Long Weekend in London: Bex's Guide

As I have to fit my travel plans around a full-time job, I often get to spend only three or four days in any one city, and I spend a lot of time researching and planning the perfect trip. My agenda usually includes a few key sights and/or museums and some fun places to eat, drink and, especially, caffeinate. I’ve produced various ‘three days in…’ or ‘four days in…’ city guides, but it’s been a while since I compiled a guide to my favourite places in my own city, London.

This post highlights my top picks for what to do, eat and drink, and where to find good coffee in London; I've been working on this for a couple of months so I hope you enjoy reading it and find it useful. Scroll to the end for a map of each place I've featured. With much help from my talented friend Cindy (thank you, Cindy!), I've also produced a handy one-page PDF version of this guide, which you can download and print here: http://bit.ly/bex-london-long-weekend

FRIDAY

14:00 Coffee stop

It’s going to be a busy weekend so you’ll probably need caffeine. If you're in Clerkenwell, head to Prufrock on Leather Lane (pictured), but there are hundreds of great coffee shops in London so there will probably be at least one near where you’re staying. Skip to the end of this guide for a list of some of my current favourite coffee spots.

15:00 Soho shopping

The West End is never quiet but if you plan to hit the shops this weekend, Friday is the best time. Liberty (pictured) is a fabulous department store and is great for gifts. Anthropologie, also on Regent Street, is pricier than in the US but has a good sale room. Go to Magma for quirky, design-oriented gifts and Foyles or Stanfords for books.

17:00 After hours at the museum

Lots of London museums stay open late once a week or once a month. There’s a comprehensive list of which museums open late when here. On Fridays, you could go to the V&A, the Natural History Museum, the British Museum (pictured) or the Tate Modern. Plus, many of London’s best museums are free to visit. Yay!

19:30 Eastern promises

Regional Thai restaurant Som Saa (pictured), in Spitalfields, was one of 2016’s hottest new openings. There are some tables for walk-ins but try to book. For a more casual option, Pizza Pilgrims (pictured), one of my favourite London pizzerias, has a Shoreditch branch. You can BYO booze, or a chocolate bar for them to convert into a dessert calzone.

21:30 Cocktail o’clock

I don’t often go out in Shoreditch on Friday nights but there are a few cocktail bars for which I make an exception, such as Happiness Forgets, Hawksmoor's Spitalfields Bar, Callooh Callay and Joyeux Bordel. Nightjar (pictured), a prohibition-style bar tucked away near Old Street roundabout, is also excellent for classy, creative cocktails.

SATURDAY

9:00 Thames paths

If your head isn't too sore, head out early for a walk (or a run) along the South Bank of the Thames. The stretch from Waterloo Bridge to Tower Bridge includes some of the city’s most iconic sights, from the Houses of Parliament and Elizabeth Tower (home of Big Ben), to the Shard and Tower of London.

10:00 Borough breakfast

Borough Market, the huge, historic gourmet food market near London Bridge, is always busy at the weekends, but mornings are less crowded. Don’t miss the epic Bread Ahead doughnuts (pictured). The market’s best coffee can be found at the Flat Cap cart or Monmouth. If you buy some of Monmouth’s locally roasted coffee beans, you can join the shorter queue on the right. For an impeccable cup of coffee in dapper surroundings, walk five minutes to the Gentlemen Baristas (pictured) on Union Street.

11:30 Street-food brunch

15 minutes’ walk from Borough in Bermondsey is Maltby Street Market. Open on Saturdays and Sundays, the market's Ropewalk section (pictured) hosts street-food vendors and local food and drink producers, with everything from grilled cheese and gyoza, to brownies and bacon sarnies. Be sure to stop for a gin cocktail at Little Bird or Jensen's. There are more stalls in Druid Street and at Spa Terminus.

14:00 Meridian merriments

If you like craft beer, consider doing some of the Bermondsey Beer Mile. Alternatively, take the Thames Clipper to Greenwich from London Bridge. In Greenwich, visit the Royal Observatory, the Queen’s House (don’t miss the Tulip Stairs pictured below), the Old Royal Naval College and Greenwich Market, or sample the local Meantime beer.

