Serving decadent drinks with live jazz in a fin-de-siecle interior, Oriole is everything you want from a secret bar in London– hush hush, fancy and not afraid to shake up some adventurous tipples. A rambling, wild-feeling deer park on the outskirts of south-west London, Richmond Park is the second largest park in London, and it’s positively overflowing with wildlife and all that nature stuff too. Designated a special conservation area, it’s well worth exploring, with open grasslands and woodland trails with year-round appeal. So why isn’t more fuss made over St James’s Palace? The answer is pretty simple… because you can’t actually go inside. Mayfair might feel like an unlikely place to discover London’s secrets. After all, anyone who has ever heard of The Ritz and Green Park knows that Mayfair’s all about the old-school spenny glamour. Greenwich, Bermondsey, Walthamstow, Brixton, Clapton – almost every corner of the city has its own version, so get out and discover them! 33. Take to two wheels and see where you end up

Ok we’re biassed we know, but we think London does a lot of things better than everywhere else. And that includes cemeteries! The jewel in the crown is arguably the astonishing Highgate Cemetery – a beautiful, serene spot in North London which also doubles as a nature reserve too. The graves and mausoleums found here are really where funeral architects let their imagination run wild. These are special areas of the library that aren’t accessible to the general public. That is unless you have a reader’s card… Once you’re finished in the museums proper, take some time to mooch around the 16 acres of gardens. In fact, over 15,000 bodies were buried here over time, until inner city burials were banned in the Victorian times.

40. Do things by the book

London’s culinary reputation has transformed in the past two decades, and the city boasts a gut-busting smorgasbord of award-winning eateries – not least of which are 60+ Michelin-star winning restaurants– two of which are in the top three. We’ve got everything here from Le Gavroche – which is owned by none other than legendary chef and skinny-one-off-Masterchef, Michel Roux Jr – to Veeraswamy – which claims to be the oldest Indian restaurant in the entire country. So dig deep into your paycheque, friend, and treat yourself to one of these high-end tasting menus. 25. Surprise your eyes with a place you won’t believe is in the capital

Well, to be honest, most people haven’t ever heard of the Streatham Rookery, and those that have mainly live in Streatham but it’s one of the darned prettiest little gardens in South London all the same. The Painted Hall is part of the Old Royal Naval College and actually functioned as a sort of dining room, a place for officers to chow down away between classes. Does it even bare saying that the room had to be fit for the men that lead the empire into battle?

2. Cavendish Square

Offering lots of pretty darn delectable food options, all the saucy (and soupy) dumplings you could ever want and some Chinese supermarkets to inspire you to get cooking at home, London’s Chinatown is practically bursting with foodie wonders and delicious delights. Taking a wander through here is definitely one of the best things to do in London, as you’re sure to stumble across some bloody good restaurants whipping up some of the best Chinese food you can find outside of actual China. The sister of Elephant & Castle’s Mercato Metropolitano opened in the beautiful setting of a converted church that makes quiet the setting for lunch. That said the venue still doesn’t garner as much attention as the E&C location does. Many of us have spent a perfectly good Saturday afternoon in the pub, sinking plenty of pints and chinwagging until the sun goes down. Still, if you prefer your drinking sessions to have more of a direction or more of a challenge about them, then London Town is only too happy to oblige. The Bermondsey Beer Mile is a challenge worthy of any self-respecting beer fiend, stretching a whopping 1.4 miles through the streets and railway arches of South London. Now that we’ve extolled the virtues of St Dunstan in the East as some of the best hidden architecture in London, we guess we’d better tell you what it is. Let’s get the big stuff out of the way first – yes yes – Leadenhall was used as a filming location for Harry Potter. If you make believe hard enough, you can almost transport yourself to the world of Harry Potter & The Philosopher’s Stone.

The City’s Sky Garden gets no shortage of attention from locals and visitors alike, but just down the road, The Garden at 120 is one of London’s hidden gems. Not all stories in Secret London are this grim, or this funny, but they are all equally fascinating and enlightening. The book finishes off with a list of 35 unusual bars, cafes and restaurants. Want to find them? Read our handy guide (hint: there’s a map to help you along with the task) Mercato Mayfair We can’t see how you can resist just the smallest amount of wonder as you poke around through thousands of exotic plants, vines trailing from the upper levels and greenery winding between the concrete structures. We just can’t… but you do you boo. We’re NOT sorry about it. Not one jot. If we have to keep carping on about St Dunstan in the East until our last breaths before you guys listen to us and go, well, that’s a burden we are willing to carry.London’s never short on a museum or gallery, which perhaps explains why it’s generally only locals who make it to The Horniman Museum in Forest Hill. Remains of the Old London Bridge - A look at the last remaining fragments of the old medieval London Bridge. With the exception of Nunhead Cemetery, so far I’ve steered away from the city’s more macabre spots, but Cross Bones Burial Ground is one of the secret places in London that truly fascinates us. Keep your eyes peeled on our photographic exhibition guide, which regularly gets updated throughout the year. 27. Enjoy a tipple or two at a historic boozer That sounds pretty epic. Even by London standards where our attitude to old stuff is decidedly lax because there’s just so much of it.