City Secrets: London

• Hardcover - 01 January, 2001 - The Little Bookroom
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• By: Tim Adams and Robert Kahn
• ISBN: 1892145073

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Reviews by readers

My favorite guide book for London

This is the quintessential guide for anyone who wants to visit the rare and cool side of London. I found a lot of really wonderful ?off the beaten path? kind of places via this guide. It has great, quirky restaurant suggestions, and tips on getting into strange museums (like the type museum!). A must have for those of us who like to pretend we?re locals and know all the ?secrets? of the city.

Lived-in London

The "City Secrets" series is based on contributions solicited from expats and locals living in the city of interest. This distinct approach has two very pleasant benefits to the reader: first, the recommendations are written with style and panache distinct to each contributor (the artists recommend arty stuff and describe how things look), and second, the recommendations are the sort you get from people who live and breathe in the city rather than just the rest of us, who just run-in-see-the-sights-turn-around-run-home.

City Secrets: London is even better than other European entrants (say, the Rome book), because virtually everyone writing for the book seems to be a permanent resident, rather than a on-and-off-again visitor.

So, rather than hotels and a greatest-hits list of museums, you get favorite places to walk, nice places to have a cuppa on the way, museums you would discover only on the third walk down the street. Not all of them are "secrets" in the sense you wouldn't otherwise have known about them, but all of them are worth knowing.

There is a slight tendency toward redundancy, when multiple contributors mention the same destination. But this is a very minor complaint. This little gem of a book should be slipped into your pocket for the plane ride over; it will add more to your vacation than any number of more traditional guides.

Disappointing

This book was lucky to receive so many good reviews, I'm actually quite surprised. I've lived in London off and on for several years and as a hobby have purchased many "walking" books of London. Of all those purchased, I was most disappointed with this one. Unless you enjoy looking at the outside of ordinary homes once owned by mildly famous people from 150 years ago or visiting small parks (I mean "tranquil spaces") about the size of a postage stamp, you will be disappointed. There are far more interesting spots in London not visited by the average tourist that one will find more interesting due to it's colorful history or natural beauty. If you are on holiday here, there were many recommendations that would be a waste of time. Many of the city secrets I expected to see where not even mentioned, save Sir Soane's Museum, which is not often visited but which I highly recommend. I was especially amused by the recommedation of seeing some of the city's hospitals. The book also overly referenced obscure art galleries (I felt this way even though I am an art buff) . The pubs mentioned are certainly not city secrets and some I wouldn't walk across the street to visit. As a city insider who has lived here and is married to a Brit, I was disappointed. I recommend the Richard Jones books for truly entertaining and well researched walks around London.

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