London landmarks beyond Waterloo Bridge (Getty); The Lord Clyde in Borough (Alamy). Opening image: Horse Guards Parade (Anastasiia Pyvovarova/Unsplash)
Ben Harris, Bermondsey
20 years on the meter
Are there any roads you particularly love? There are so many streets in London that are beautiful. If you go up to Primrose Hill, there’s a road called Chalcot Crescent – it’s a lovely horseshoe road and all the houses are painted different colours. One of them is the house in the Paddington movie.
Best place for a drink that you won’t find in the guidebooks? People will often say to me, “Can you take us to a traditional English pub” and I’ll take them straight to The Lord Clyde in Borough. When you walk in there it really is like an old traditional place, a proper pub.
Have you had any memorable fares? One night I picked up this very smart looking gentleman in St James’s and he said, “I’m going to ask you to take me to Hampstead, but can we pick someone up on the way? Then I want you to stop in a very specific place on Finchley Road and when we get there, I’m going to open the door, ask her to get out, and I'm going to ask her to marry me.” So I said, “OK, any reason you want to stop in this one particular place?” And he replied, “I wanted to get a black cab because we met a few years ago both trying to hail a taxi in the pouring rain. We ended up sharing one and got chatting – three years down the line I want to propose to her on the spot that we met.” She was blown away. There were tears. Even I was getting emotional! It was great.
A cab passes a London bus in Hackney (Robert Likovszki/Unsplash)
Steve Pool, Enfield
12 years on the meter
If somebody wants to have the best possible time in London, what advice would you give them? Chat to cabbies! Also: go and take in the view from Alexandra Palace – it’s spectacular up there.
Anything that you feel you should’ve done as a Londoner but haven’t? I get to see the London Eye from all different perspectives (I think Horse Guards Parade has the best view) but I’ve still never been on it!
What’s your secret London activity? I love walking down to the shore of the river. On the South Bank, for instance, once the tide’s gone you can literally walk on the pebbles. There’s another spot for that by Orchard Place near Canning Town. Down there, it’s just you and the river, which has always been the most attractive part of the city for me.
St Paul’s seen from a beach on the South Bank (Shutterstock); ducks swim in the Round Pond by Kensington Palace, Hyde Park
Historic Unilever House; a cabbie shelter in Russell Square (Alamy)
