | Cocktails from £ 8.00
1 Whitby Street | East | +442070121234
Tue – Thu & Sun 18:00 – 00:00, Fri 17:30 – 01:00, Sat 18:00 – 01:00

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 some beers including guest ales (last time I went it was the excellent Meantime Pale Ale on draught) and have an Argentinian grill doing burgers and steak sarnies (which are great)!

All the events have been free so far (fingers crossed this continues) 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

The Geffrye Museum specialises in the history of the home. The collection of furniture, textiles, paintings and objects are displayed chronologically from 1600 to the present day. It is full of the everyday, common objects rather than of the precious exquisite examples of the landed gentry. Clearly some of the displays are now worth a small fortune, but the Geffrye ‘find the relatively ordinary things of the past, owned and used by ordinary people, and to show these in their appropriate domestic context’.

If you like interior design this is a fascinating and little-known museum. It kind of reminds of the fantastic Design Museum Danmark in Copenhagen. Historical and social context are all important to both so when you venture through the eleven Period Rooms depicting the style of English middle-class living room and get to the 20th Century rooms and see the furniture and designs of the 50s and 60s (which I love) and compare them to ‘loft living’ of the 90s you can see the differences but also understand the similarities and see where the latter designers were taking inspiration from. Oh, and it is nowhere near as dull as I make it sound, honest.  

The museum is set in a beautiful set of 18th-century almshouse buildings, has attractive gardens including a walled herb garden and there is a newly built extension which houses a tasty cafe. 

Entrance to the museum if free, but there is a charge for the special exhibitions.

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The Geffrye Museum | Art & culture | Free
Kingsland Rd,E2 8EA | East | +442077399893
Tue – Sat 10:00 – 17:00, Sun 12:00 – 17:00

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 I suddenly realise I have spent the night there! Luckily, the bar shut at 11pm!

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

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, however the owners do now have a pub nearby – The White Horse – which is also worth a visit.

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

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 in my eyes – the best coffee bar in Shoreditch. 

Actually, calling it just a coffee bar is wrong. It is so much more than that. Coffee. Muffins. Whiskey. Art. DJs. It has it all.

In the day it is a cafe serving very good coffee, cakes and organic sandwiches from the nearby Grocery, but as darkness falls 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 gig. While at the weekends (when it can get very busy) you will 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 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

Kemistry Gallery is a small, independent gallery ‘dedicated to exhibiting the work of outstanding graphic designers both past, present and upcoming’. What this actually means is you get up and personal with some outstanding graphics – design that is good enough to be exhibited and cross the divide into the art world.

Last year, for example, I went to the excellent exhibition ‘Bass Notes: The film posters of Saul Bass’. A subject so large in the design world that the exhibition would not have been out of place at the Design Museum or Tate Modern. I have also seen exhibitions on the information graphics of South Korea courtesy of the agency Zero Per Zero and the now famous Homework agency of Poland and their fantastic poster designs.

The gallery obviously caters to those interested in graphic design (perhaps a niche market) and with that in mind you can buy work from current and past exhibitions or from the Kemistry Gallery Commissions series. 

The exhibitions change every couple of months, so it is worth joining the mailing list, especially as you will then know about the opening night and the free beer and wine that invariably flows on those occasions. Be careful though as a lot of work on display is for sale and you can easily get carried away.

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Kemistry Gallery | Art & culture | Free
43 Charlotte Road,EC2A 3PD | East | +442077293636
10:00 – 18:00 daily

Oto means ‘noise’ or ‘music’ in Japanese and that is exactly what you get at this amazing, innovative venue. By day it is a mild-mannered café serving a selection of teas, coffees, organic fruit juices, Devon and Breton cider, wines, Japanese snacks, Sake, Plum Wine and Japanese Whisky but then, when the lights go out and the cafe closes for a couple of house for the soundchecks, Oto turns into the home of the experimental musician and easily fulfills its stated aim of ‘providing a home for creative new music that exists outside of the mainstream’.

Past performers include Yoko Ono, London Improvisors Orchestra, Joe McPhee, Marshall Allen, Matthew Herbert and, amazingly and thrillingly, The Sun Ra Arkestra who consider Cafe Oto to be their spiritual London home. Some of the bigger names mean larger fees, but most gigs are around £10 entrance fee, but check the website first as the venue is small and gigs regularly sell out in advance.

Cafe Oto forms one point of the Dalston Jazz Triangle. The other two points being filled by the jazz daddy The Vortex and the newcomer Servant Jazz Quarters.

These three venues are only about 500 yards apart and between them they cover everything from the folky side of jazz (SJQ), to the more traditional approach (Vortex) and into the avant garde (Oto). Jazz has definitely found a (cool) home (or three) in E8. in fact, The Guardian recently went to find out more about Oto as Italian Vogue had named it as the coolest venue in Britian!!

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Cafe Oto | Coffee & tea, Music, Snacks | Entrance from € 7
18-22 Ashwin Street,E8 3DL | East
Mon – Fri 09:30 – 17:30, Sat – Sun 10:30 – 17:30, gigs from 20:00

Walking into The Bridge sets you back a century perhaps, but nothing gets you ready for the time warp you will encounter upon entering the second floor. It’s as if you’ve walked into an 18th century boudoir.

Navigating around mismatched and opulent sofas, throne-like armchairs and purposeful dim lighting, The Bridge makes a perfect setting for some dirty gossiping over a glass of wine or some clean fun, proved by a becoming cosy literary platform for my last bookclub meeting.

Although the food is minimal there are plenty of sweet snacks to cast your eyes upon.

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The Bridge | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks | Bottle of wine £ 19
15 Kingsland Rd, E8 4 | East
Mon – Wed 12:00 – 01:00, Thu – Sat 12:00 – 02:00, Sun 12:00 – 00:00