Visit the Invisible Picture Palace

As with all the best finds, your author stumbled across the Invisible Picture Palace - in a greenhouse outside the Wapping Project - just after leaving a good pub. In this case, it was the Prospect Of Whitby, over the road, which was good preparation for a warm welcome from the two staff who had recently taken over the greenhouse previously operated by the Wapping Project Bookshop.


An interesting if presumably-not-that-profitable venture, the Invisible Picture Palace bills itself as "London’s only record store that sells stories and soundscapes instead of albums". It also hosts workshops and listening events based around a similar theme, with support from a group calling themselves In The Dark who seem to have a focus on spoken word radio.

It all seems a bit confusing but they seemed perfectly nice, so can probably explain it to you. For more, see http://invisiblepicturepalace.com/

Wonder at Lobb's boots

Started by lame Cornish farmboy John Lobb in 1849, today the headquarters of John Lobb Bootmakers are found in a very attractive store at 9 St James's Street, but that is really all you need to know as you and your author are never likely to use their services.


This is a shop for the super-rich, with a pair of simple shoes costing nearly £3,500 and representatives willing to travel anywhere in the world to measure your feet. The existence of such a shop defies rationale, but there they are, making shoes for some people somewhere who you will never meet, with past customers including down-to-earth types such as George Bernard Shaw, Lord Olivier, Harold MacMillan and Frank Sinatra.

For more, see http://www.johnlobbltd.co.uk

Drink beer at the People's Supermarket

The People's Supermarket has always seemed like a reasonable idea, even if they occasionally struggle to pay their bills, and whenever your author has met people from there they have always been jolly pleasant, but if you don't believe it, an opportunity has arrived for you to meet them first hand.


Tonight, the Supermarket launches their cookbook, with a special beer night, which offers two beers and some pie for £10. Their PR is especially likeable, as the picture your author received (above) had been seemingly mistakenly titled "Beer Poster (bit sh*t b&w)", which seemed oddly endearing.

For more, see http://tpsbeernightjune-eorg.eventbrite.co.uk/?ebtv=C

Buy wines at Gerry's

A well-stocked little off license on Old Compton Street in Soho, one of the best areas for London off licenses, Gerry's was founded in 1984 by Michael Kyprianou, the former manager of the now closed Del Monico's off-licence further down the street.


Today, the shop boasts a fantastic range of wines and spirits, interspersed with hand-written labels, and pictures of those who appreciate the shop and other bits of paraphernalia accumulated over the years.

For more, see http://www.gerrys.uk.com

Browse at Chelsea Military Antiques

Chelsea Military Antiques' main shop appears to actually be quite a long way from Chelsea, in Whitcome St off Trafalgar Square. It specialises in medals, covering a range of different arenas of conflict, with a strong selection of WWI and WWII memorabilia.


We are told that the shop stocks both British & Foreign Decorations and medals, with some dating back as far as the Napoleonic Wars. When your author visited there also appeared to be helmets and uniforms on sale.

For more, see http://www.chelseamilitaria.co.uk/

Stock up at Dulwich Pot and Plant Garden

As we all suddenly realise that spring is coming, those lucky enough to have London gardens were hitting garden centres en masse at the weekend. One smaller example your author popped into was the Dulwich Pot and Plant Garden, perched above North Dulwich Station in South London.


Claiming to have one of the largest and most diverse ranges of plant pots in London and the South East of England, Dulwich Pot and Plant Garden is very much pot-based, with hundreds of offerings and plants to go in them, for use both inside and outside the home.

For more, see http://www.dulwichpots.co.uk/

Choose wines at Green & Blue

Green & Blue, on Lordship Lane in East Dulwich, is a great little independent wine shop and bar specialising in a strong selection of wines, and run under the supervision of Kate Thal, who opened it in early summer 2005.


Your author dropped in to the bar late on Saturday night, and found it a particular treat, based around an Italian enotecas, where an extension of the wine shop allows drinkers to select wines from the shelves and then drink them at a table with a bite to eat. Very pleasant.

For more, see http://www.greenandbluewines.com/

Shop in the Boxpark

Your author is never a fan of shopping malls, but some are better than others, but he decided to pop into the new Boxpark in Shoreditch, as it is at least reassuring that its creators were trying to do something different.


The "world’s first pop-up mall" was actually not even that awful, being as it is relatively quick and painless to explore, with a welcoming deck of eateries upstairs.

The concept is simple, placing a number of low cost, ‘box shops’ in a disused space and using the fact that it is a temporary installation to overcome problems usually faced when dealing with even the most lenient borough councils. Given the previous problems gaining planning permissions in this area, your author imagines this one may be temporary in a similar way to the O2 and the London Eye...

For more information, see www.boxpark.co.uk

Learn magick at Wicca Moon

The shops of outer London are sometimes the best, for here you find independent businesses that can afford to exist. That's why your author is always pleased when he stumbles across somewhere eccentric like Wicca Moon in Eltham.


Of course, to most it's all hippy nonsense, but there is something rather endearing about a shop specialising in tarot readings, crystals, faeries and candles, and Wicca Moon is certainly the place to head for that sort of thing six days a week. It even boasts regular workshops and even house blessings.

For more, see http://wiccamoon.org.uk/

Buy books at Daunt Books, Hampstead

It is now less than a month until the Tired of London, Tired of Life book is released, and your author has suddenly developed an even more fervent love of bookshops than usual. One giant of London reading is Daunt Books, whose stunning flagship store has previously helped your author out of more than one Christmas present idea dry spell, but Daunt also have a beautiful shop in the literary wilds of Hampstead.


