Banish that January grey with a proper eyeful of these places.
Colourful spots are hiding around every corner of the city, if you know where to look. From boisterous blues to playful purples, here’s a hue-mungous list of our favourite colourful places.
RED
As the buses and phone boxes prove, we’re pretty fond of red here in London.
J Sheekey
The Covent Garden seafood restaurant is a real catch.
Alice’s
Head to Portobello Road to find one in a vermilion antiques at Alice’s.
St Pancras Renaissance Hotel
The sole spot on this list to feature in a Spice Girls video, these stairs are the only place you’ll Wannabe.
Algerian Coffee Stores
130 years old, and still churning out top-notch espressos for the princely sum of £1.
Transept Street
This Marylebone street has a serious case of scarlet fever. (Not literally).
BLUE
Rather than singing the blues, just look at these aquamarine dreams instead.
Kingly Court
Impossible to feel the blues in a place where you can get Bread Ahead’s doughnuts.
Craft London
Modern British cooking in an electric blue setting.
Earl of Bolingbroke Suite, Batty Langley’s Hotel
Pros: it’s got a luggage lift! Cons: it costs £630 per night to stay here.
Blue Bar at The Berkeley
This five-star Knightsbridge hotel has a suitably elegant bar to match.
Icebar
About as cool they come, and rather blue too.
GREEN
There are many reasons why London makes other cities green with envy.
Edgware Road Tube Station
The Underground isn’t renowned for being colourful, but Edgware’s living wall hopes to change that.
The Gentlemen Baristas
Don’t be fooled by the cute exterior: inside, they’ll whip you up a mean macchiato.
The Vintage Showroom
With the slightly off-centre shopfront, this Seven Dials mainstay is looking mint.
Foster Books
This cute as a button bookshop is another reason to visit Chiswick.
Lina Stores
One of the best delis in London, and gloriously green to boot.
YELLOW
They call us mellow yellow, and quite rightly.
Monochrome Exhibit at The National Gallery
Grosvenor Prints
This Covent Garden shop serves up antique prints with a side of sunshine.
The Breakfast Club, Soho
Just as yellow on the inside, too.
The Goring Hotel
A firm favourite with the royal family, the hotel serves up a very fancy afternoon tea in this seriously sunny space.
Libreria
Yellow shelves dominate this funky bookshop, where the books are organised in categories like ‘Enchantment for the Disenchanted’.
PINK
We’ve jumped all over the millenial pink trend before, but here’s a couple more fabulously fuchsia spots for you.
Tonight Josephine
Like Josephine de Beauharnais, the inspiration for Tonight Josephine, this place gives literally zero fucks what you think of it.
sketch
The whole place is a multicolour dream, but The Gallery in particular is pretty in pink.
Rasa
Isabella Plantation
This hidden park is so pink, we needed a full article to appreciate it’s pinkness.
Peggy Porschen Cakes
The cutest cake shop in London? Pick up a cupcake and investigate!
ORANGE
These oranges will leave you feeling juiced.
Kensington Gore
Got some spare change? Maybe look at nabbing one of these ultra-luxe houses, right next to the Royal Albert Hall.
Reckless Records
A Soho music shop in an unmissable hue of orange.
St Pancras
The venerable old station is positively tangerine in the right light.
Arancini Brothers
Come for the bright orange colour scheme, stay for the deep-fried risotto balls.
Central St Giles
Google’s London HQ is equally whimsical on the inside.
PURPLE
The Elizabeth line is set to make London even more purple, but for now, enjoy these places.
Mayfield Lavender Farm
Perfect for a summer’s day, we just hope it doesn’t (purple) rain when you visit.
Konditor & Cook, Waterloo
Violently violet, and full of damn delicious treats.
Western Concourse, King’s Cross Station
What with its colour changing tunnel and multicoloured neon birdcage, King’s Cross is pretty lit.
Vagabond Wines, Fitzrovia
Multiple branches, but the Fitzrovia one is the purplest of the lot.
Wisteria Houses
Less of a place, more of a state of mind. Expect wisteria hysteria to return with a vengeance come spring.
THE FULL RAINBOW
When one colour just isn’t enough, try them all.
Neal’s Yard
The hideaway spot in Seven Dials is a visual feast.
Peckham Levels
The higher you climb, the more colours you see in Peckham’s newest hotspot.
God’s Own Junkyard
Every colour of the rainbow is here in Walthamstow‘s neon junkyard.
Lancaster Road, Notting Hill
We could have chosen loads of London streets for this one, but none are as criminally colourful as Lancaster Road.
The Royal Arcade
Royally flush with every colour imaginable.