A long time ago, a clever man once said, “A man’s worth is no greater than his ambitions” (the Roman Emperor Philosopher, Marcus Aurelius).

This may have been true in AD150 but is it still relevant in the always-on world of AD2009? These days a more common measure of worth is your connectivity. Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn co-founder) summed this up nicely when he said, “Your network your net worth.” One of Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s Top Life Tips is to, “go to more parties”. The express reason for this is to expand your network and expose yourself to more positive Black Swans.

A couple of weeks back we received an invite to a London networking event. The speakers were sold on the basis of the number of Twitter followers they had. This made me smile as it reminded me of recent conversations about the pressures and politics of maintaining relationships online.

Is the number of followers a true proxy for how valuable someone’s opinion is? I give you Britney Spears (903,274 followers).

My stepson Newton (694 Facebook friends) loves the fact he’s “more popular” than his younger brother Richard (389 Facebook friends). Phil (646 Facebook friends, 433 LinkedIn connections, 244 Twitter followers) and I (232 Facebook friends, 431 LinkedIn connections, 251 Twitter followers) regularly pull each other’s legs about how ‘popular’ we think we are.

To finish off this post, here’s a list of people we’ve either met or hear about regularly who are attached to the Internet scene here in London. We’ve used Twitter followers to help us measure their worth. Not sure old Marcus would agree with our methods but here you go anyway:

London’s 50 Most Networked Internet People by Twitter followers (As of 14th April 2009)

