Neighbourhoods
Bloomsbury
The literary quarter starts a new chapter
With its rarefied residences and fetching squares, Bloomsbury has mostly ducked the ravages of time and plans of slapdash developers to remain lively and lovely in pleasing measure. Today the West End quarter is turning the page on its literary associations thanks to great shops, businesses and restaurants.
Start your stay in neighbouring Holborn at the Rosewood and approach Lamb’s Conduit Street from Theobald’s Road to the south. London Undercover has your back when it comes to umbrellas, while British brands Oliver Spencer, Folk and Grenson can all help you remain dapper and in step. For lunch, La Fromagerie, a delightful deli and cheesemonger, or home-style Middle Eastern restaurant Honey & Co. For supper, Noble Rot is the place to be – just remember to book. Swoop past Maggie Owen London for jewellery and Pentreath & Hall for stationery before rounding out the trip with a visit to the British Museum. If you read this in Monocle rather than in a novel by Dickens or Woolfe, then Bloomsbury’s best days might yet be ahead of it.
MAPMarylebone
Monocle’s home and an upscale ‘hood
Well-connected but fashionably aloof, sure-of-itself Marylebone is a magnet for interesting independents (we moved here ourselves in 2011). Start your tour of the area on Wigmore Street at the southern end of Marylebone Lane – a pleasingly winding street that echoes the path of a long-buried river – and head north. There’s Vitsoe for smart shelving, Ottolenghi and St John Marylebone for snacking, ribbon specialist VV Rouleaux for characterful one-offs and family-run deli Paul Rothe & Son for chocolate-box twee interiors. Skip the queues outside Le Relais de Venise steakhouse and head up Marylebone High Street to Granger & Co for a bite to eat before passing Daunt Books.
You’re spoiled for dinner options between brassy Italian Carlotta and Ravinder Bhogal’s endlessly inventive Jikoni. Chiltern Street is probably the capital’s best stretch for shopping – our own café, shop and Trunk Clothiers notwithstanding. There’s John Simons, Sunspel and Casely Hayford for gents’ clothing; Shreeji Newsagents for magazines; and delightful woodwind specialist Howarth of London for all your instrumental needs. The neighbourhood hits all the right notes.
MAPShoreditch
The East End hotspot
For a while it seemed as though Shoreditch’s feverish gentrification might be its undoing. Once a working-class enclave on the northern fringe of the financial district, it transformed from a down-at-heel neighbourhood into an artsy area, followed by a hipster paradise and then (sadly) stag-do central. Luckily, the better businesses have lasted the test of time and things feel rather more grown up today. Heading north from Spitalfields Market, you can still glimpse some of the original Huguenot houses built for wealthy silk weavers fleeing France in the 17th century. Hanbury Street and Brick Lane are atmospheric and well worth a wander but it’s on Redchurch Street that the area looks most mature and manicured. Stop off at hardware favourite Labour & Wait before heading to Jolene and Allpress for coffee. Then journey to Blue Mountain School and Studio Nicholson for shopping before sitting down for a languid lunch at Brat.
After eating, swing up through Arnold Circus for a glimpse of London’s first social-housing project, venture along Hackney Road and visit Two Columbia Road for vintage furniture. Then, take a walk down Columbia Road: if it’s a Sunday, expect to find a flower market in full bloom, as well as some of the area’s best independents, from Ishkar for craft wares to Campania for rustic Italian fare and house-made pasta.
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