Boris Johnson                                                                                                    Photo: Internets_dairy 

London recently voted in a cycling Mayor in the form of Boris Johnson. There is now much hope in the cycling community (I love the idea of a cycling community as if we all live in one street and cook for each other) that more cycle lanes will be constructed. If the new lanes are as idiotically planned and badly constructed as the current ones then this will be a dangerous waste of money. I prefer to take my chances in the traffic. If you aren’t prepared to do battle with the buses and couriers then try cycling on Sundays when the roads especially in the City of London are deserted.

Cyclists in front of Bank of England

I sometimes go out with my flatmate James though he is much fitter than me and tends to go too fast. The great thing about central London is that it is flat so you don’t need to be particularly fit or have lots of gears. You can hire very sturdy three-speeders from Go Pedal.

Spitalfiels market seen from outside Christ Chuch                                                        Photo: Ed.ward

My favourite lazy Sunday route takes me down Commercial Street which is on the edge of the City past Spitalfields market on 105 Commercial Street and on the left you have the awe-inspiring Christ Church Spitalfields. Take a right here past the market and you will get to Bishopsgate. You are now in the City.

St. Botolph's Aldgate

Turn right off Bishopsgate and head down Threadneedle Street to the home of the increasingly fragile British pound, The Bank of England. From here I like to wonder aimlessly around looking for the old churchs located amongst the monstrous glass and steel towers. Gems include St. Botolph’s Aldgate.

All this exercise makes a man hungry and on my way home there is The Owl and the Pussycat on 34 Redchurch Street. They do a good roast lunch in a delightfully shabby environment.

For my 30th birthday my ex-girlfriend, Nicci, presented me with an umbrella. This was not just any umbrella but one from James Smith & Sons of New Oxford Street, London.

Anyone who has spent more than a few months in London will have noticed this shop. It looks like it hasn’t changed for about 140 years. All the surrounding shops look shoddy and temporary in comparison. It makes me long for the wondrous Victorians who put so much pride into the everyday.

But the outside is but an hors d’oeurves to the wonders that lurk within. As you would expect, there are more brollies than you can shake a stick at. Who would have thought that the humble umbrella could exist in such a multiplicity of varieties?

If you want an umbrella with a handle shaped like Sherlock Holmes they will have it. How about an umbrella with a retractable blade like Patrick McNee used in the Avengers? Not a problem, sir!

They are not cheap but you are paying for rare craftsmanship, each umbrella is hand made. The manager told me that due to two terrible summers in a row, they have far more business than they can handle.

He was slightly reluctant to let me take pictures in case this piece sent a flood of bright young things through their doors. But don’t let him put you off. Visitors to London will need an umbrella and this is the place to buy one.

James Smith & Sons, 53 New Oxford Street, London WC1A 1BL 

If you spend any time in Soho, you are sure to run into Sebastian Horsley. He is distinctive for his height (usually exaggerated by platform boots), his clothes and remarkable good looks. Everyone recognises Sebastian but no one is quite sure what he does. He has had many occupations: an artist who had himself crucified in the Philippines and swam with sharks; a playboy who made a million on the stock market and spent it all on drugs and women; a sex columnist fired for being too graphic. He is now the author of a lavishly praised autobiography, 'Dandy in the Underworld'. Johnny Depp is keen to make it into a film though Sebastian is not sure if Depp is good-looking enough to play the lead. Sebastian is currently turning the book into a one man show but his main occupation is being Sebastian which is more than enough work for one man.

Photo: Aye-eye

We met at Lorelei which has been a Soho institution for more years that the owner cares to remember. Regulars called it the mermaid due to the mural of a mermaid on the wall, We both had the pasta which is cheap and basic “the great thing about the Mermaid is that whatever you order it always tastes the same” Sebastian quipped.

My first question was about being a Londoner:

Sebastian interrupted “I don’t consider myself a Londoner, I live in Soho, I am a Sohoer or a Sohoite. I would not live in Chelsea and I get ill if I go south of the river. Beyond Hyde Park is a desert to me. Any invitations to art galleries in Notting Hill go straight in the bin. Soho is a village; it even has a village church. It is a community of misfits.”

Sebastian lives in a flat off Dean Street. One wall is lined with skulls and he keeps a loaded revolver by the bed. Due to difficult financial circumstances he has had to take in a lodger. She pays very well but keeps him up at night with her constant visitors.

So where would you live if not in Soho?

The launch party for Sebastian's retrospective at the Spectrum Gallery stopped the traffic

I would move back to Hull, failure is less apparent in the provinces, or go to Los Angeles but that’s could be because they won’t have me.” Sebastian was meant to go to America to promote his book earlier this year. He got as far as JFK when he was stopped by immigration, questioned for 6 hours and sent back to London due to his “moral turpitude.” “I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is, they all know about the book. The bad news is, they all know about the book.” Sebastian remarked at the time.

Apart from Lorelei, where do you like to eat in London?

I don’t like haute cuisine. When I go out I only want people to notice me, I don’t want to be upstaged by the food.” Sebastian frequents the old cheap cafes – such as the Star café - that Soho used to be rammed with but have increasingly been replaced by chain coffee shops.

