A new locals' guide to London skips the usual tourist checklist in favour of the addresses actual Londoners swear by — from a hotel inside a former magistrates' court to a canal walk that crosses the whole city. If you're planning a trip, here's what the insiders rate right now.
Start with where to stay. NoMad London in Covent Garden gets a mention for its theatrical interiors in an old courthouse building, while Firmdale's Ham Yard in Soho and Number Sixteen in South Kensington are the picks for bright, Kit Kemp-designed rooms. At the top end, The Emory will send Cédric Grolet pastries up to your room, and The Standard at King's Cross puts you opposite the British Library and a stone's throw from Granary Square.
Eating and drinking is where the list gets fun. Sol's in Bayswater is a cosy wine bar and deli where one glass tends to become a whole evening; Dorothy's on Savile Row brings old-world European charm to the heart of tailoring country. DIVE in Marylebone is an underground listening bar pairing cocktails with music. In Soho, new import Carbone serves a veal chop parmesan the guide calls better than a schnitzel, and Breadstall Pizza often draws a celebrity queue. The Devonshire pours roughly 20,000 pints of Guinness a week, and Three Sheets in Dalston is the bar of choice for a nightcap. For gastro pubs, The Anglesea Arms and The Hawthorn near South Kensington come highly recommended, alongside Thomas Straker's woodfire cooking at Strakers.
Shopping skews independent and vintage. Alfies Antique Market in Marylebone is described as a treasure trove of furniture and lighting, with Chiswick High Road Antiques Market as a backup. Couverture & The Garbstore in Notting Hill curates fashion and design objects, Petersham Nurseries mixes homewares and antiques with a good restaurant, and the Cloth Shop on Portobello Road is a charming old-school haberdashery. Chiltern Street and Westbourne Grove are the streets for browsing without the tourist crush. Liberty London, not Selfridges or Harrods, gets the nod as the city's best department store — especially during the Boxing Day sales.
Beyond the shops and bars, the guide recommends gallery-hopping and Sunday mornings at Queens Park Farmers' Market, historic houses like Leighton House with its colourful Arab Hall and Dennis Severs' House decked out for Christmas, and Kew Gardens for its tree collection. Day-trippers are pointed to Richmond Park's deer and ancient trees, National Trust gardens at Great Dixter and Sissinghurst, and even coastal trips to Kent vineyards with lunch at The Sportsman in Seasalter if you can get a table. The Bayeux Tapestry is the big-ticket draw at the British Museum, on loan from France until July 2027.
This one's for travellers who've done the Tower and the Eye and want the next layer: neighbourhood bars, antique hunting and long canal walks from Little Venice to Hackney. Timing-wise, the tapestry gives you until mid-2027 to plan around.