1. Jemima Kiss 10,568 followers http://twitter.com/jemimakiss

2. Mike Butcher 8.888 followers http://twitter.com/mikebutcher

3. Nick Donnelly 4,329 followers http://www.twitter.com/nickdonnelly

4. Paul Walsh 4,094 follower http://twitter.com/PaulWalsh

5. Paul Carr 3,551 followers http://twitter.com/paulcarr

6. Amanda Rose 3,436 followers http://twitter.com/amanda

7. Michelle Dewberry 3,360 followers http://twitter.com/michelledewbs

8. Hermoine Way 2,431 followers http://twitter.com/hermoineway

9. Sam Sethi 2,189 followers http://www.twitter.com/ssethi

10. Nick Halstead 1,847 followers http://twitter.com/nickhalstead

11. Michael Acton Smith 1,757 followers http://twitter.com/acton

12. Richard Morross 1,246 followers http://twitter.com/stewarttownsend

13. Mat Morrison 1,424 followers http://www.twitter.com/mediaczar

14. Nathan McDonald 1,362 followers http://twitter.com/nathanmcdonald

15. Joff Arnold 1,253 followers http://twitter.com/toodlepip

16. Joshua March 1252 followers http://twitter.com/joshuamarch

17. Stewart Townsend 1,246 followers http://twitter.com/stewarttownsend

18. Basheera Khan 1,098 followers http://twitter.com/bash

19. Andy McLoughlin 1,069 followers http://twitter.com/robertloch

20. Benjamin Ellis 1,007 followers http://twitter.com/BenjaminEllis

21. Sam Michel 1,004 followers http://twitter.com/toodlepip

22. Ben Way 936 followers http://twitter.com/benbpway

23. Sophie Cox 890 followers http://twitter.com/sophiecox

24. David Terrar 883 followers http://www.twitter.com/dt

25. Bindi Karia 803 followers http://twitter.com/bindik

26. Alex Hoye 765 followers http://www.twitter.com/alexhoye

27. Stephanie Robesky 756 followers http://twitter.com/nerdgirl

28. Luke Razzell 736 followers http://twitter.com/weaverluke

29. Bastian Lehmann 683 followers http://www.twitter.com/basti

30. Elizabeth Varley 660 followers http://twitter.com/evarley

31. Robert Loch 656 followers http://twitter.com/robertloch

32. Sokratis Papafloratos 652 followers http://twitter.com/sokratis

33. Nic Brisbourne 643 followers http://twitter.com/pmross

34. Mario Cacciottolo 629 followers http://twitter.com/mariosotm

35. Andrew Scott 626 followers https://twitter.com/andrewjscott

36. Danvers Baillieu 610 followers https://twitter.com/danversbaillieu

37. David Langer 602 followers https://twitter.com/langer

38. James Cherkoff 600 followers https://twitter.com/cherkoff

39. Nick Bell 593 followers https://twitter.com/nickbelluk

40. Barry Vitou 557 followers https://twitter.com/bazv

41. Steve Kennedy 499 followers https://twitter.com/stevekennedyuk

42. Chris Osborne 422 followers https://twitter.com/chrsoz

43. Emma Haslett 415 followers http://www.twitter.com/emmahaslett

44. Fabio De Bernardi 399 followers https://twitter.com/fabiodebe

45. Meriem Aissaoui 375 followers http://twitter.com/mernas

46. Robin Klein 375 followers http://twitter.com/robinklein

47. Dug Falby 349 followers http://twitter.com/dug

48. Nikhil Shah 344 followers http://www.twitter.com/nikhilshah

49. Stephanie Bouchet 328 followers http://twitter.com/rougefrog

50. Paul Mackenzie Ross 325 followers http://twitter.com/pmross

The master version of  this list appears on the Snagsta website. View it here to share it with your nearest and dearest.

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1. The Parties
   Facebook, Google, Mashable, the list continues. Each trying to outdo the next with bands, breakdancers and DJs. With the exception of Pure Volume, perhaps…where the VIPs were separated from the regulars with chicken wire!
2. Elevator Pitches
   Three times I left my hotel room and had already pitched Snagsta by the time I reached the lobby – now that’s an elevator pitch!
3. Feedback
   People were only too happy to talk through your business and make constructive recommendations. Nothing quite like getting great ideas from people smarter than you that have done it all before.
4. Content
   There was an astounding array of fascinating and relevant topics being presented and discussed on panels. At times there were up to 18 sessions on simultaneously! I only wish I could understand my notes…
5. Serendipity
   If I learnt one thing it was say hello to EVERYBODY. One of the chaps in our party, Henry Mackintosh, helped out a panelist at the beginning of the conference he randomly met in the queue.  Bumping into her later on in the week, Henry mentioned the new service he’d just launched: twitterjobsearch. Minutes later she’d tweeted in to her 4000 followers. And then one of her followers re-tweeted it to his 30,000 followers.
6. People
   SXSW is the place to finally meet all the people you’ve only ever ‘followed’, emailed or talked to on the phone. From Joe Shmo through to the Internet superheroes. I got to talk to Robert Scoble and a couple of the others and loved how genuine and approachable they all were. 
7. Panels
   The debates were current and candid. With panelist challenging each other regularly and plenty of probing questions from the audience. And then there was the UnPanel (#kebab). A bunch of Brits high-jacked a room and set up an impromptu session called ‘Not Another Social Media Panel’. Less probing but more candid. Look at what happened here (though you kind of had to be there…)!
8. iPhones
   I have never seen so many iPhones. 95% of the attendees had iPhones. Clear evidence that cutting edge mobile is currently only happening in one place.
9. Twitter
   Despite occasionally having to endure inane micro commentary, I am now convinced of the value of this tool (if used with self-discipline!). It was used to track session topics, to contribute to panel discussions, to find people, to set up meetings, to broadcast party itineraries.
10. BBQ
    You can’t come to Texas and not talk about BBQ. That and the rooftop bars are part of the quintessential Austin experience.

Oh…did I mention the parties already??

A big thank you to the companies that sponsored us and the people from the Digital Mission that helped organise the event.

Hide under the table!

In addition to giving up several terrible vices too horrible to mention here, one of our key resolutions for 2009 was write regular blog posts again. We haven’t quite managed either yet but, in true Snagsta style, we will persevere.

Since our last post, two rather nice things have happened to Snagsta. First, we were selected by the wonderful people at Digital Mission to accompany them to North America’s biggest Internet trade show: South by South West Interactive or SXSWi for short.

If you’re not familiar with Digital Mission it’s run by Chinwag on behalf of UK Trade & Investment. Its 5 year mission is to explore strange new digital worlds, seek out new life and new civilisations and to boldly go where no man has gone before (or something like that). SXSWi will be the perfect platform for us to shout about Snagsta and hopefully make a few more friends across the pond. A big thank you to the insightful and unbiased selection committee.

Phil leaves to conquer America next Thursday. Please Tweet him @hofmeyr if you’d like to meet him when he’s there. 

Second, we were selected to present Snagsta’s wares at Plugg which also takes place next week. Plugg is a one day conference that takes place in Brussels next Thursday (12th March). Snagsta will be one of twenty companies taking part in the event’s Startup Rally. If you’re planning on being there please send a Tweet to me via @alexandermoore so that we can arrange to meet up.

