A weekend like you never would have imagined
In London, what is a trendy neighbourhood, with cutting-edge shops and galleries and a vibrant cultural life on Tuesday morning will be gentrified on Thursday at tea time. It happened with Shoreditch and it continues to happen cyclically . So we will simply let ourselves be guided by instinct and heart towards an area that, despite the insistence of hipsters, has not lost its character: the south. In the neighborhoods of ** Peckham and Brixton ** there is a feeling of community and it is one of those places where the tourist feels local.
It happens that the interesting accommodation options are concentrated on the other bank of the Thames. We can choose between the stylish but affordable ones, like the citizenM , the new openings, like The Hospital Club , built in an old hospital in the Covent Garden area and with a fairly wide price range; or the simply prohibitive but irresistible as The Lanesborough in Hide Park, one of the last jewels of the Oetker Collection which includes among its hotels Le Bristol in Paris or Namaskar in Marrakesh.
London in 48 hours: YES WE CAN
FRIDAY
five pm. Start the weekend in one of the places most loved by the residents of the peckham neighborhood , the Bussey Building . This former warehouse and current multipurpose space deserves 48 hours to itself. It serves as a venue for concerts, workshops, galleries, theaters, artistic projects that change the space and a mythical vinyl store / bar. The best thing is to go in and let yourself go.
18:00. We are in the Anglo-Saxon world, six in the afternoon is already a more than reasonable hour for start with alcohol intake . The first stop is the peckham pelican , a bar where you can find everything from a DJ to an engraving workshop or a culinary evening dedicated to new orleans specialties . The Pelican is the meeting point for arts students from the adjoining school, creativity is in the air (and in the tattoos, hair dyes, synthetic python coats…) . The ** Ivy House ** deserves a stop, it even deserves a movie with its history, it is the London's first co-operative bar . After the announcement of its closure, his parish and neighbors raised a million pounds to keep it. After a few pints, we go for a Old fashioned masterfully prepared at ** Bar Story **, two if we arrive at their happy hour from six to seven in the evening, highly recommended maneuver.
The meeting place for all modern Londoners worth their salt
9:00 pm. Once the warm-up is over, we make a technical stop to have dinner and go to pubs with renewed energy. Two good options in South London are Persepolis and Artusi . The decision will have to be made based on the budget. Persepolis It offers Persian dishes at a very reasonable price and has a small grocery feel. Her shop offers hard-to-find Persian cookbooks and products. They also host workshops and cooking classes.
The expensive option (although not prohibitive) is also very familiar but in the Italian style. Artusi It is a Mediterranean food place with homemade pasta, communal tables and an open kitchen. All their products are seasonal and most of them come from local producers. Although he is just over a year old, It is already one of the hits in the neighborhood.
22.30. There is a certain place, one that can only be found in London for reasons that we explain in two lines, for which it is worth traveling to Brixton. The **Efra Social** was the clubhouse of the Conservative Party and the decor has been left intact since the days of Thatcher. It is full of blackboards with messages to members, wing chairs or crochet rugs. Who was going to tell Winston Churchill that his oil portraits of him would end up surrounded by Jamaican dreadlocks and girls tattooed to the jaw having drinks?
Here you can dine, dance, listen to live music and even attend a poetry recital. Finishing the night at the Effra is a good option, if we have the energy left to go further, the nearby Clapham Street is littered with bars.
Former Conservative Party Club Headquarters
SATURDAY
10.00. Before we head into the city, let's take a look at it from above. The Brockwell Park it is situated on a hill above Brixton and from its endless green expanse you can see the entire London skyline. Inside the park is The Brockwell Lido , an art deco building that today houses an outdoor pool and a cafe perfect for breakfast.
12.00. To eat, we are going to go around the world without moving from one of the most varied, vibrant and authentic markets of the hundreds that are in London: The Brixton Village and Market Row. Here you can buy everything from kimonos to snails, from African fabrics to French cheeses. In this independent space that the neighbors saved from demolition, it is possible to appreciate better than anywhere else all the good that the neighborhood multiculturalism. Thanks for the lesson, Brixton.
The perfect place to eat and enjoy Brixton
14.30. We have taken the pulse of one of the most interesting and less touristy areas of the city. We have been risky and original and we have strayed from the beaten path, good for us, but we are not going to leave without paying our respects to the statue of general nelson So we go downtown. These days the Royal Academy it is a garden. The exhibition Painting the Modern Garden Monet to Matisse , brings together works of Manet, Van Gogh, Cézanne, Klee and other great masters of the 20th century , one of those capable of filling museums retrospectively retrospectively.
