Hotel in Camberwell, London

Best known in popular culture for Withnail & I’s Danny the Dealer’s extraordinary eponymous spliff – “I invented in Camberwell, and it looks like a carrot” – this south east London neighbourhood is a kind-of Brixton-lite, with its concentration of Afro-Caribbean communities and influx of artsy young professionals. Forming a triangle of black British culture with Brixton and Stockwell in the heart of inner south London.

Although parts of the district are off-limits for the visitor and there’s not much in the way of retail apart from pound shops and dingy delis, Camberwell has an appealing anti-authoritarian edge – filled with young creatives from Camberwell School of Arts, one of the city’s best, there’s ace graffiti, great parties in fashionably run-down local pubs and a tangible air of excitement in this multi-cultural stew.

This melting pot creates a lot of excellent eating options: as well as the generally brilliant Jamaican cafes – jerk chicken, rice & peas and patties as you’ve probably never tasted before – there’s a number of quality Greek, Italian and Cypriot eateries, plus the popular Sun & Doves gastropub (61 Coldharbour Lane, 020 7733 1525), great for summer barbecues.

Bar life in Camberwell is increasingly upmarket, with happening, trendier-than-thou joints like The Bear (296a Camberwell Road, 020 7274 7037) popping up all over Camberwell Green and near the art college. Wilfully immune to the winds of change is Hermit’s Cave (28 Church Street, 0871 984 2953), an appropriately-named drinking den with lovely Victorian fittings, an unfussy atmosphere and an eclectic clientele of art students and local geezers.

Curiously Camberwell has no tube or central rail connections – either jump on a train at Denmark Hill in south Stockwell, or it’s a short hop on the bus from Kennington or Brixton, though traffic can be mental at peak times

Camberwell: Tube (underground)

Camberwell: Rail (overground)