19:30 Catch dinner on the Rye

One of my favourite London restaurants is Pedler, a relaxed all-day eatery with beautiful interiors on Peckham Rye. The food and creative cocktails (featuring Little Bird Gin) are top-notch and the staff are lovely. Lots of buses run to Peckham Rye, or you can take the Overground.

21:00 Rooftop drinks

After dinner, head to Frank’s Cafe (only open in summer months; pictured below) on the 10th floor of a Peckham multi-storey car park. The cocktails are good and well-priced and there’s a superb view. There is a covered area, but it’s not very sheltered so during less clement climes, try John the Unicorn or, for arcade games, The Four Quarters.

SUNDAY

09:00 Blooming marvellous

Columbia Road flower market, a short walk from Shoreditch High Street Overground, is only open on Sundays from 8:00 am until 3:00 pm, and is best experienced early in the morning. Buy some flowers or plants or just enjoy the ambiance.

10:00 Some like it Hoxton

For a relaxed late breakfast in Hoxton, look no further than Friends of Ours (pictured) or Embassy East. Both serve great all-day menus, with particularly good brunch dishes, and excellent coffee (from Dark Arts and Assembly, respectively).

11:30 Shoreditch shopping

Interiors stores abound in Shoreditch (I like SCP, Goodhood and Luna & Curious), and Redchurch Street is a cool shopping street (try Aesop for beautiful skincare, Labour & Wait for hipster homewares and Modern Society for fashion; for coffee, head to Allpress). There are lots of pop-up shops inside Boxpark, and other shopping options in and around Spitalfields Market.

13:00 Aerial views

The brunch — and views — at Duck & Waffle are superb. Order the titular duck and waffle (pictured) and try to get a table by the windows. You’ll need to book way in advance for prime slots but the restaurant is open 24/7 so if you’re up very early (or late), you might get lucky. If you can't get a table, the restaurants at the Sky Garden also have good views (get coffee before or after at The New Black).

14:30 Sunday in The City

I love exploring the fascinating architecture and historic buildings of the near-deserted City of London on Sundays. Depending on your tastes, you might like to visit Leadenhall Market (pictured), One New Change (the shopping centre’s public rooftop has a wonderful view of St Paul’s Cathedral) or The Barbican Centre.

16:00 King's Cross culture

Walk or take the Tube to King’s Cross, and visit the Wellcome Collection or the British Library. If you go to the latter, don't miss Origin Coffee (pictured) by the entrance, a tiny coffee bar serving some of the best coffee in London.

FIVE MORE GREAT…

• speciality coffee spots: Association (City), Kaffeine (Fitzrovia), Ozone (Old Street), White Mulberries (Wapping) and Workshop (multiple locations); and five more: Catalyst (Holborn), Iris & June (Victoria), Old Spike (Peckham), Second Shot (Bethnal Green) and TAP Coffee (Fitzrovia).
• brunch spots: Caravan (multiple locations), Dirty Bones (Soho), The Good Egg (Stoke Newington), Hixter (Bankside) and Riding House Cafe (Fitzrovia). 
• food markets: Brixton Market (Brixton), Brockley Market (Brockley), Broadway Market (Hackney), KERB (multiple locations) and Street Feast (multiple locations). 
• quick eats: Bao (Soho), Beigel Bake (Brick Lane), Daddy Donkey (Clerkenwell), Honest Burgers (multiple locations) and Pizza Pilgrims (multiple locations). 
• dinner picks: Burger & Lobster (multiple locations), Dishoom (multiple locations), Hawksmoor (multiple locations), Mele e Pere (Soho) and Padella (Borough). 
• cocktail bars: 214 Bermondsey (Bermondsey), 69 Colebrooke Row (Islington), BYOC (Soho), Dandelyan (Bankside) and the London Gin Club (Soho). 
• unique things to do: climb the O2, make doughnuts with the pros, visit a gin distillery, join an architecture tour and queue for £5 standing tickets at the Globe. 
• parks: Greenwich Park (Greenwich), Hampstead Heath (Hampstead), the Olympic Park (Hackney), Regent’s Park (Marylebone) and Victoria Park (Hackney).
• indie cinemas: BFI Southbank (Waterloo), Curzon Soho (Soho), Peckhamplex (Peckham; most tickets are £4.99), Ritzy (Brixton), and Screen on the Green (Islington). 

