Best London Hangout Neighborhoods?

[smurf]

What are some of the better hangout neighborhoods in London? It could be good bar/club/restaurant locations, hip, urban shopping areas, or even art and design areas. Also must see record shops, t-shirts, books, etc.

All that high style chic is fine, but I'm really looking for hip, urban, real-world type stuff, not $400 sneakers!

[Matthew]

London is a city of Neighbourhoods, each of which have a different flavour so you have to try them out and take your pic.

For trendy, industrial London choose Hoxton/Old Street/ Shoreditch area in the East of the city. It has all the cool bars, groovy clubs (fabric the club is in next door Smithfield Market - a good place to get your meat! - try Smiths of Smithfield for a full English breakfast at the weekends. The whole area is full of artists and style bars. Brick Lane is another place to visit - the place to get a curry.

For Trendy North London, go to Islington (not far from Old street) - Upper Street is packed with bars, Restaurants and boutiqey shops.

For West London you could venture to Notting Hill and Westbourne Grove - very Chi Chi - very up itself but it has the famous Portobello Road Market, plenty of upmarket boutiques and some great restaurants anbd bars (the Westbourne and the Cow are two institutions - Guiness and Oysters at the Cow) Also have a bloody Mary at Beach Blanket Babylon on Ledbury Road

For South London (eugh!!) people swear by Clapham - you'll find there is a bit of a North South divide in London and no one on either side wants the cross the river - as you may gather I'm North so I don't have much to say about South.

Central London is much neglected I feel and there is tons going on - Covent Garden has plenty of the cool shops you are after, Soho obviously is unmissable.

For books - try the Charing Cross Road, for records you will love Fopp on Shaftesbury Avenue - for all the rest each area I mentioned has its fair share of good stuff.

Have fun

[Guest]

matthew said it really.

it's been over a year since i lived in london so some of the following may be redundant.

old street for bars/clubs. 333 is a vast messy place with good dj's mostly. bricklayers arms is an old school english pub, good for meeting folk before venturing on but can get rammed at wkends. plastic people round the corner on curtain rd is small, smoky and dark and has good dj's (giles peterson/francois k etc etc). herbal on kingsland rd is also a nice little place for a dance. cargo on rivington st is a vast space and often has good live stuff going on and good dj`s (also check out the banksy gallery under the bridge before you go in). elbow rooms for

pool (curtain rd).

brick street (whitechapel station) is my personal favourite. loads of good bars, cool little shops, clubs and of course all the curry you want and some you don't. try 93ft east. a vast club, three rooms and a terrace. usually good stuff. vibe bar, across the road...dark and dingy, fucked leather sofas but a good vibe. live jazz on tuesdays. lots of good things here. also look out for the shoreditch twat, a very funny publication which is good for a read home on the bus after a night in east london.

the pretentousness of west london has shifted somewhat to the east over the years. i don't know it as well but clubwise definately try notting hill arts club (get there early or be prepared to queue!) also cherry jam is another decent spot for a dance.

central london there is 'the end' on new oxford street. big club and gets messy but some decent names play, and bar rumba on shaftsbury ave. is good usually (does giles peterson still play on monday nights?) definately have a wander in soho and covent garden for shopping. ifÂ@you are into art/design check out magma books which is just off tottenham ct road heading towards the seven dials in covent garden, which is a good place to buy a beer at the offy and sit for a spot of people watching.

a final note. check out camden, it's mostly wank with slipknot kids but the jazz cafe is certainly worth a look as is lock tavern and the lockside lounge. also check out the markets before heading west along the canal to primrose hill which is a very quiet, rich area, miles apart from the dinge and drugs of camden. head up the hill with a bottle of wine for the best view in london.

that's my lot. have fun in london. i do miss it i have to admit.

[sepia007]

brick lane area.

notting hill gate area.

convent garden area.

st johns wood area.

[haste]

for a nice full english try 'ruby in the dust' in camden.

best tees at the moment are from the small range at HOUSE33 at 33 marshall st in SoHo.