As has become our tradition, we will end this post with a list. We’ve chosen one that might be of use to someone if they have been unlucky enough to be suffering from the effects of the recession. It was donated to us by the irrepressible Robert Scoble. It offers some great advice to anyone who’s just been laid off and might be looking for a job. Hope it helps spark a few ideas for those in need of some pointers.

What to do if you’re laid off in a recession

By Robert Scoble

1. Volunteer.

Let’s say you are going to be out of work for six months. What could you do with six months of your time? Make sure you come away with it with a great project under your belt. Why not volunteer your time with a charity that could use your skills? Not only will you feel good about yourself, you’ll come away with job experience so you won’t have a hole in your resume (building an IT system for the Red Cross looks damn impressive – saying you were “on the beach” for six months does not). Plus you’ll make great friends with people who are trying to improve the world (they are typically the kinds of friends you should have anyway).

2. Do the basics.

I got my NEC job by sending a resume into a job that I found on Craig’s List. Yes, my blog helped me AFTER I got the interview, but I got the interview just by having a great cover letter and an interesting resume.

3. See if you can keep coming into the office.

This isn’t open to everyone, but at Userland I kept coming into work everyday after the paychecks stopped. That made me feel better, plus it gave me the ability to use phones, stay away from negative situations (do you really want to be around family all day, everyday, who might remind you that you need to find a job?) as well as give you a place to work hard on finding your new job.

4. Start a blog on the field you want to work in.

Want to be a PHP programmer? Start a PHP blog and make sure you put world class stuff there. Link to EVERYONE who has a PHP blog. But that’s only the beginning.

5. Do a video everyday on YouTube that demonstrates something you know.

Loic does a video everyday. If you’re laid off you have absolutely no excuses. Get a cheap Web cam and get over to YouTube or Seesmic.

6. Don’t get lazy.

It might seem dire, but if you work it you WILL find a job. Some of my friends went on vacation, started drinking, or generally just hung out with their families. Those people took a LOT longer to find a job than the friends of mine who approached their time off with these tips.

7. Take a little bit of time to work on family and health.

You probably haven’t been paying enough attention to these two things. This is the time to start some healthy habits. Give up smoking, if you’re doing that. Drink less (the temptation will be to drink more, don’t give in). Get more exercise. Yes, I should take my own advice (I went for a long walk this morning in Davos and had fish last night).

8. Make sure you spend at least 30% of every day trying to find a job.

That means working on your resume. Getting your cover letter finished. Sending out resumes. Searching the web for work. Networking. Etc. At first your time spent on these tasks should be a lot higher, but after weeks of watching the job sites for jobs and having your resume checked over by 10 of your friends you will naturally have more time to spend on other things.

9. Go where the money is.

If you are laid off and you haven’t sent your resume to Matt Mullenweg this morning, why not? People with new funding are the ones who are hiring. You want to work for them, so do what you can to at minimum get an informational interview. Why don’t you interview Matt for your blog? You never know, he just might give you an interview and that might lead to a discussion about how you could fit into his company. Even if it doesn’t, at least you get an interesting interview with someone in the industry who is seeing success. Other employers want to be like Matt, so if you have some insights to his success you might be surprised by how that gets you job interviews.

10. Go to any job networking session you learn about.

All of them were valuable to me, even though they didn’t necessarily bring me a job. Part of it is just feeling like you’re doing everything you can to get back on your feet. It’s an attitude thing. If you have an attitude that you’re going to work at this that will come across and will bring opportunities to you.

11. Don’t feel bad about taking government assistance.

You’ll need it to pay your bills. I took it and it helped me get over that tough period.

12. Always have your suit ready.

Some interviews happen fast “can you be here this afternoon?” The one who is ready will get the interview.

13. Show your friends your resume and cover letter.

Don’t have any friends? Now is the time to make some. Call up some interesting people and ask for an informational interview. This is particularly key if you work at a big company and are getting laid off. I watched people at Microsoft get laid off and the ones who had tons of internal informational interviews got new jobs fast. The key is to meet people everyday and get in front of them. Not to beg for a job, but to do research on the industry you want to work in. You’d be amazed how showing some interest in your industry will get noticed itself.