The Daunt brand is maintained well in this pretty little shop, as it is in the others in the Holland Park, Belsize Park, Chelsea and Cheapside, with a fine range of good quality titles and literary paraphernalia and other bits and pieces, and civilised opening hours which mean you can browse until 6pm seven days a week.

For more, see http://www.dauntbooks.co.uk/shops.asp?TAG=.

Attend the annual Christmas Fair at Drapers' Hall

Now an annual event at the City of London's Drapers' Hall a the Wellbeing of Women Christmas Fair helps to raise money for improving the health of women and children, in the atmospheric setting of a site which has been the home of the Drapers since the 16th century.


Visitors are promised stalls of luxury goods, foods and stocking fillers, and with the vital addition of a champagne bar, it sounds like a good day out.

For more, see http://www.wellbeingofwomen.org.uk/support-us/national-wow-events/city-christmas-fair-2009/

_{^Picture © HerryLawford used under Creative Commons^}

Go shopping on Deptford High Street

Once judged to be London's best shopping street, Deptford High Street is a great place to go shopping, and is home to a fantastic range of independent traders reflecting the area's many cultures.


The street is also home to a great value market on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, from early morning until around 4pm, where there is always interesting produce and bargains to be had.

For more, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deptford_Market.

Browse bullion at Gold Coin Exchange

Found at 16 Charing Cross Road, Gold Coin Exchange was established in 1965 and its stock is a literal treasure trove of valuable coins, medals and banknotes.


At a time when people are struggling for cash, and that which they do have is prone to lose its value, many have been putting their wealth in gold, but Gold Coin Exchange has some more interesting ways to do this, with a wide range of British and World coins dating from Anglo Saxon times to the present day.

Though your author can probably not afford them, he especially enjoys their range of British and World military medals, and other commemorative medals and medallions. For more, see http://www.goldcoinexchange.co.uk/

Buy books at West End Lane Books

Established in West Hampstead in 1994, West End Lane Books today boasts 13,000 titles in stock, with a variety of adult and child fiction and non fiction.


Alongside everything you would expect from your local bookshop, West End Lane Books also hosts regular events and book groups for adults, and family clubs which include picture book stories and rhymes every Thursday.

For more, see http://westendlanebooks.co.uk/

Browse for pipes at Smith and Sons

Times are hard for the humble tobacconist, but for the time being, Smith & Sons continues to trade from the same shop in which it opened in 1869, as Charing Cross Road's first tobacconist.


Such is the historical attachment of Smith and Sons to this site that Time Out suggests that planning legislation means this unit can legally only house a tobacconist. Whether or not that is true, it is a fantastic shop for the smoker, with all types of pipe, tobacco, snuff and even a walk-in cigar humidor proudly advertised above the door.

For more information, see http://www.timeout.com/london/shops/venue/2%3A27532/g-smith-sons

Buy whiskies at Milroy's of Soho

Founded in the 1960s by brothers John and Wallace Milroy, Milroy's of Soho, on Greek Street, started life as a wine merchant. However, we are told that as the market for single malt whisky developed, the brothers became London ambassadors, and have been serving the people of Soho with fine whisky ever since.


When your author passed by yesterday afternoon, the shop was just gearing up for one of its regular whisky tastings - at a very civilised 5pm - and the team who manage the store today appear to be just as passionate about good whisky.

The store brands itself as the place to go for whisky in London, and your author is not able to argue, and if budgetary constraints prevent the purchase of anything as pricey as the 50 Year Old Highland Park at £10,000 a bottle, there's always Johnnie Walker miniatures for £2.50 a pop.

For more, see http://www.milroys.co.uk/

Buy books at the Kennington Bookshop

Bookshops are for some reason very attractive to your author, and the Kennington Bookshop, opened in 2007 by Paula Kaplan, is no different.


The shop is found on Kennington Road, and is full of pretty books. It even currently has a sale on 2012 Moleskine diaries, though that is probably not of interest to normal people.

For more information, click here.

Browse Indian and Islamic art at Simon Ray

Based among the private galleries of St James, Simon Ray has been dealing in Indian and Islamic Art for twenty years.


Apparently specialising in the fine and decorative court arts of the Indian and Islamic empires, Simon Ray takes a particular interest in items from Safavid Persia, Ottoman Turkey, Mughal India and the Kingdoms of the Deccan and Rajasthan.

Alongside items like delicately decorated Persian tiles and Indian miniatures, a range of ceramics, stonework, sculpture and even textiles are available. For more information, see http://www.simonray.com

Examine the tat at Fancy That

Your author finds tourism fascinating, and whilst there an infinite number of better places to spend time as a tourist, there is probably no better place to observe tourists than at shops like Fancy That Of London.


The degrees of junk available at shops like Fancy That is truly amazing, from keyrings to gift teas and royal memorabilia. It is truly amazing to examine the degrees of items on offer, and see the visitors queuing up to spend money on them.

Your author has never had much time for amassing things - except perhaps books and bottles - and perhaps this is why he finds the phenomenon so interesting. Why on earth does anyone need a golden collage of London monuments?

For more, see http://www.fancythatoflondon.co.uk/

Buy beads at Beadworks

For your author, most shopping is pretty dull, and shopping for beads seems like about the most pointless idea in the world. However, it is important to cater for all, and some will want to buy beads. If they do, they could find few better outlets than Beadworks, in Covent Garden.


The Covent Garden Bead Shop has been operating from its current location on Tower Street since 1977, making it the oldest Bead Shop in Europe. It is, we are told, a worldwide pioneer of bead retail, and stocks around 6,000 beads. There probably is a reason why someone would need that many beads...

For more on Beadworks, see http://www.beadworks.co.uk/