Book review: London Villages – and special offer

If you like exploring the capital, then London Villages should be right up your street. Journalist and author Zena Alkayat has hunted down 37 London villages, and one that she discovered is our very own Golborne. And Golborne Life has a special offer on the book for readers.

London Villages is a handy 16 centimetres square, so good for carrying around, or as a stocking-filler. It's got lots of atmospheric pictures by Kim Lightbody and some helpful schematic maps drawn by Jenny Seddon. Especially noteworthy is the collage of pictures at the end of the Golborne section. All in all, the book is beautifully produced.

Golborne Road gets six of the book's 191 pages, with George's chippy, the Lisboa and Jane Bourvis among local favourites getting a mention. Alkayat offers a very readable and almost completely accurate thumbnail profile of Golborne Road. The only error is that visitors won't find stalls on Golborne on a Sunday, although cafes and restaurants are open and thriving.

Of the 36 villages covered apart from Golborne, there are some interesting discoveries. One day I'll have to get over to Bellenden Road in Peckham, Victoria Park Village in Hackney and Crouch End in Haringey. The trouble is, with Golborne Road on my doorstep, there's little incentive to take the trouble of travelling to other parts of town.

You can order a copy of London Villages here