London Underground

Fear not my friends for this is not a 500 word monotonous rant about the woes of travelling on the underground during rush hour. Although let's be honest, that would be far from an impossible task. 

When I think of London Underground, it isn't the melancholic chugging of the Bakerloo line that immediately springs to mind but London's magnificent treasure trove of bars, cafes and museums that lie hidden underneath the drudgeries of London life. Bid a final farewell to cold coffees at Cafe Rouge, overpriced cocktails at Dirty Martini and tourist traps at the National History Museum and instead make your grand debut through the gateway to London Underground. Once you have seen what lies beneath, you won't be in a hurry to come up for air again. 

Just a hop skip and a jump away from Berkley Square lies Mr Foggs, one hell of a speakeasy. Though vibrantly decorated from the inside, you would need a sixth sense for the Gin to locate this lovely number. Manage to find your way inside and you are in for a treat. Modelled on the Mayfair lair that housed Phileas Foggs, the writer who is believed to have wrote Around The World in 80 Days, the room is dotted with all sorts of wonderful antiques and not such wonderful junk that such a traveller would be expected to keep. The cocktails here are the real crown jewels as waiters dressed head to toe in military style uniforms serve up modern twists on Victorian classics. 

Blink and you'll miss this aptly named coffee shop housed in one of London's most original locations, a late nineteenth-century gents' toilet. In fact the toilet is so well preserved that you will find yourself casually sipping a creamy cappuccino whilst enjoying the view of a well varnished urinal. However, the fact that your surroundings very quickly become the norm is proof alone that one man's trash (or in this case sewage) is most definitely another man's treasure. Also worth a mention is that The Attendant is the source of the most delicious salted caramel brownies I have ever tasted. 

Being blinded by the neon pink "sex shop" signs, being greeted flirtatiously by the immaculately dressed transvestite at the entrace  it's just your average evening at La Bodega Negra. Searching for a moment of calm is simply a waste of time as you are soon whisked down the stairs to what can only be described as a nightclub with table service. Don't come here for the food (which contrary to the image is frankly, pretty bland), don't come here for the service but do come here for the sheer pleasure of being seen at somewhere pretty damn special. It's not a restaurant, it's not a bar, it's an experience and one you should try at least once. 

One of two remarkable houses in Holland Park, Leighton House was once home to the great Victorian artist Lord Leighton and now acts as a showpiece house to all his classical treasures from around the world, as well as his own works. This house is a model of architectural brilliance with the creme de la creme being the "Arab Hall", designed to show off Leighton's Middle Eastern tiles. 

Also making the cut

36 Colebrooke Row - The Angel based speakeasy with no name

The Fumoir - The 1930s bar hidden behind a secret door at Claridges

Photographs courtesy of The Telegraph, Where Theres Will, Design Boom, The Perfect Trough and Now Here This.