Canary Wharf

London's mini Manhattan

Word to the wise: Canary Wharf teems with life on weekdays, but is like a ghost town on the weekends – great if you’re aiming to avoid the crowds, but equally, a little bit boring.
Noteworthy for: Until it was trumped by London Bridge's The Shard, One Canada Square was the tallest building in the UK.

Known as the Little Manhattan of London, Canary Wharf is a small city of soaring skyscrapers that make up London’s second banking and business district. Despite suffering several near bankruptcies and the dramatic demise of Lehman Brothers at the start of the recession in 2008, Canary Wharf still serves as London’s biggest money-maker.
Look up and the buildings offer plenty of opportunities to capture abstract snapshots, and then ride the escalators to the lower levels, where there lies a maze of three malls, with a selection of shops, cafes and restaurants, although these are all of the more mainstream and commercial ilk.

Over the bridge towards West India Quay is a group of restored warehouses (some of the best examples of preservation in London) that are now home to upmarket bars and restaurants dishing up a variety of cuisines. The scene is definitively business lunches and power dinners in this clean cut neighbourhood.