Photo: Richard Holden
Like all newcomers to London, I was astonished on the first sunny spring day when I arrived way back in 2004 to see that my local park (Clapham Common) had be overrun with people who were dressed as if they thought they were the beach. "What’s going on?" I said to my flatmates. "Don’t these people know that it is only 15 degrees? Where are their shirts?"
After five years of this, however, I understand: sunshine is at a premium even in the most summery months in this grey city, and thus at the first sight of a beam through the clouds Londoners will do whatever they can to soak it up. And this is particularly reflected in the city’s approach to al fresco dining: on days when any self-respecting continental (and Southern) European would be indoors, possibly by an open fire, Londoners will brave low temperature and even the occasional burst of raindrops in order to enjoy a drink or a meal in the fresh air.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in my part of East London, a place that was not designed with outdoor dining in mind but which, with gentrification, is now dotted with tables planted wherever possible.
