MY PERFECT DAY
Janice Liverseidge, director of communications and marketing at the Royal Society of Medicine, describes her perfect Marylebone day
Words: Clare Finney
Breakfast
I love Paul Rothe on Marylebone Lane for tea and toast—those Formica tables! The jams! It’s like stepping back in time. They also know me well at Back on Track on Wimpole Street, a source of great double espressos. I never get a takeaway drink—I don’t think it tastes the same and it is so nice to spend a bit of time over breakfast before starting your day.
A spot of fresh air
My London, is very much a walking London. It is the best way to see a city, I think. London can seem enormous, but it is really a series of villages and Marylebone has very much retained that village feeling. I am one of those fortunate people who can just walk to work—from my home in Marylebone, where I’ve lived for 20 years, through Paddington Street Gardens and down Marylebone Lane to the headquarters of the Royal Society of Medicine at 1 Wimpole Street.
Culture
Then there is a real hidden gem on Mansfield Street, called the Nicholas Boas Charitable Trust. It supports young and upcoming musicians. You can go into their beautiful Robert Adam house, into the drawing room, and listen to music from young artists who may well end up in the Wigmore Hall in future. In the summer, I go to Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre with my mum. She is a very sprightly lady, and we’ve been going there at least twice a year for decades. It’s such a British thing: the picnic beforehand, the slight chill—even being there with your umbrella.
Coffee break
Nordic Bakery is great—we’re lucky to have two in the area and I always get lured into having a herring and egg sandwich! I might also stop in at Sourced Market on Marylebone Lane.
A new outfit
I love Margaret Howell. I treated myself to a beautiful velvet dress there recently, and I like her ceramics too.
Shopping
I could spend hours in Daunt Books—it’s only the need to eat or go to the loo that makes me finally leave. Then of course there’s La Fromagerie. I don’t much like chocolate or sweet things, but give me a plate of cheese and I am there.
Pre-dinner drinks
If I’m feeling sophisticated then it has to be the 108 Bar on Marylebone Lane, which is particularly great at this time of year, when you can sit outside in the sunshine. If something more down to earth is required then the Coach Makers Arms or Grazing Goat. I also love Vinoteca for a glass of wine and a snack.
Eating out
I feel beholden to try out all the local offerings that I am always walking past. I really like Blandford Comptoir and Ravinder Bhogal’s Jikoni, but I also love the old stalwarts like the Golden Hind—best fish and chips in London, I tell everyone. My husband and I really love travelling, and we’ve travelled extensively in Turkey, so it’s nice to go to Ishtar to speak a bit of the language—and the food is great too, of course.
Eating in
I should have a direct debit set up with Waitrose, I go there so often. On Sunday mornings, though, it’s the farmers’ market. The potato man is my favourite. He is so knowledgeable, and can recommend the best kind of potatoes for whatever you’re doing.