Things to do around our Soho vape city store
Soho is denser with good places per square foot than anywhere else in London. Coffee, lunch, drinks, culture, late-night, all within a five-minute walk of our shop on Berwick Street. This is what we'd actually send a customer to.
If you've come to Soho for the vape shop, you might as well make an afternoon of it. Berwick Street sits in the centre of one of the most concentrated good-things-per-square-foot areas in central London: the old textile and record-shop side of Soho, four minutes from Oxford Circus, three minutes from Carnaby Street, and ten minutes from Covent Garden. Most of what's worth doing in this part of town is walkable in under five minutes from our front door.
This is a working list, not a tourist guide. The places below are where our team actually goes for coffee on the way in, lunch on a Friday, and a drink after a late shift. Some are obvious; some are tucked away. We've grouped them by what you're likely to want, and each one comes with the walking time from us at 3 Berwick Street, W1F 0DR. Pop in, grab whatever you need, then take a stroll.
"You can plan a proper afternoon out of a visit to Soho without crossing more than three streets. The trick is knowing which three."
Where the team actually goes for caffeine.
The Soho institution. Stand at the counter, order an espresso, watch the world go by. Open until 4am on weekends, which is unusual for proper Italian coffee.
Independent, properly Antipodean, and on the same street as us. Best brunch in the immediate area if you've got a half hour to sit down.
London's oldest patisserie, and yes, that does mean it's older than the Tube. Eccentric in the best way; come for the croissants, stay for the surrealist art on the walls.
Specialty roasters, properly serious about beans. Quietest of the four if you need a desk to sit and answer emails for half an hour.
Five-minute walk, an excellent meal.
Taiwanese steamed buns, walk-ins only, perpetually queued for a reason. Get the classic bao and the peanut milk ice cream. Lunchtime queue is shorter than dinner.
Northern Thai, charcoal-grilled, sit-at-the-counter format. One of the best lunches in central London, full stop. Get the clay pot glass noodles.
Hand-rolled udon, hot or cold, broth that tastes like someone made it that morning. Quiet ten-seater room, ideal for a solo lunch when you don't want to be sociable.
Slightly out of the immediate radius but worth it for the £45 weekday lunch menu. Book ahead; the bar seats are walk-in.
Galleries, records, vintage finds.
Two doors down. Soho's last serious independent record shop, second-hand and new, full of surprises in the £5 bin. The original Oasis Definitely Maybe cover photo was shot on this street.
Five floors of contemporary photography exhibitions. Free entry to most ground-floor shows, and the bookshop is one of the best in London for monographs.
Not a café. A working coffee bean and tea shop, family-run for over 130 years. Walk in for the smell alone; leave with a bag of beans you didn't plan to buy.
Pedestrianised shopping street, mainstream brands and a few independents. The side streets are where the better shops are; cut down Newburgh Street if you've got 20 minutes.
If you're staying out.
No phones policy, no lager on draught (only halves, by tradition), and the French Resistance used to drink here. The most authentically Soho pub left.
Two-floor cocktail bar, ground floor is loud and walk-in, downstairs is dim and reservation-only. The Irish coffee is the best in London; no debate at our shop.
London's most storied jazz club. Late shows at 11pm are walk-in if there's space and considerably cheaper than the booked sittings. The cocktails are good; the music is the reason.
Famously the haunt of Jeffrey Bernard. Standard London pub interior, scruffy in the way you want a Soho pub to be. Sing-along piano nights on Saturdays if you're brave.
If you've only got an hour
Most of our customers visiting Soho are passing through with limited time, and the question we get asked most often at the counter is: "What should I do with the next hour?" Our standard answer goes like this. Pop in for the device or e-liquid you came for. Walk down to Reckless Records, two doors down, and flip through the £5 bin for ten minutes. Cross to Bar Italia on Frith Street for an espresso at the counter. Walk back via Algerian Coffee Stores on Old Compton Street for the smell alone, even if you don't buy. That's an hour, three local institutions, and you'll have seen the genuine character of the area rather than the Carnaby Street tourist version.
If you want a bit more, slot in Bao or Koya for lunch on the way back. If you're staying out, The French House for a half pint of lager (the only size they sell) before heading wherever you're going next. Soho works best when you treat it as a series of short walks rather than a destination, and most of what makes it worth visiting is in the side streets rather than on the main drags.
Practical bits
The closest tubes to us are Oxford Circus (4 minutes) and Tottenham Court Road (5 minutes). Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square are also walkable in 6 to 8 minutes. Berwick Street has its own twice-weekly market on Tuesdays and Fridays, fruit and veg in the morning, street food at lunch, which adds another reason to time your visit if you can. Public toilets are scarce in this part of Soho; the cleanest are in Liberty's department store on Great Marlborough Street, two minutes away.
For the regulatory and shop-side context that makes us comfortable recommending you wander around the area, see why buying from a regulated Soho vape shop matters and what to expect from a responsible local vape retailer. And if you want to know where you can and can't vape on the way to any of these spots, the etiquette guide for vaping in public places in London covers it.
Start with us, then explore
The shop's at 3 Berwick Street, W1F 0DR. Open seven days a week. Pop in for whatever you came for, then take any of the routes above. We'll be here when you get back if you've forgotten something.
Keep reading
Soho vape guidance
Etiquette, indoor venue rules, what to expect from a regulated retailer, and what makes our corner of London a good place to learn about vaping properly.
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