Second Shot

The Good Egg

Beigel Bake

Bao  

The O2

PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Accommodation: London hotels can be expensive, but there are deals to be had. When I'm hunting hotels, I work out in which neighbourhood I want to stay (near the good coffee) and then scour sites like booking.com and hotels.com before waiting for a sale (I also check if the hotel offers a better deal for direct bookings). I’ve never used AirBnB, but friends have had good experiences in London, and it can be more affordable, especially if you stay less centrally.

Arriving: From Heathrow, it’s cheaper (and unless you are staying near Paddington, as efficient) to take the Tube than the Heathrow Express into central London. Likewise, from Gatwick, the Gatwick Express is really only worth it if you’re staying near Victoria; otherwise, it’s cheaper to go to London Bridge or St Pancras. From Luton and Stansted, trains go to St Pancras and Liverpool Street, respectively. You can also take a taxi or Uber into town; if you’re in a group, it may be cheaper but not necessarily faster.

Getting around: Most places in this guide are accessible by Tube and/or bus (south of the river, buses tend to be more efficient). If your debit or credit card allows contactless payment, you can use it on public transport. Otherwise, pick up an Oyster card or travelcard. Note: bus drivers don't take cash.

Money: UK currency is the pound (£). Credit and debit cards are accepted almost everywhere in London — even at many street-food stalls. Cashpoints (ATMs) are ubiquitous; some charge a fee for withdrawals but should warn you in advance.

When to come: Autumn and spring are my favourite seasons in London. The weather won’t always (or often) be great but the fall foliage and blossom, respectively, make the city particularly pretty and you’ll miss the busiest summer tourist peak. Watch out for Easter, though, as many places close for at least some of the four-day weekend and it’s often busy.


OTHER LONDON RESOURCES

• Time Out London — events and activities, things to do, food and drink
• Londonist — blog with particularly good coverage of events and activities
• Hot Dinners — good for new restaurant and bar openings
• Just Opened London — another good resource for new food and drink spots
• London’s Best Coffee — comprehensive website and app with excellent coffee recommendations across London. If I'm heading to a new neighbourhood, this is my first port of call. Brian's Coffee Spot and Bean There at also have a wealth of coffee recommendations.
• TFL — useful public transport information 
• Citymapper — great journey-planning resource; there's an app too

Found this post useful? Please consider supporting my blog by buying me a coffee.

The Leicester Caffeine Chronicles: 200 Degrees and St Martin's Tea & Coffee

During my recent weekend trip to stay with friends in Leicester, I wasn't expecting to have time to check out many coffee shops. Nor did I have any time to do any research, but having enjoyed an espresso from Leicester-based St Martin's Coffee Roasters at this year's London Coffee Festival, I did have at least one café on my list — and one that is relatively close to both the train station and my friends' house.

We spent Saturday outside the city but on Sunday morning, craving coffee, we ventured into town. The plan was to head straight to the St Martin's cafe located on St Martins Square (apostrophes, or lack thereof, throughout reflect official sources). Walking along Market Street, however, we were intercepted by a woman handing out vouchers for free coffee. I was skeptical but as soon as I spotted the 200 Degrees branding, I knew we were onto a winner. Their Leicester branch opened in March 2017, but, according to the voucher, rather than spending 'thousands of pounds convincing you how good our coffee is, why not just try one for free?' Why indeed? The Nottingham-based roaster also has shops in Nottingham, Leeds, Birmingham and Cardiff; I haven't visited any of the other branches, but had heard good things.

