Square Haunting by Francesca Wade

Group biographies are having something of a moment, and Virginia Woolf seems to feature in many of them. In her first book, Francesca Wade has taken the unusual step of not examining Woolf in the context of family, lovers or other members of the Bloomsbury Group, but positioning her alongside other radical women thinkers who lived in Bloomsbury’s Mecklenburgh Square between the wars. 

This area of London has been historically praised for its serenity, not least by Isabella in Jane Austen’s Emma, who comments: “Our part of London is very superior to most others! You must not confound us with London in general, my dear sir. The neighbourhood of Brunswick Square is very different from almost all the rest. We are so very airy!”

Mortimer House Kitchen

Mortimer House is a 2,900-square-metre members’ club in a seven-storey block on Mortimer Street in Fitzrovia and includes co-working spaces, bars and lounges for its lucky members. The restaurant is open to the public, though, and how inviting it is! The room is large, well-spaced and softly-lit. The design company AvroKO has even fitted acoustic panels in the ceiling so that you can have a quiet conversation in a busy room. The chef here is Lello Favuzzi, formerly of the acclaimed Shoreditch Italian restaurant L’Anima.

The most challenging thing might be working out which combination of which sized plates will leave you full. There are not just small plates here but medium and also large.