A traditional pie and mash shop in Broadway Market.

 

With a laid-back feel and quirky boutiques and cafés, Redchurch Street is a microcosm of East London now. Sample the local art scene at Maurice Einhardt Neu Gallery, grab some good British grub at Albion or a pint at the Owl & Pussycat.

The street hosts a Saturday market featuring everything from homemade sausages to Vietnamese coffee. For a quieter option, go on a weekday. Climpson’s and La Bouche, two delis, provide wholesome fare, while the new Market Café has a 1950s look and feel. Stella Blunt peddles vintage housewares to match.

In the heart of Mayfair, Mount Street is a frequent haunt of London’s fashion crowd. The Connaught hotel is charming for afternoon tea. Allens of Mayfair, a 120-year-old butcher shop, is a window into tradition. Kate Moss’s favorite restaurant, Scott’s, is the modern option—and fresh from a refurbishment.

Bermondsey Street offers a cool introduction to up-and-coming but still gritty South East London. The Fashion and Textile Museum’s exhibition on post-War textiles (on until June 16) is eye-opening, or take a breather in the browse-worthy bookshop Woolfson & Tay. Chef José Pizarro provides stylish sustenance in two settings: Head to José for tapas or Pizarro for a sit-down meal.

A charming shopping hub, Marylebone High Street is centrally located but still feels off the beaten track. Emma Bridgewater’s quintessentially English home wares are irresistible, Skandium’s Scandinavian furniture is sleek, and Daunt Books is a cult favorite now known for its trademark canvas bags. Burger joint Meat Liquor on nearby Welbeck Street is your best bet for a pit stop.

A preserved manuscript of The Canterbury Tales will be featured at the British Library.

 

until September 25, the British Library

An exploration of the UK through its most revered authors, this exhibition moves from the Yorkshire valley loved by Ted Hughes, to Wordsworth’s lakes, and J. G. Ballard’s hinterlands. An early manuscript of The Canterbury Tales is a highlight.

until August 12, the Barbican

The first major Bauhaus exhibition in the UK in more than 40 years will take place, fittingly, in a modernist masterpiece. Prepare to be inspired by those wonderfully simple geometric forms and now-classic primary colors.

until September 30, Victoria & Albert Museum

This London-based firm has made its name designing everything from the fabulously weird Seed Cathedral for Expo 2010 Shanghai to the functional but chic Piggyback table. The latest buzz is the reworked classic double-decker bus—still in cherry red, of course—now on London streets.

until October 14

For its annual summer Pavilion project, Serpentine Gallery this year tapped the outspoken Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. Reuniting with the architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron, with whom he teamed for Beijing’s “Bird’s Nest” Olympic stadium, Ai is creating a subterranean space underneath the site. Expect something special.

The American-born expat artist long lived in this house, in historic Spitalfields, and gradually restored it with a fictional eighteenth-century family of weavers in mind. Each room has a different tableau, some complete with smells. Book an evening visit for the full effect.