Book excerpt: This unique London guidebook opens the doors to sixty of the capital's most intriguing places, all visitable but not widely known. From museums of the unusual, places of worship, palaces of entertainment to some of the most historic and ornate shops, houses and hostelries in the city, take a trip through the capital's hidden treasure and discover a picture of a London which is strange, gaudy, grand and inventive. Describing the history and the character of each place, the book uncovers a wealth of stories about an endlessly fascinating world city with its own unique character. Introduction Cleopatra's Needle St Pancras Renaissance Hotel Isabella Plantation Historical Homes Syon House Charles Dickens Museum Apsley House, Number One London Eltham Palace Leighton House Museum Strawberry Hill House Two Temple Place Kew Palace and The Royal Botanical Gardens Food and Drink Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Bibendum L. Manze Berry Bros. & Rudd Pickering Place The Ivy Smithfield Meat Market The Black Friar Palaces of Entertainment The Rivoli Ballroom Wilton's Music Hall The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club Regent's Street Cinema Gate Cinema Notting Hill The National Theatre Normansfield Theatre Wigmore Hall Gala Bingo Hall Tooting Places of Worship Westminster Cathedral Welsh Baptist Chapel Peace Pagoda Battersea Park Masonic Temple at Andaz Liverpool Street Hotel St Bartholomew the Great Bevis Marks Synagogue St Mary le Bow Shri Sanatan Hindu Mandir, Wembley Remarkable Shops LassCo Salvage L. Cornelissen & Son Truefitt and Hill Steinway & Sons James Smith & Sons John Lobb Ltd The Roof Gardens in Kensington Science and Education Kempton Steam Museum Markfield Beam Engine Museum Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum Charterhouse Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret The Ragged School Museum London Museum of Water and Steam Royal Institution of Great Britain Inns of Court The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn The Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple The Temple Church Unusual Museums The Royal Airforce Museum Horniman Museum Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms Geffrye Museum of the Home HMS Belfast Massey Shaw The Monument Musical Museum The Wimbledon Windmill Praise for Peter Dazeley and Mark Daly's previous book Unseen London: 'A thrilling tour behind the closed doors of the capital city's buildings.' —Daily Telegraph 'Dazeley captures the atmosphere of each building to perfection.' —Daily Express 'Fascinating.' —Fabric magazine 'A joy.' —Evening Standard