Cultural guide to Bloomsbury London

As my blog slowly grows I want to start thinking of ways to offer content to my readers that adds value to them in some way. I like to visit cool venues, review and recommend them on the blog however, I thought to start offering information on the actual areas of London that may come in useful should you decide to come and visit our beautiful city. Having said that I spent an entire day exploring Bloomsbury, therefore I want to share my guide to Bloomsbury London culturally and historically associated with the arts, education and the famous Bloomsbury Set, the area of Bloomsbury today is still a cultural centre.

It is also the home to the British Museum, which attracts over 6 million visitors per year, and benefits from having the largest concentration of students in central London. A number of universities, including the University of London, SOAS, Birkbeck and UCL, are located in the immediate vicinity, which brings over 180,200 students to the area.

London being such a great city and well known as a financial and cultural centre of Europe, is so versatile and metropolitan that sometimes is hard for an outsider or even an insider to wrap their head around it. Needless to say, it’s an endless source of inspiration. There are so many areas all individually different to others due to the fact that London historically expanded at high speed taking in all the villages that surrounded it. London feels like a collection of villages, or as we Londoners know it a collection of Boroughs all different in its own sense. I thought to start with a guide to Bloomsbury London and build up from here in the coming months.

I started my day on Store Street, home to some of the area’s best coffee shops, restaurants and independent shops. Located just a short distance from Tottenham Court Road, Store Street provides a contrast to the hustle and bustle of the West End; a unique shopping and dining experience in the heart of Bloomsbury. The Street has been transformed over the last few years through a major £7million regeneration project by The Bedford Estates, and has attracted a number of unique retailers to the area. These include newest arrival and London’s oldest art and textile supplier, Russell & Chapple, London’s only orchid shop, Orchidya, boutique bicycle shop Cloud 9 Cycles, percussion experts Foote’s Music, and independent art exhibition space, Store Street Gallery, to name a few.

You can’t explore London without a good cup of coffee to start with and I opted for an Americano and Matcha cookie at the Store Street Espresso bar which rumour has it is a favourite amongst the students of the area. It was the weekend so it was quite chilled however, the Café was filled with the creative flair representing the area in the true artistic sense. I love the light as it was perfect to Instagram a picture or two not to mention the Matcha biscuit was oh so delicious.

After we had our caffeine intake off we went to see the latest exhibition at the British Museum that looks at an important transition in Egypt’s history never explored before in its entirety. Egypt: faith after the pharaohs explores 1,200 years of history, providing unparalleled insight into the lives of different religious communities. This exhibition of around 200 objects shows how Christian, Islamic and Jewish communities reinterpreted the pharaonic past of Egypt and interacted with one another. The transitions seen in this period have shaped the modern world we know today. I got a few press images to show you guys as photography was not allowed inside.
However unfortunately this specific Exhibition has just ended this weekend but worry not, British Museum has so much to offer that you can find yourself lost in a world of history of some of the most significant civilisations including, Asia, Britain, Europe, Greece and Rome Middle East showing Coins and Medals, Portable Antiquities and Treasure Prints and Drawings and best of all the entry is free daily from 10am to 5.30pm and Fridays until 8.30pm. You may have to pay for the exhibitions that are run separately and you can see the latest happenings and prices HERE.

Like this wasn’t enough we decided to hop to The Charles Dickens Museum located 48 Doughty Street and somewhat 15 minutes’ walk from the British museum. This actually used to be the London home of Charles Dickens and the world’s most important collection relating to Dickens, who was not only a great novelist but also a tireless social campaigner. This is a MUST SEE you guys as the whole experience was so amazing, travelling back through to Victorian times where Charles Dickens used to live. In this museum, you can see what he ate, where he entertained his guests, his study, his work and even his bedroom. I can’t even tell you how special this experience was and I highly recommend you guys do this when you visit London next.

If this is not for you worry not there are other museums that are worth of visiting such as The Foundling Museum, The Brunei Gallery, Cartoon Museum, Hunterian Museum, Sir John Soane’s Museum just to name a few.

By now you can imagine how hungry we felt and having have spent a lot of time amongst the tourist crowds we thought to head back to quiet Store Street and go to Busaba for some Thai deliciousness. I don’t usually tend to talk about chain restaurants on the blog but there is something about Busaba’s Thai Calamari that gets me every time. I also tried their latest addition Fishcakes with cucumber and peanut relish which was also so delicious as well as a Pad Kwetio which is flat rice noodle, smoked chicken, king prawn, shiitake mushroom.

It was already getting dark and I wanted to do some shopping on Tottenham Court Road but thought I need something more to pick me up so we headed to Byron Burgers for a coffee and Oreo cookie milkshake which you should definitely try, if you visit Byron Burgers.

So this is my guide to Bloomsbury London and How I spent a day exploring the area. I hope I provided you with  quality information to try and visit some of the places I went to as I’m sure you will have a great time as me. I will be bringing more of my area guides to you guys in the coming weeks.

In the meantime have you been to London and are there any areas that particularly stood out for you? As always I love reading your comments so do leave one below.

Lots of love.

Tania xxx