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From solving crimes at Evans & Peel Detective Agency, to rediscovering your childhood with Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit, here's how to spend a day in Earl's Court.
7.30am
Just kidding, though if you do want to make an early start Shot Espresso, between West Brompton and Fulham Broadway stations, is open from 5.30am (from 7.30am at weekends). The coffee at this independent café is made with Allpress espresso beans, so it’s always good – order it to go, or sip it at one of the pavement tables outside. Alternatively, start a little farther west, at The Chelsea Bun, where the slap-up breakfasts come with free tea or coffee.
10am
Walk up Fulham Road to Brompton Cemetery. It’s one of London’s ‘Magnificent Seven’ historic cemeteries and has to be one of the most magical places in the capital. Beatrix Potter obviously thought so: she is said to have got the names of several of her characters from cemetery headstones. Keep an eye out for Peter Rabbit...
12.30pm
When you’re ready to enter the fray again, exit via the gate on Old Brompton Road. From here it’s just a short walk to Didier Garnier’s eponymous French brasserie for a bowl of soupe de poisson and fricassée d’escargot, accompanied by a perfectly chilled 2013 Château Loudenne.
2pm
Next up on your itinerary is The Queens Club. It’s one stop on the tube from Earl's Court or hop on a Boris Bike (pick up from Bramham Gardens). Accompanied by a member? You can play on the club’s indoor or outdoor courts. If not, time your visit to coincide with a tennis tournament such Aegon Championships in June, featuring the world’s best men’s singles and doubles players, or the Davis Cup in July. Oh, and make sure you take tea on the terrace.
Alternatively, take in a matinee at the Finborough Theatre, five minutes’ walk from Earl's Court Station. An intimate venue, it presents award-winning plays by new writers, as well as neglected works from the 19th and 20th centuries. And when the actors have taken their final bow, you can slip downstairs for a drink: the theatre is above a pub.
6pm
It's time to channel your inner Philip Marlowe and pay a visit to Evans & Peel Detective Agency, a bar decked out in the style of a prohibition-era speakeasy. Getting in does involve a degree of role play (check out the online reviews to see what’s in store), so if pretending to be an Earl's Court gangster isn’t quite your thing, head up to Old Brompton Road for a Crack Baby Shot at Eclipse.
8pm
Who’s for tapas? Cambio de Tercio, on Old Brompton Road, serves some of London’s finest and if you’re not sure what to order, go for the tasting menu which includes El Bulli Spanish omelette in a glass and ‘foie gras that came from the tree’.
Finish your evening with live music at the legendary Troubadour Club. All the of the greats, from Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and Joni Mitchel to Adele, The Dead 60s and Paolo Nutini have played here. In fact, in many ways, The Troubadour is what Earl's Court is all about.