It takes time to understand a city. To learn about the neighbourhoods, the food culture, the people, and the fashion. Thanks to the internet, you can spend time searching a wide array of keywords to come up with the best match for your taste – a particular brand of hipster vibe mixed with French cuisine and cocktails with no menu. Luckily for Londoners, and the city’s chic visitors, they’ve got ‘A London Steal.’
Girl about town Elle Ford penned this collection of the best vintage shops, cafes, restaurants, and nighttime hotspots. The book is aimed at budget shoppers looking to make their way, as much as is possible, into exclusive, posh London. The Made in Chelsea London we love to see on TV.
Ford has divided the book into sections on fashion, food, and drinks of all sorts. She breaks down the vintage and charity shops by location, and also tells you what sorts of finds you can normally get there. If you’re looking for basics, you should go to the shops that offer up the best of basics, rather than the ones that receive designer workwear. Do you know which shop that is? She does.
As is done with fashion, Ford elaborates on the best coffee shops, places for cocktails, and after-dark hotspots from bars to nightclubs to live music venues. What really stands out about what is essentially a lifestyle directory is how each location is described. You get more than a simple ‘this place is great.’ You know she has been there, you understand the energy and vibe, and you can easily choose where you’d like to go based on the summary.
After two years in London, I knew some of this information, but it wasn’t necessarily easy to acquire. Ford’s guide to chic London on an assistant’s salary will put you quickly in the know of the who’s who and what’s where of the greatest city in the world.
Get it on Amazon.
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