The Shoreditch Vintage Fair

If you're a bit of a fashionista then this weekend's Shoreditch Vintage Far will be right up your street. There will be stalls there with clothes for men and women and you can get your hands on some real bargains. Plus, if you want to give your house a vintage feel you can pick up some great furnishings and homewares too.

Afterwards, why not explore the nearby City of London with our StrollOn Guide?


You can find out more about the fair here.

Hawksmoor Guildhall

In the past we've mentioned that we're big fans of Hawksmoor, a steak restaurant with branches in Covent Garden and in Spitalfields. We're excited because they're about to open a new place in the city called Hawksmoor Guildhall. This is not to be a copy and paste job that simply replicates the dining experiences of the earlier venues and just as Seven Dials feels distinct from Spitalfields, so will Guildhall. They will be serving a very exciting tasting menu that I cannot wait to try. According to www.hot-dinners.com (original article here) their new menu will include some wonderful dishes including,

• Beef tea
• Tongue (cured and poached) and (ox)Tail Salad
• Oysters with braised short rib and kimchi
• Steak tartare - beef vs veal
• Beef shin macaroni
• Bone-in prime rib or double t bone, Hawksmoor sausages
• Beef dripping chips and salad
• Suet sticky toffee pudding with clotted cream

 Impressive stuff if you're a meat lover!

The Guildhall restaurant will be located on Basinghall Street, between Cheapside and the London Wall. It will make a great stop off on your StrollOn city walk and, after all that wonderful beef, you may need the walk!

Visit www.thehawksmoor.co.uk formore information.

The City Of London

If you're visiting London for pleasure it's easy to forget about The City but it is a stunning destination packed with interesting sights and sounds. If you're in the area, for pleasure or on business, check out our walking tour of the area. It will take your around some of The City's most wonderful parts.

On your walk you can see the church All Hallows by the Tower which survived fire of London in 1666. It's stunning to look at with it's algae green spire. It is still open for ministry and you can sit quietly there if you wish.

Then there's the Lloyds of London Building (picture above). The building was designed by Richard Rogers and you'll notice that all the elevators, stairs etc are on the outside. This is supposed to create as much light indoors as possible and there are no corridors either. In other words, it's a pretty unique building. Oddly, Lloyds started in Edward Lloyd's coffee house where groups of business used to gather. They were able to insure ships and that is how it started. Today though it's an insurance market. Everything can be insured here and the Hollywood actress Betty Grable once insured her legs here.

One of my favourite parts of the city is near to Billingsgate market. Billingsgate used to be a fishmarket - you can recognize it by it's huge fish weathervane - but has now been turned into offices. Built in 1876 as London's main fishmarket, at one point it could handle 400 tons of fish a day. George Orwell, author of Nineteen Eighty-four and Animal Farm once worked there too. Nearby is Southwark with it's shops and restaurants. Have a wander around the area and, if you want to see some culture, you can visit the Globe or the Tate Modern.

Hopefully this will give you a taste of the City. It's an interesting place and we hope you enjoy spending time there. If you've want any other tours of London why not visit www.strollon.co.uk where you can find out a bit more about our walks.