Dear Oliver B,…read more Thank you for always keeping me well-equipped with last-minute gifts, sunglasses, jewelry, baby books & gifts, coffee mugs, jewelry stands, cute clothing (love that Poem brand!), wrapping paper, frames, clocks, wall decor... Actually, thanks for just keeping me browsing forever and ever in your delicious little stores. Whomever curates your collect, A+. I'm a huge fan and whenever I see one, I stop in! I can't help myself. I own 7 pairs of sunglasses. I am always given a cute little pouch with them. This is the BEST place to pick up a cute and unique bebe gift, greeting card that makes me seem calm, cool and collected even though I am usually rushing in and out. You make me look cool. I need this. Yours truly and forever, Colleen C

Great size selling food and clothes. Also has a cafe on first floor selling delicious food and…read moredrinks.

Peacocks is a bit of an odd one. I always find that these stores are always located in unlikely…read moreareas such as this one, which is right next to Old Street Station. This is decidedly not a very retail-clad area which is why I find it a bit strange. Peacocks sells very very cheap clothing for men, women and children. The quality matches the price range, which usually means that it is pretty low. But like most bargain shops in London, there always is one or two random items that make the shop OK. The cotton t-shirts and socks are worth investing in, and they do have one or two random fashion items that will be worth the bargain. Other than that, nothing much to expect out of Peacocks...

I was first introduced to Peacocks when at uni in the rather downtrodden although perennially…read moretouted as 'up and coming' Elephant and Castle. What else is there to do in between lectures in such an area but browse unthinkably cheap footwear and take advantage of the old student discount while it lasts? Said footwear proved to be too painful to wear - it's always a false economy - and I discovered the Old Street branch of the store. A high street retailer which prides itself on its competitive prices and 'no quibble refund' policy. And good thing too, the last thing I bought from Peacocks - a disgusting but cosy dressing gown - turned out to have a sodding great hole in it when I got it home from the store. Peacocks is good for cheap socks, leggings and other basics but the quality is commensurate with the price. Good if you're on a budget but don't expect Peacocks' clothes to last.

This is my favourite branch of Boots in my opinion. It has two floors. It has got loads of great…read morebeauty counters to start with and a fantastic beauty section overall. It also includes a Boots Opticians, which has a really good selection of frames to choose from. I was particularly impressed with the range of hair dryers they sell. I have found that the staff have always been professional, friendly and polite.

This is one of the larger Boots stores with two levels. The great thing about it is that you can…read morepark directly above the store and get a lift or take the stairs straight into the shop (which is brilliant for mums with pushchairs or those in wheelchairs). The staff are really friendly and one lady even took us to where we needed to go (right at the other end of the shop) and at our speed (slow!). Everything you need from a Boots store.

This is a fantastic little art gallery which shows exciting art by contemporary artists such as…read more DFace, Mr Jago, Meryl O'Donoghue and many other great up and coming and established artists. The gallery space itself is quite small. The staff are very friendly and always wiling to help. Private views are usually on a Thursday night here. It's located just off Brick Lane. check it out the next time you are in the East End.

This is the first gallery I went to as a new resident to London - and, as a total street/guerrilla…read moreart enthusiast, I was really impressed. The gallery is in East London's bustling Brick Lane, sitting quite contentedly in a dank, graffiti-covered alley that on gallery opening nights is filled with hip-looking young folk (many who are also surreptitiously brandishing paste-up materials and paint pens, bent on tagging every open space when no one is looking). The night I went here was the RSVP preview of Stolen Space's "Wild Fantasies" show, which features several posters of the "Dont Panic" tradition - many of which were created by our generation's most well-known street artists, from D*Face to Banksy to Shepard Fairey of OBEY/Obama poster fame. Free drinks abounded and the place was packed to the rafters. Overall, it's obvious that this gallery has a true appreciation for the ethos and philosophy behind street art - many of its founders are street artists themselves. Squabbles about the rammifications of the commercialization of street art aside, this is a reputable spot to sample the work of respected urban/street artists with a political, street-originated bent. A tip: be sure to grab a Don't Panic promo package on your way out. They're free and distributed around the city, but this gallery is the source. They're filled with flyers and posters for London street/nightlife events coming up.

