Femme Fatale’s Guide to London: Markets, Minis and More!

London – the home of new royal Kate Middleton, birthplace of the miniskirt and a city that considers beans on toast as an actual meal. With so much going on in this cultural epicentre, be sure you don’t waste one minute checking your friend’s Facebook statuses or watching European MTV in your hotel room!

Head over to East London to get your fill on all things hip and trendy, or hop on the tube to Oxford Street to go window shopping at all the major department stores. You can also swing by Carnaby Street in your best homage outfit to Mary Quant and the psychedelic 60s, or cruise on over to Parliament to say “Hello!” to Big Ben.

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Whatever your own personal itinerary ends up being, just make sure its “well ace.” To gurantee that you’ll have a jolly good ol’ time in the L-D-N, I’ve compiled a list of all the hotspots you need to check out.

No need to thank me for this guide of awesomness…unless you don’t mind sending a few HobNob biscuits my way here in New York?!

The SoHo Hotel (Photo courtesy of Firmdale Hotels)

HOTELS:

• Hoxton Hotel, 81 Great Eastern St, London, UK EC2A 3HU
• The SoHo Hotel, 4 Richmond Mews, London, UK W1D 3DH
• The Savoy, Strand, London, UK WC2R 0EU
• onefinestay, Various locations
• W Hotel Leicester Square, 10 Wardour Street, London, UK W1D 6QF
• Clink78, 78 King’s Cross Road, London, UK WC1X 9QG

Old Blue Last (Photo by Victor Frankowski)

BARS/CLUBS:

Hoxton/Shoreditch

• Old Blue Last, 38 Great Eastern St, London, UK EC2A 3ES
• Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen, 2 Hoxton Street, London, UK N1 6NU
• Red Lion, 130 Hoxton Street, London, UK N1 6SH
  
• Electricity Showrooms, 39 Hoxton Sq, London, UK N1 6NN
• George and Dragon, 2-4 Hackney Road, London, UK E2 7NS
• Jaguar Shoes, 34 Kingsland Road, London, UK E2 8DA
• Joiners Arms, 116-118 Hackney Rd, London, UK E2 7QL

Dalston

• Haggerston Pub, 438 Kingsland Road, London, UK E8 4AA
• Visions, 588A Kingsland Road, London, UK E8 4AH
• The Alibi, 91 Kingsland High Street, London, UK E8 2PB
• The Russian, 267 Kingsland Road, London, UK E2 8AS
• Efes Snooker Club, 17B Stoke Newington Road, London, UK N16 8BH
• Shacklewell Arms, 71 Shacklewell Lane, London, UK E8 2EB

Islington

• Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Road, London, UK N1 9JB

Camden

• Hawley Arms, 2 Castlehaven Road, London, UK NW1 8QU
• The Lock Tavern, 35 Chalk Farm Road, London, UK NW1 8AJ
• The Fidlers Elbow, 1 Malden Rd, London NW5 3HS

SoHo

• Punk Club, 14 Soho Street, London, UK W1D 3DN
• The John Snow, 39 Broadwick Street, London, UK W1F 9QJ
• Madame JoJo’s, 8-10 Brewer Street, London, UK W1F 0SE
• The Den, 18 West Central St, London, UK WC1A 1JJ

Spitalfields Market

MARKET GUIDE:

Friday – Go to Portabello Road in the morning for some extreme thrifting, literally. From records, to jewelry, to vintage clothes and to old riding boots, we recommend you get a good night’s sleep the day before for all the exhausting digging you will be doing!

Saturday – Head to Broadway Market in the morning to see the “quiet” side of Hackney, and then hop on the bus over to Camden to check out the stalls situated near the canal.

Sunday – Check out Spitalfields Market first, and then you can cross the street to spend the rest of the afternoon on Brick Lane purchasing knick knacks from craft vendors, tasting grub from international food stalls or thrifting through strangers’ personal belongings, hanging out of suitcases on the pavement.

Tate Modern Museum

MUSEUMS:

• Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Rd, London, UK SW7 2RL
• Tate Modern, Park Street, Bankside, London, UK SE1 9TG
• National Portrait Gallery, Martin’s Place, City of London, UK WC2H 0HE
• British Museum, 96 Euston Road, London, UK NW1 2DB
• Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, London, UK SE1 6HZ

Boho Mexica

RESTAURANTS:

SoHo

• Cha Cha Moon, 21 Ganton St, London, UK, W1F 9BN
• Diner, 18 Ganton St, London, UK W1F 7BU
• Bodeans, D’arblay House, 10A Poland Street, London, UK W1F 8PZ

Covent Garden

• Wahaca, 66 Chandos Place, London, UK WC2N 4HG
• Bedford & Strand, 1A Bedford Street, London, UK WC2E 9HH

Camden

• Wagamama, 9-11 Jamestown Road, London, UK NW1 7BW
• Grab some grub from the food stalls at Camden Market!

Shoreditch/Hoxton

• Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen, 2 Hoxton Street, London, UK N1 6NU
• Boho Mexica, 151-153 Commercial Street, London, UK E1 6BJ

Brick Lane

• Truman Brewery, Grey Eagle St, Poplar, London, UK E1 6
• All Star Lanes, 95 Brick Lane, London, UK E1 6QL
• Any Indian restaurant!

Oxford Street

SHOPPING:

• Oxford Street – Selfridge’s, TOPSHOP, Miss Selfridges, River Island, ZARA, Primark and House of Fraser
• SoHo/Carnaby Street – Ben Sherman, YourEyesLie, Liberty London, Beyond Retro, Supreme, Irregular Choice, Year Zero
• Covent Garden – Dr. Martens, Mint Vintage, Fred Perry, Karen Millen, agns b.
• Mayfair/Regent Street – b Store, Vivienne Westwood, Dover Street Market
• Kensington – Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Burberry
• Brick Lane/East London – Various independent vintage shops, Rokit Vintage, Rough Trade Records, LN-CC
• Camden – Camden Market stalls, various retail shops on Camden High Street

All photos unless otherwise noted are from Flickr