14. Do things that will get you to be recognized as a world leader in the field you want to be in.

15. Are you a programmer?

Build something and put it up! Share your knowledge on your blog (give tips you’ve learned). Are you a program manager? Those jobs will be tougher to find, but you should demonstrate that you are a great manager of people as well as that you’re expert on the kinds of things you want to do. Demo! Demo! Demo!

16. Go to every business event you can attend.

Can’t afford to get in? Me neither and I have a job! Hang out in the hallways. You never know who you might meet. At minimum you’ll get interesting interviews for your blog. Have your resumes ready.

17. Learn from Loic Le Meur.

How did he get thousands of videos uploaded on Seesmic everyday? He networked. He visited tons of journalists, bloggers, executives. He is a consumate networker (you should watch him work the halls here at the World Economic Forum).

18. Make sure you take advantage of any help your former employer is offering.

Sometimes they have retraining or other programs that might help you land an even better job.

This list is available on Snagsta here.

I was talking to one of our users yesterday and he was complaining that we hadn’t updated our blog (with the exception of Mr Moore’s posts he said he quite missed our stories).

We’ve been so busy road-testing the site we haven’t had a chance to finalise our tagline competition so the wine is still on my desk – quite a testament to our self discipline in these trying times. Reviews from our first batch of users back inside Snagsta have been fairly promising. Thanks to those of you who have sent us feedback.

The original plan was to give all our readers a Mont Blanc pen for Christmas but out of respect to all the bankers that have lost their jobs we thought something humble would be more appropriate.

Instead we thought we’d share some of our favourite lists with you.

1. Things to do in the Bay Area / Northern California (Michael Kalmar)
2. No fail date places in London (Rebeccah Rumph)
3. 5 places so good I almost don’t want to tell you about them (Steve Catling)
4. Highly recommended podcasts (Burak Alpar)
5. Clues you’re getting old (Marie Foster)
6. Picture books every child should be given (Dianne Hofmeyr)
   This user, who I might be related to, has made some great lists – check out the ones on travel. Thanks mom
7. When insults had class (Richard Pickering)
8. Things to do in and around Cape Town (Nick Pickard)
9. The best places to kiss in Paris (Vanessa Vettier)

   And finishing off with something on the racier side…

10. Food to get their knickers off (Neil Foreman)

Have a great Christmas!

Earlier this month, we paid a 2-day visit to FOWA (The Future of Web Apps exhibition and conference) in East London.

We were in the Sun Lounge as guests of the magnanimous Stewart Townsend (the man of a thousand shirts) but a stone’s throw from a particularly excellent surf machine (Phil managed to stay on it well over a minute, me, slightly less).

Stewart invited us take part as we recently signed up to Sun’s excellent Startup Essentials programme.

Thanks to him we got to know Duncan from hosting company EveryCity, Glenn and Angela Shoosmith (husband and wife) from BookingBug (who won one of Mike Butcher’s several TechCrunch Pitch events) and Charlie and Sophie Cox (brother and sister) who have just set up Worldeka. There were also a couple of other people you might have heard of… the young lad in the photo with the halo is Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook. I saw him speak and was impressed with his sincerity but a little disappointed that he skirted some key issues and didn’t stick around for any questions.

The presentations were good and there were always some interesting folks wondering into the Sun Lounge. Learned a few things about Facebook Connect, Microformats and OAuth too so all in all it was a good couple of days. Thanks Stewart, we owe you one.

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I took my daughter to school for the first time this week. I had been given clear instructions to be there at least 10 minutes early before the gates opened at 9. This was understandable, given my tradition of waiting until things are in full swing before I arrive (some people call this being late). Fine for a party, not so fine for school. So you can imagine how pleased I am with myself when I arrive at 8:45. And I am not even sweating because I haven’t rushed. I make small-talk with the other parents. My daughter chases their children. We take a little photo in front of the school to celebrate the moment. I then put on her ‘smoke’ (she can’t say ‘smock’). I even put it on the right way around. At 9 am, right on schedule, the gate opens and we neatly flock into the school. As I walk in a smiling lady introduces herself as Melissa the head teacher. I proudly introduce myself as dad and tell her how exciting this is. She kindly absorbs my excitement and tells me I am at the wrong school. You see there are two schools called Sunshine House in the area.