With its sleek, black awning, 200 Degrees stands out from its Market Street neighbours. The interiors are rustic, spacious and — given the dark colours — surprisingly bright inside. Armed with our vouchers, we headed to the coffee bar and made our orders — a cortado (£2.40) and a cappuccino (£2.90). There were two espressos on offer: the 'Brazilian Love Affair' blend and the Fazenda Ouro Verde, a single-origin also from Brazil, and we opted for the latter. There was also a Guatemalan coffee available as V60- or Aeropress-brewed filter coffee (£3.20). I assumed (wrongly, as it turned out) that I would be able to have a hand-brewed filter at St Martin's, so I was sorry I didn't also try brewed coffee at 200 Degrees.

As it was a warm day, we went to sit at one of the pavement tables. My friends' dog was welcomed outside and brought his own 'doggycino' (an Acme cup of water). The coffees soon arrived and my cortado was really excellent: sweet, smooth and nutty. My friend also enjoyed his cappuccino. There were plenty of cakes on the counter and the lunch service was just about to start when we were leaving so I didn't get to see the sandwiches and other light meals on offer. Something to try when I return!

After a historical visit and lunch, we finally made it to St Martin's. St Martins Square is actually more of a crescent, with several interesting eateries. Indeed, my friends had eaten before at Crafty, the gourmet burger bar that materialises at St Martin's on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. The café itself was fairly busy when we arrived on Sunday afternoon, but there is plenty of seating — mainly rustic wooden furniture with pops of vibrant primary colours — both downstairs and in the upstairs room. It was very light and airy in the café and the décor gave it a cosy, homey feel.

Unfortunately, I wasn't in the market for any coffee beans on this trip, but I enjoyed browsing the colourful selection of St Martin's single-origin coffees. When it was my turn to order, I asked which single-origins were available but alas, there was only one batch-brew option, while the Friday Street blend was in the hopper for espresso-based drinks. As such, we went for the same cortado/cappuccino combo as before, with my other friend ordering a mint tea (I forgot to note individual prices but the three drinks together cost £6.30).

The breakfast and lunch menus (which included avo toast, pancakes and rotisserie chicken, among other dishes) sounded amazing, but after a big lunch, we stuck to a peanut butter brownie (£2.50). It seems I will have my meals all planned for the next time I come!

I've tried the oh-so-drinkable Friday Street blend before (coincidentally, it also uses a Brazilian Fazenda Ouro Verde, which featured in my 200 Degrees coffee, but combined with a Rwandan variety) and enjoyed it, and my cortado was nicely brewed at St Martin's. The other drinks got thumbs-ups too, and we devoured the brownie in no time. There was a really nice atmosphere in the café with a diverse set of customers, from young families, to students and, well, us. It was a lovely place to hang out after our historical learnings.

200 Degrees. 10-12 Market St, Leicester LE1 6DP. Website. Twitter. Instagram.
St Martin's Tea & Coffee. St Martins Square, 2-6 Saint Martins Walk, Leicester LE1 5DG. Website. Twitter. Instagram.

A Weekend in Leicester

Despite my life-long interest in 15th- and 16th-century English history — a passion I inherited from my dad — I had never managed to visit the city of Leicester, whose connection with the Plantagenet king Richard III has been in the news fairly regularly over the past few years, displaced only by a certain football team. My only previous visit to Leicestershire was when I did my PADI Open Water training in the murky quarry of Stoney Cove back in 2002, so it was high time I returned to the county.

One of my school friends is currently studying for a post-graduate degree in Leicester so I went up to visit her and her partner at the weekend. We were blessed with warm, sunny weather and I really enjoyed our adventures in and around the city. My train from St Pancras took about 1h15 and even booking a month in advance only brought the return ticket price down from £60 to £43; Leicester is a notoriously expensive place to visit, it seems. Nonetheless, I was soon walking past the red-brick buildings of the city to get to my friends' house, and then we headed out into the countryside for lunch.

Our destination was John's House, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Mounstorrel, a small village near Loughborough. The restaurant is located in a small complex involving a farm, farm shop and café and wasn't well sign-posted from the road so we missed it first time round, but before long, we were perusing the menus in the reception area, which felt like being in the cosy living room of a smart friend. There were three G&Ts on offer, and I chose one with apple marigold, lime and Mediterranean Fever Tree tonic, which was delicious. We also nibbled on some lovely Sicilian olives.

