Every week, the majority of London descends on Columbia Road for the Sunday flower market, but for many years, the midweek days were eerily quiet. One of the few reasons you would find yourself on this sweet Victorian terraced street, was to go to the Royal Oak. It's a handsome old-fashioned pub with a nice bit of polish, that serves excellent food and seems to always have a welcoming cheer about it. Now that the rest of the street has filled up with wine bars and tapas restaurants, it's generally frantic inside, with the local vintage-clad crowd, creative yet grown-up. There's a little outdoor yard, which on summer days doubles as a second bar space, serving Bloody Marys and pastries on Sunday mornings. Upstairs is a calm and civilised restaurant with a more serious menu of impressive modern British cooking.