This space is great! The windows in the front are huge and really invite you inside. The space is…read moredeep and not narrow at all with a lot of natural light from the large windows in the front. Plus, the high ceilings and window in the back add to the feeling of space. The best thing about this gallery, however, is the downstairs bit. It duplicates the ground floor feeling of space and light but with no natural light at all. And, they've put the bar down there so during an opening, when you usually can't get people to go down the stairs to save your life, that's where the party's at. Husband wants to open a gallery of his own and if he does this would be the one I'd like him to emulate. Great vibe from the neighbourhood and artist owned (co-op of 100 artists); can't get better than that.

Espacio is one of my favourite places in London. It has an ever-changing array of artworks, from…read morePaintings, to Sculptures, to Found Object Art, to convincing 6'foot Aussie guys to wear makeup on International Womens' Day as Concept Art. It has a really welcoming vibe, the artists are always there for First Thursdays, and they often have to push us out the door so that they can close up when we visit them!

OK so this is really a review for the Lost Lectures and a mini one for Bush Hall (so bits of the…read morereview effectively appear twice on my profile) The venue; small and has a little intimate mini wedding reception, 20s ballroom charm about it. There're chandeliers from the ceiling, pillars and moulding on the walls. Quite a cool little place. Not very big but with great acoustics and a balcony with a decent little bar. The place held roughly 150-200 people. The event they had there, now that was something else! The Lost Lectures is one of the best things I've been to in London and to put it briefly is a bastard child mixture of the TED lectures and Secret Cinema. It's a series of pop up 20 minute lectures on various topics from art to science to the plain passionate! Be careful tickets sell out fast you have to be fast on that twitter trigger. They had quite the menagerie this time with 6 speakers. the first was a sex statistician who spoke about the need for such behavioural data and how to get the best information on people. The second was a gardener who went round the potholes of london making little gardens and filming the reaction of people, a bus driver loved one so much he stole it! Another was an artist who talked about his interactive work around the world including placing pianos around cities and having randoms film themselves play them. The second half started with a man who talked about the power and romance of letters showing us amazing little letters that he had put on his website. One was a beautifully Snow White letterheaded one from the Disney company telling a female animator that there were no women allowed in the creative department! Guido Fawkes spoke next talking about how to get round super-injunctions and how they became a bigger political website than the Spectator. The evening finished with a lovely passionate 23 year old classically trained musician who was also the UK beatbox champion! The sounds that came out of this girls mouth were so amazing and her passion so great that it ended the night off just perfectly. I was smiling for the rest of the week and shall definitely be going to the next one! Lost Lectures, you make me proud to be losing myself in London.

Dropped in here semi-recently and kept forgetting to write a review. They were very friendly and…read morehelpful. I'm not very knowledgable on art, and so I just buy what I like. This place had reasonably priced items by smaller artists that made it very approachable. I bought a piece for like 400, which in the scheme of something hanging on your walls for decades isn't too bad. I visited a bunch of other galleries that were stuffy and had very expensive stuff. This gallery has a lot of things that regular, "non-art", people would buy and hang on their wall. I researched a few of the artists in there and they all seemed like fairly new artists that were getting their feet wet, so it feels good to support them.

I spent a Saturday mooching a long Columbia Road with a friend and I'd forgotten that there is so…read moremuch down there to see even when the market isn't on. Nelly Duff is one of those places you'll want to stop on by. If you like street art and are looking for something from some very talented up and coming artists, this will be the place to get it. Starting from £100 you can purchase some fabulous prints, they even frame them for you! I love it so much because it really is affordable art. They have a keen eye as to what's on trend right now so you get some of the best up and coming names on display. It's also great for iconic London prints, postcards and small Christmas presents. If you know a Londoner and you are struggling to by them a gift, this shop can help.