4:00 p.m. Here tea time is inescapable . The center is full of options with little charm and we insist on our commitment to be those exemplary tourists who flee from chains and impersonality. We have already digested the snails, the sushi and the international delicacies tasted in Brixton and fancy a sweet, we are going to Maison Bertaux , a patisserie founded in the 19th century . Their protocol consists of taking their coffee or tea out into the street and having it with one of their French sweets. Although inside you have to keep your eyes wide open to enjoy the atmosphere, the old photos and the old grand piano.
Books between Edwardian bookshelves
17.00. A little more culture, later we will continue with gastronomy. Daunt Books it's a beautiful edwardian style bookstore . The interior dates from 1910, although it was restored in the 90s. It has a huge central gallery with two levels and a wooden railing where you can spend hours browsing through novelties and classics with the feeling of living in a chapter of downton abbey.
18.00. We are in one of the fashion capitals of the world and the fashion stop is a must. We chose Browns Focus , in Mayfair. This multi-brand store is something like the risky and young branch of the classic Browns department store. Has a dark, neon nightclub vibe and on its hangers the trends of the future are forged. It's avant-garde and daring, the perfect counterpoint to our purchases at the bohemian Brixton flea market.
the fashion stop
19.00. And if before we browsed between books in a setting like Downton Abbey, now we are going to have drinks in an environment of The Great Gatsby . The ** Milk & Honey **, has the character of a gentlemen's club. The atmosphere is 1920s jazz club and to access certain privileges, such as entering the red room you have to be a member. Non-members can enter until eleven with prior reservation. This place can afford to be restrictive and exquisite, here the art of drinking is taken very seriously, the variety of alcohols is exquisite and the ice is crushed with a punch.
8:30 p.m. Star chef and protégé of Gordon Ramsey (even more star chef) Judy Joo opened this Korean street tapas restaurant in 2015. Jinjuu is our go-to for dinner. They serve kimchi and fried chicken Korean style among other specialties, the kitchen is on view and the average price is £50 per person . The upper floor has a cocktail bar with options suitable for both before and after dinner.
The star chef disciple of Gordon Ramsey will surprise you with her dishes
22.00. A concert is the icing on the night, but tourism is tiring, so we opted for a concert by jazz or swing seated with a drink in hand. No beer in plastic cups and elbows, we've had a very intense day. The **Night Jar** bar has old-school glamour, its walls lined with art deco motifs and it's so cozy you'll want to stay forever. You can snack on something from their tapas menu but the most interesting are their concerts jazz or swing with a cocktail in hand.
The concert and the cup
SUNDAY
10.00. We moved to the area Saint Pancras to throw ourselves into a couple of cultural plans that are outside the conventional circuit. We had breakfast at **The Attendant**, a French cafe housed in an old Victorian public bath, abandoned for 50 years and recently restored. Their porridge prepared with almond milk will serve as fuel for the whole day.
11.30. We are going to spend the morning at one of the strangest museums in London, the **Wellcome Collection.** An institution dedicated to the curiosities and wonders of medical science. Henry Wellcome , the creator of him was an entrepreneur, philanthropist, traveler and pioneer of aerial photography. He collected hundreds of objects related to medicine and the human obsession with health, from Napoleon's toothbrush to ancient Japanese sex toys.
1:00 p.m. Halfway between the Wellcome Collection and our next destination is one of Soho's best restaurants, **Gauthier**. Our last culinary stop of the weekend is a classic restaurant with exquisite service that seems from another era. It is so formal that it borders on kitsch, but the important thing is that its French cuisine accumulates certificates of excellence and that it has an offer of wines to lose your mind. It's been a very long weekend, we deserve a tribute.
gourmet sandwiches
15.00. We started the day with the Wellcome Collection and ended it in another curious institution far from the most obvious circuit: The Prince Charles Cinema. This cinema located in leicester square It goes far beyond the premieres, it is a festival in itself. Here you can attend a masquerade party inspired by the film Inside of the labyrinth , a marathon of Nightmare in Elm street , a tribute to Meryl Streep, sing-along sessions of every movie imaginable, Disney matinees and screenings where you get a slice of pizza and a beer for the price of admission. Movies and events start at one and end at nine at night.
It is not easy to take the pulse of a city as vast as London, much less in 48 hours. The keys are narrow down, choose and look for the less obvious places and experiences. This time the mummies of the British Museum will have to do without our visit. Until next time, London.
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48 hours in London, difficult but not impossible