Dining

• Start the evening at one of London’s many restaurants. The city’s diversity means that it is possible to eat food from all over the world. The area of Chinatown around Leicester Square has many Chinese restaurants offering dim-sum and much more. There are also numerous Japanese, Vietnamese and Malaysian restaurants dotted around central London. The expensive areas of Mayfair and Knightsbridge have many fine dining establishments, while farther afield the areas of Wood Green and Finsbury Park have Greek and Turkish eateries, and Brixton and Camberwell in South London are among the best places for sampling Caribbean food. Northwest London has Persian restaurants, there are Indian eateries on many London high streets, and there are dozens of Spanish tapas bars, Italian and French restaurants, as well as many others.
  
  

Theatre and Cinema

• The area around Covent Garden and the Strand is theatre land. A variety of well known musicals and plays are shown in the numerous theatres around here all year round. Furthermore, many nearby restaurants offer special pre-theatre meal deals. The famous Old Vic is in Southwark, South London, while Sadler’s Wells, which specialises in dance shows, is near Angel in Islington.
  
  There are many cinemas to choose from around the West End. The Curzon cinemas in Soho and Mayfair have some of the most comfortable seats, whilst the Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square shows mainly art house movies for as little as £1.50 at selected times as of 2010. The Imax Cinema with its revolving screen is near Waterloo station, and aside from the Odeons and Vues all over the city there are many repertory cinemas such as Riverside Studios in Hammersmith.
  
  

Pubs

• There are pubs on every high street and more in London. You’re never too far away from a quick pint. A new breed of pub, the gastro-pub, is now giving restaurants a run for their money in the food stakes. Most pubs are operated by chains, as there are fewer and fewer independent brewers these days.
  
  

Bar-Hopping

• If you’re looking for a bar, the West End has dozens of glitzy, popular bars that play commercial tunes and are packed to the brim every weekend. Shoreditch and further up the road, Dalston, have been the setting for the trendiest watering holes of recent years. Camden in North London has many bars featuring live bands most nights, while Soho is where to head to if you’re after a gay bar. There is never a dull moment in the capital with Latin, Scandinavian and even karaoke bars dotted around.
  
  

Nightclubs

• There are clubs to suit everyone’s taste in London, from superclubs Ministry of Sound and Fabric to more intimate venues such as Corsica Studios in Elephant and Castle, the CAMP near Old Street, and Plastic People in Shoreditch. Check their listings to find out who is playing. For gay clubs, head to Soho or Vauxhall in South London.
  
  More and more pubs are host to club nights, sometimes with highly renowned DJs. Among them are Shoreditch’s Horse and Groom, the Queen of Hoxton and Camden’s The Lock Tavern. The closure of many clubs in recent years (Turnmills, The Cross, Canvas, The Key) has meant that alternative spaces such as art galleries, storage spaces and video shops are increasingly being used as venues for parties.