Until then…

I walk past there on my way to Regent’s Park. Sometimes you can peep in and see students practising on their violins or windows. It looks like a wonderful place to study.

Daunt Books is how a bookshop should be – rows of gleaming books ready to be devoured, comfy chairs placed near coffee table books, helpful staff who read and can reccomend.

It is a sanctury for those who love reading. I often go in there when I am passing, not even to buy a book (although sometimes I cannot resist the temptation) but just to sit among books in a beautiful setting.

It is also the perfect place to get books for travel writing. Every section on the bottom floor is divided by country and has easy to find travel books, cook books, coffee table books, history books, biography, fiction…all about that one place.

On my recent trip to Spain I dipped into the Spanish section on the ground floor to find a book to accompany me on the journey. I found a lovely, small travel book about an English writer living in an obscure Andalucian village called The Factory of Light, by Michael Jacobs.

A gem.

Daunt Books, 83 Marylebone High Street, London W1U 4QW.

(Open Monday – Saturday 9am – 7.30pm and Sundays 11am – 6pm)

 Baker Street Entertainment will use old footage from the 1930s, 40s and 50s and supplement this by interviewing long-standing locals.

The film will be directed by Simon Moorhead for St Marylebone Society.

I know I’d like to see the changes on film. When my grandfather lived and practised here as a doctor, it was a professional but low-key area. According to him the High Street was rundown - a mile away from the fashionable, chic urbanity of today.

Read the full article by the London Informer here.

Women and children don their flamenco dresses,  and swarm the streets. There are balloons and ice-creams, nuts for sales and generations of families all enjoy delicacies such as garlic prawns and steamy croquettes in the outdoor tapas bars.

What really struck me, as people greeted each other and families enjoyed the fiesta outing together, was the sense of community there. While Marylebone is celebrated as a village inside London, it also has a typical English reserve. People love the local feel, but do not know their neighbours. I’m not sure that is ever something that will return.

I’m not a big Topshop/Kate Moss  fan – which
I find too grungy usually – but this, with its splashes of poppy red, is classic.

There are still some left in the store or go to the Topshop website.

Or at least according toLondonist who reviewed the legendary sausage shop (est. as London’s first all-sausage emporium in 1989) for St George’s Day.

“The first bite almost overwhelmed us with patriotism. Images of Winston Churchill flashed, our ears rang with the stirring sound of Jerusalem and our stomachs filled with pride. For this is a superior sausage sandwich. The meat was totally without gristle. It burst with moisture and didn’t feel fatty. The spices delivered a peppering of background heat. Under normal circumstances we would have smeared it with English mustard, but unfortunately the St. George’s flag doesn’t offer scope for this in its colour palette!”

Read the review here

Biggles, 66 Marylebone Lane, London, W1U 2PF

“Literary types and royals alike should both feel at home in Marylebone’s The Swan and Edgar, a thoroughly British affair boasting a bar built from second-hand books, seating fashioned from recycled tweeds and a menu stuffed with hearty, old-school fare.”

(Read the full review here)

The Swan and Edgar, 43 Linhope Street, London, NW1

Apparently the quaint, quirky venue offers good English stodge such as stew and dumplings and also has a buffet-breakfast on the weekends.

It reminds me of a wonderful cafe / second hand book shop I know near Bondi beach in Sydney. The cafe (I’ve now forgotten its name) served delicious cakes and delicacies (such as warm freshly baked pear bread spread with ricotta cheese) and was a hove of gorgeous, well-worn books. The beauty is you can read before you buy, at leisure. I bought a few gems there, and still have them.  

I’m going to go and try out the Swan and Edgar soon. I wonder if you can also borrow a book while you read, or if it is just a visual gimmick?