I tell you this story to introduce an interesting problem with software called Entity Resolution. Amongst other things, it deals with resolving identical names. When you talk about Paris do you mean Paris France, Paris Texas or indeed, Paris Hilton?  Or what if there are two Paris Hiltons (now there’s a thought…)? My good friend Jane Silber (from Ubuntu fame) pointed it out to me last year when we were first thinking about Snagsta but it’s something we have only started grappling with recently. The problem is addressed in a variety of ways. Geotagging adds metadata tags that has a physical location in it. Some software looks at the context: the associated links or words in the sentence can often provide the answer. We’re looking forward to seeing how its going to work on Snagsta.

Note: the fact that whether I am talking about Paris France or Texas I am generally still thinking about Paris Hilton is a problem that software has not yet managed to solve… and probably the subject of a completely different type of blog post

Time to sign off, it’s Friday afternoon, and just like at school, Alex has started ringing the bell and is shouting: “Boys & girls, tidy up time! It’s tidy up time!”

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photocredit: my unusually talented (yet humble) friend Meriem Aissaoui
http://www.flickr.com/photos/meriem/128324699/in/set-72057594103866384/

Since November, Google has taken three important steps releasing Android, Gears and, on 2 September, Chrome.

Android is Linux cut-and-pasted to operate mobile devices, like phones.

Gears is a piece of software letting online utilities, like Google Docs, work offline.

Chrome is Google’s way of helping people kick around the wonderfully wide web.

Android puts Google on mobile phones, probably the most ubiquitous computers on the planet. Chrome puts Google into the arena of perhaps the most widely used software today, the internet browser.

But why stop there? If the pace since November is anything to go by, during the next year or so Google is going to be releasing more products. Android suggests Google could be working on Google Linux for desktops – Ginux? Cyborg?

Google Linux, to really hit home, must be really easy to use, still a sticking point for most Linux distributions. Few if any pass the ‘mum test’ (if your mum can use it, anybody can).

Linux users are often ignored by major software developers. iTunes for Linux? Keep dreaming. But Google is making most of its products available for Linux. Okay, so most major types of software are available in one shape or another, usually for free. But compatibility is still an issue, even for the latest versions of OpenOffice/StarOffice; and the music players are still not quite up there with iTunes.

This is another space Google could enter. Google has all it needs – Chrome, Checkout, Froogle, V8 Java, Search – to build a great music player, one that easily syncs with Androids, Cyborgs and Windows.

Easy Linux and a powerful music player could break Microsoft’s monopoly on the operating system market, creating hundreds of millions more outlets for Google’s ads and potentially customers for its services. It might even put a bruise on Apple.

There also looks like a gap for Google to fill in personal information management. Google does email and calendars, perhaps mix in Chrome, V8 Java and Search, and something interesting could happen.

Would Google spend its cash to build V8 Java just to run a browser?

Or perhaps V8 Java is a sign of other things to come. Google has the resources, perhaps the intellectual curiosity, and probably the needs to develop an entirely new operating system, one which is lightweight, robust and open, and which passes the ‘mum test’.

More software and services pushes Google closer to Apple and Microsoft, both of which build hardware.

New products and perhaps those to come are taking Google to places where it hasn’t been before. Google may be the first to provide seamless integration, connectivity and availability of information and the experiences it generates across multiple platforms anywhere.

Which might mean that no matter what people do on a computer they will see ads from Google. The boundaries of search are being pushed further and further into our lives.

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Today we tackle the more cerebral challenge of reviewing Google Chrome’s logo. Is it just me or do your think they stole the design from an iconic high-tech game from the seventies? You decide:

                 Simple Simon                             Google Chrome

Anyone below 30 will have no idea what I’m talking about but that’s your loss; Simple Simon was one of the 20th Century’s finest inventions.

And on a more serious note, I swapped several emails with friend and blogger David Fullbrook of RewiringAsia fame last week. I liked his take on what he thinks the Big G is up to. He kindly offered to write a guest post which we will publish shortly.

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Fellow Snagsta co-founder and developer extraordinaire Paul Stancer has been staying with me this week. I don’t get to see him much as I live in central London whereas Paul lives in a remote cave in one of Hong Kong’s outlying islands.

At about 7.30 the other morning I stumbled in to him at the breakfast table and saw he was having a play around with Google’s new browser Chrome. We wanted to see if the private beta version of Snagsta worked on it and we were glad to see it did (we would have been pretty shafted if it didn’t).

Later that day I read a review about it from Nick Carr on RoughType via Nic Brisbourne’s Equity Kicker blog.