There was a £70 tasting menu, but although it looked great, we stuck to the three-course lunch, which was just £28. Upstairs in the restaurant, we devoured the freshly baked bread — one variety with onion and one with rosemary — and awaited our food. To start, we all went for the duck confit with brown shrimps, peas and shallots. It tasted wonderful and, like all of the dishes, was beautifully presented. My main course — confit of smoked salmon with shrimps (again!), wasabi, dill and cucumber — was even prettier and superbly combined flavours and textures. The other main course dish was pork belly with sweetcorn and mushrooms, which also went down very well.

For pudding, I had a sort of yuzu and lemon meringue with elderflower sorbet, which, again, was a real treat for the tongue with its sweet–sharp, warm–cold, soft–crisp contrasts. The trifle was also more than a trifle lovely! The service at John's House was impeccable and perhaps the only possible cause for complaint is that there aren't always vegetarian options — both starters and mains on Saturday involved meat and/or fish. After lunch, we strolled around the rustic farm buildings and the vintage petrol pumps.

We then drove to to Bradgate Park, a huge country park a few miles north-west of Leicester. Dozens of red and white deer roam the park, although as it was so busy on such a sunny Saturday, many of them had decided to hide. We did make a few friends, though. We also took a peek at the ruins of Bradgate House, which was completed in the early 16th century by Thomas Grey, the grandfather of nine-day-queen Lady Jane Grey, and grandson of Elizabeth Woodville, whose second husband was King Edward IV (older brother of Richard III, of whom more later). We couldn't tour the ruins, unfortunately, although there seemed to be a wedding reception taking place.

After our big lunch and lazy afternoon, we spent the evening at home, but went out on Sunday morning in such of further diversions. Although St Martin's Coffee had been on my list since I sampled some of their espresso at the London Coffee Festival this year, I hadn't done any further research for the weekend, but we happened to come across 200 Degrees when walking down Market Street and stopped in there too. I will be writing up a separate post about these two fine Leicester coffee establishments in due course.

As well as a personal interest in the Wars of the Roses (the Starks and Lannisters have nothing on the intrigues and rivalries of the Yorks and the Lancasters), I also had a professional reason to visit the shiny new King Richard III Visitor Centre, which opened in 2014 on the site of the carpark where the king's remains were discovered. More specifically, the publisher I work for published a paper that reports the scientific evidence for the identification of the remains as being those of Richard III, and the story kept my team rather busy around the time of publication.

It costs £8.95 to visit the museum, although you can return as many times as you like within a year using the same ticket. There is a lot of information there on the history, the king's evolving reputation, the discovery in the carpark and the scientific study of the remains, but it's well presented and very interesting. We spent a fascinating hour there.

Afterwards, we headed into the Lanes, a charming, pedestrianised shopping area. We had a decent, although not outstanding, lunch at a Central/South American cantina in St Martins Square; the BBQ joint just opposite may have been a better bet, and of course, if St Martin's Coffee's burger bar, Crafty, had been open, that would have been an obvious choice. My friends had been to the latter before and spoke highly of it. Instead, we settled for coffee and pudding at St Martin's and then continued our stroll through town.

A lot of the shops seemed to be shut on Sundays — I was particularly disappointed I couldn't go into a homeware store called Harriman & Co — but we had a wander through the shiny new shopping centre, before returning to my friends' house via New Walk, a leafy, pedestrianised promenade, which claims to have been traffic-free for more than 200 years.

By then, it was time for me to take the train back to London. In an effort to save a few quid from my ticket price, I'd decided to take the slow (2h15) train home. A mistake, perhaps, although the journey was pleasant enough with some lovely views of the English countryside at golden hour. More importantly, it's been good to remember that just because a train ticket to a UK city costs the same price as a flight or Eurostar ticket to somewhere in mainland Europe, it doesn't mean the former should always be eschewed. I still have so much of my home country to explore and really must get better at making time to do so.