Most London guidebooks concentrate on the city centre and the more popular destinations for excursions, like Hampstead or Hampton Court. Time Out: London is one of the best, and the most up-to-date. If you’re looking to buy or rent a home in London, get Carrie Segrave’s New London Property Guide, published annually – or thereabouts – though it omits the less desirable outposts.

For a more academic perspective, the London Encyclopaedia is unbeatable, but it doesn’t cover some of the most obscure suburban localities discussed in Hidden London. The Times History of London is a slimmer but more colourful study, with an emphasis on maps. London Suburbs, an English Heritage production, combines a concise look at outer London’s development with sumptuous photography.

Several novels explore the localities of London in distinctive ways, from GK Chesterton’s The Napoleon of Notting Hill to Geoff Nicholson’s Bleeding London. Two essential reads are Michael Moorcock’s Mother London and Martin Amis’s London Fields. London’s greatest contemporary writers of both fiction and non-fiction are Peter Ackroyd and Iain Sinclair, though both have quirky styles that won’t suit all tastes.

Chambers London Gazetteer is the book of this website – and much more. The gazetteer includes every locality in Greater London, from Coulsdon in the south to Crews Hill in the north; from Harmondsworth in the west to Hornchurch in the east. The locality entries on this website are taken from the London Gazetteer, although with occasional adaptations and updates. 64 pages of colour photographs show London at its best – and sometimes at its worst.