After his book was launched in September last year he took over cult Italian restaurant Zilli’s. Sebastian is also an unlikely regular at celebrity hangout The Ivy on 1-5 West Street. Sebastian loathes celebrities but they took some art from him and paid him in meals. “They took some syringes from me so I called them the IV.”

Where do you get your fabulous clothes?

I don’t go shopping and I don’t wear designer clothes. I ain’t no clothes Horsley. I design my own clothes and get them made. “Sebastian is one of the very few if not the only person to have had a collar named after him at Turnbull & Asser (71 Jermyn Street). It is called, aptly, The Horsley. You will note its distinctive lines in the photos. Suits come from amongst others Richard Anderson on 13 Savile Row. Sebastian’s unique style is an inspiration to designers such as Comme de Garcons who used Horsley as a model during Paris Fashion week last year.

How do you think Soho has changed?

People are always going on about how things were better in the past. Were they? Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.” But Soho is changing. The Colony Room, long time hang out of artists such as Francis Bacon, is closing. Sebastian is part of a campaign to keep it open. “People will look back at the closing of The Colony Room as on par with the destruction of the hanging gardens of Babylon or the burning of Byron’s papers.”

The great thing about lunch with Sebastian is that you will be amused, challenged, flirted with but you will never get a direct answer to your questions. Recommendations are not what Horsley does. Sebastian’s Soho is as much about attitude as it is about place. Read his book, come to Soho and seek out his company: “Come to my room at 7.00pm. If you’re late, I'll start without you.”

'Dandy in the Underworld' by Sebastian Horsley is published by Sceptre in the UK and Harper Press in the US. It comes out in Germany next year.

Go further:

Local view: Catherine Sanderson's Paris

Local view: Melissa Maldonado's Berlin

Local view: Jerome Weatherald's London

Local view: Lauren Elkin's Paris

Local view: Gilles Valentin's Istanbul

Local view: Adam Kuban's New York

I used to work as a wine merchant during my early twenties and picked up a sizeable drink habit, a very basic knowledge of wine and a love of passionate salesmanship. There was nothing I liked more than a customer coming in and saying “what would you recommend for £7 to go with mutton”.

A few years ago I had quite a lot of money to spend on a case of wine for my father’s 60th birthday so I minced around various shops with an eager expression on my face determined to be sold something wonderful and, more importantly, to be taken seriously as wine buyer.

I was served my supercilious boys who treated me as an ignoramus or by older men who thought I was trying to steal something. Then I met Philip Shorten at Milroy’s. He listened to my needs, pretended that I really knew what I was talking about and I bought a case of Brunello di Montalcino from Sesti.

I would like to say that this was the start of a beautiful friendship but sadly I am generally short of cash and so tend to buy most of my wine from the bargain bins of supermarkets. If, however, I am having people over or want to impress my ladyfriend, then Philip is my first port of call. He has never let me down with a recommendation.

They are also a whisky specialist and Philip will often give you a little taste whilst you are browsing.

Twice a year they have free tastings to which they invite all their regular customers; I normally get drunk and disgrace myself and they keep inviting me back. Oh and if you live in the UK, get on their mailing list – they have some amazing sales.

Last Xmas I spent most of my bonus on mature Rieslings from Alsace – much better than squandering it on drugs and the horses like I normally do. 

Good recommendations:
 
The Dr. Burklin-Wolf Ruppersburger (2007)
 
Morgon Cote de Py, Domaine Jean-Marc Burgaud. 2006

MILROY'S OF SOHO; 3 Greek Street, London W1D 4NX

Oddly enough i first heard about this place in a novel 'What I Loved' by Norwegian-American writer, Siri Hustvedt. This novel is set entirely in New York apart from a passing mention of the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood. I had to go.

This really is the perfect museum for the generation that never grew up. Here we can relive the toys of our youth and our forefather's. There are giant robots, 1960s meccano sets and wobbly mirrors from old-fashioned fairgrounds.The labelling of the exhibits is rudimentary but this just lets you make up things up – just like being a child again.

What children probably don't appreciate is the magnificence of the building in which all this is housed. It looks like part of an ornate railway station but was actually especially designed as a museum in Kensington and later dismantled and moved to Bethnal Green.

The inside is one enormous space with galleries on either side. The floor was laid by women from a local prison. It had a makeover a few years ago which meant that a vaguely, Moorish box was stuck on the front. I've no idea why they did this but it could have been done worse.

What interested Ms Hustvedt were the dolls and the doll's houses with their lavish attention for detail. One of the houses dates from the early 18th century and is only slightly smaller than my flat.

The dolls with their Victorian clothes and fixed grins look like mummified children. I was so frightened that there were nearly tears before bedtime but luckily i was distracted by the delicious smells emanating from the cafe on the ground floor. It's hard to throw a tantrum when you are eating a sausage roll and there is the promise of ice cream.

BETHNAL GREEN MUSEUM OF CHILDHOOD, Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 9PA

Go further: Read about Frederique and her daughter's visit to Joods Historisch Museum in Amsterdam. Click here