Maltby Street

It might be hard to tell, what with sitting in the shadow of the newly erected Shard, but some of Dickens's meandering, smoky-bricked London is preserved in historic Bermondsey. And nowhere is this more apparently than in the hustle and bustle of Maltby Street and its surrounding areas. Largely dominated by one of London's most impressive and somehow lesser-known food markets, Ropewalk, Maltby Street is also home to antique shops, distilleries, bakeries, and access to the high street (where you can stumble into the White Cube Gallery and a charming little coffee shop christened F*ckoffee). All within a stone's throw of the tourist-thronged Tower Of London, Maltby Street feels like a haven under the railway arches, and a little taste of the past.