I’ve just had a test drive and have also read up on some more of its features. Here are a list of eight things I like about it and why it could be better than the latest versions of both IE and Firefox:

1. More stability

Google implies that Chrome is more stable than existing browsers. A major selling point for me. As their little Google’s comic book puts it, “When you’re writing an important email or editing a document a browser crash is a big deal”.

2. More speed

Google claim that sites will download quicker on Chrome; this appears to have something to do with Chrome’s JavaScript Virtual Machine named V8. Google state that Chrome looks at the JavaScript source code and “generates machine code that can run directly on the CPU that’s running the browser”, this apparently helps speed things up.

Brendan Eich (the founder of Mozilla CTO and JavaScript creator) claims a new Firefox’s new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine outperforms V8 so this particular claim is hard to verify.

3. More secure

I like how they have built Chrome using a sandboxing technique that prevents unwanted software installing itself on your machine and stops what happens on one tab affecting what happens on another.

4. More open

Google have decided to open source the entire browser. This could be of huge benefit to the web community. Yes, I know Google has more money than God so they can afford to do this but they deserve a pat on the back for doing this.

5. More style

Google definitely lacks Apple’s style but what they’ve build here looks really slick. I’m a big fan of the smooth and uncluttered look and feel.

6. A dynamic start page

Chrome have done away with the traditional start page approach used by other browsers to display your 9 most visited pages when you boot it up.

7. More Privacy

Google have included an “Incognito window” in this build. None of your history is saved in the browser when you use this window and when you close it the cookies from that session are wiped out.

8. Better approach to blocking pop ups

Pop ups are confined to stay in the tab they came from unless you want to drag them out in to a new tab. I just tested this out on one of my favourite music sites and it works like a treat.

Nice job Sergey and Larry.

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The sun doesn’t always shine here in old London town but when it does, this city sparkles. Today is one of those days.

Spending summer in this place certainly has its advantages. The biggest problem for me is choosing where to go and what to do and with the limited amount of spare time I have right now.

Before I had Snagsta to play with, finding new things to do in London was always a bit of a hit or miss affair. I might read something in the Evening Standard or pick up Time Out Magazine but most of the time I’d rely on a recommendation from a friend or take a peak online and roll the dice.

Search engines are a great place to research things but only if you know what you are looking for.

A search for “good London restaurants” on Google for example, will return an impressive but baffling 963,000 results: that’s several hundred thousand different opinions from people you may, or may not agree with.

Review sites can also be equally frustrating to use as they often contain conflicting opinions. Trip Advisor often delivers vastly different opinions on the same hotel.

A bloke named Win Wenders once said, “The more opinions you have, the less you see”. I couldn’t agree with him more.

Now that Snagsta’s database is filling up with great lists, it’s much easier to discover new things via recommendations from friends and like-minded people.

I just searched for London pubs on Snagsta and the following list from friend and pub aficionado Andrew Rogoff magically appeared.

I now have some new places to check out on my way home tonight where I can enjoy some early evening summer sunshine and perhaps one or two beers. Oh happy day!

My favourite drinking spots in London

By Andrew Rogoff

1. The Lansdowne

This pub in Primrose Hill is laid back, unpretentious and attracts quite a cool crowd. The food’s nothing amazing but I’ll let it off.

2. The Ebury

This bar is just about the only decent place in Pimlico (where I live) so I absolutely love it for that reason.

3. The Mitre

Holland Park Avenue – if you’re sick of poky little pubs where you’re constantly jostled by other punters then this place is big enough to swing your elbows (unless it’s packed of course).

4. Builders Arms

Little pub off the King’s Road that has a good atmosphere and does pretty good food. Watch out for the toffs though.

5. Windsor Castle

Notting Hill. This is a great place to be on a hot summer’s night in London. The trouble is, too many people know that!

6. Troubadour

Earl’s Court. Very atmospheric live music venue with a great history.

7. The Engineer

Primrose Hill. Another great spot in Primrose Hill. The only thing is that the bar area is quite small. Great if you want to eat.

8. The Endurance

Probably the best pub in Soho.

9. Pigs Ear

Old Church Street, SW3. There’s something about this place that I really like – just can’t put my finger on it. Does great food too.

10. The Abingdon

Off High St Kensington. Great bar/restaurant – nice big sofa and excellent food.

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