Covent Garden - the Centre of my London

Covent Garden has long been the heart of my particular London. Every time I return to London it is one of the first places I visit to prove to myself that I am back.

There are so many aspects to Covent Garden. I love the street performers, from the folk singers, to magicians, to break dancers - everyday a new audience. The concealed Neal's Yard is like a hippy hideaway, unyeildingly cheerful despite whatever is happening beyond its walls. It harbours a host of hopeful humans who serve hummus and smiles in equal amounts. The streets are home to shops filled with hundreds of harajuku inspired knick knacks and stationary - all covered in kittys, pandas and frogs, and boutiques of beads, and outlets for the sale of Smartie inspired jewellery. DocMarten Mecca is filled with a mixture of floral, embroidered, metallic and patent boots that make my heart all a flutter. The thrift stores, spotted up and down Monmouth street, smell like old people and attics, and crowded on the rails are a multitude of frightening wardrobe throwbacks hiding the few vintage gems.

I have watched Noah and the Whale, through the windows of the closing Lastminute.com shop, and seen the irony of a homeless man dance to 'Streets of London' performed by a busker. At 18 I remember drinking Pina Colladas at the RoadHouse and thinking it was not possible to feel more grown up (and it probably isn't). On this most recent of missions, I happened to look up at the right moment and found a Space Invader, my first in LondonTown. In Neal's Yard we found a meter box covered in Fridge Poetry that anyone can rearrange, and a studio where much of Monty Python was written. Everytime there is something new, and so I will continue to return to the centre of my London.