Words by JDG Chambers and images credited to Cynthia Chan
The trouble with late-night drinking in Shoreditch and the difference a few hours makes to New York’s Lower East Side.
The old lady of east London likes to be tucked up in bed by two a.m. Shoreditch, as the old lady likes to be called, leaves the late opening hours to her cousin across the pond.
To confuse matters, our politicians pass 24-hour licensing laws to abolish the binge-drinking race against last orders. We should be more continental, they tell us, take our …

Having traipsed along Oxford Street during the human traffic rush hours for a few weeks now, I feel more than experienced to vent frustrations with the zoo known as Oxford Circus and its surroundings. Top peeves:
1. Umbrellas: Emily Post should have written a book on Umbrella Etiquette. I nearly get an umbrella in the eye about three times a day. People should have to pass tests to own and use one. If you are walking and someone is nearby, raise your umbrella up. Please.
2. Arms as weapons: People who swing their arms …

Over the years I have had a few unusual flirtations with rock climbing, which have included dangling off a massive wall of ice in Peru, scampering up a free climbing wall in Greece and more recently donning a fetching t-shirt and taking part in a rock climbing competition in Mile End.
I wasn’t even aware the Mile End Climbing Wall existed until a friend suggested some rock climbing action as a birthday day out. The facility is situated close by to Mile End tube station on the central line and can …

If you find yourself in or around Old Street and the concrete peering at you from every angle is getting a little too much or you don’t fancy eating your sandwiches at your desk again, then you could do worse than sit under the trees in a little nook of calm called Bunhill Fields on City Road.
Bunhill Fields, formally known as ‘Bone Hill’ started life literally as a pile of bones, unceremoniously dumped from St Paul Cathedral when they were having a clearout in the mid sixteenth century. …

Now if you’re anything like me, the sentence ‘South of the River’ is always followed by a shudder and feeling of foreboding. My last experience of South of the River dining was one dodgy Mr Fish bar very late one Friday night when after several cocktails quite frankly anything seemed like a good idea. Well this really wasn’t a great idea as nursing our stomach aches the general group consensus was that we’d had our insides violated and the reason for this of course was that we were …

Ok I know this is THIS Saturday but I only just found out about it! I don’t even class myself as a photographer but do enjoy taking the odd snap when out and about and have heard some rumblings about the government’s activities regarding taking photos in public. Having read some of the info on the events website (which is very nice looking) photographernotaterrorist.org I have decided as a lot of other people out there on the interweb that enough is enough! Also it could be a good opportunity to …

I have recently moved back to the Hackney area (which I love!) and was recently debating the plethora of famous names that seem to use the trendy East London district as some sort of branding exercise. So I did a little poking around on the internet and quickly realised that loads of famous people are associated with Hackney, having either lived here, having workspace in Hackney or being born here.
I have put together a little list of my favourite Hackney people (with the help of Wikipedia) and was surprised to …

The Abercrombie and Fitch shop is in West London close to Oxford Circus underground station, easily within walking distance. It is located just round the corner from the Apple Store on Regents Street, and the nearby Quiksilver outlet. The Abercrombie store is a little hidden away around the corner behind Regents Street on a street called Burlington Gardens.
Abercrombie is pretty massive in America and the London store is the only outlet in the UK and is known as the UK flagship shop. The shop is somewhat of a tourist attraction …