Well-known Londoners share their cherished areas of the Capital

Famous faces cherish london - Sometimes a place is so perfect, you want it to stay just the way it is. Three well-known Londoners share their never-changing gems

Richard Briers, Bedford Park, Chiswick W4

Richard Briers, Bedford Park, Chiswick W4

‘I’ve lived in Chiswick W4 for nearly 50 years so it must be my favourite part of London,’ says actor Richard Briers, 75. ‘When my wife and I were first married we lived in a bedsit in Notting Hill and we loved the area but we couldn’t afford to buy there even then. So we looked west and ended up in Bedford Park. We’re both members of The Bedford Park Society, which makes sure that the houses here are protected, almost preserved in aspic. John Betjeman was very active in putting a stop to any plans for redevelopment in the 1960s, so it hasn’t really changed since then. I grew up in Wimbledon so I’ve always been a suburban lad at heart, and Bedford Park is leafy suburbia at its best. It was originally an artists’ colony – now it’s home to a few old ham actors like me.’

Richard Briers is appearing in London Assurance at the National Theatre from 2 March until 22 March. Box Office 020 7452 3000.

Lynda Bellingham, W Martyn grocer’s, Muswell Hill N10s

Lynda Bellingham, W Martyn grocer’s, Muswell Hill N10

Loose Women panellist Lynda Bellingham, 61, lives in Friern Barnet N10 and has a favourite shop nearby. ‘W Martyn is an old-fashioned, family-run grocer’s on Muswell Hill Broadway, where nothing has changed for years. They call themselves ‘specialists in tea and coffee, and retailers of fine foods’, but I first went there for rosewater, cochineal and other flavourings and colourings. The shop was established in 1897 and it has an Art Deco facade and interior with high ceilings and endless jars of sweets stacked on oak shelves. Goods are weighed out using old brass scales and there’s a wonderful aroma of roasting coffee beans. W Martyn is the kind of traditional local place you’re more likely to see somewhere in France or Spain than in London, or like the grocer’s you knew as a child. Walking through the door is like stepping back in time – a little piece of heaven in Muswell Hill.’

Lynda Bellingham is on a tour of the UK with Calendar Girls until 24 April. www.seecalendargirls.com. Lynda’s autobiography, Lost and Found (£17.99, Ebury Press), will be on sale from 4 March.

Samuel West, New River Walk, Islington N1

Samuel West, New River Walk, Islington N1

‘One of the best ways I can think of to pass the time is to take the New River Walk between Islington and Canonbury N1,’ says actor and theatre director Samuel West, 43. ‘Despite the name, the New River is neither new nor a river. It is a man-made waterway, designed to supply London with fresh water from the River Lea in Hertfordshire, and built in 1613 by Sir Hugh Myddelton, whose statue you can see on Islington Green. I come here for bird watching, and I’ve seen about 25 species, including a sparrowhawk, a grey wagtail and twice a pair of firecrests. I think of it as my patch and now that I’ve got better at recognising birdsong, walking this little green thread, surrounded by a cast of characters whom I hadn’t met until a few years ago, is really one of my very favourite things.’

Samuel West is appearing in Enron at the Noël Coward Theatre until May 2010. Box Office 0844 482 5140.

Guess what? Beer has been brewed on the site of the Fuller’s Griffin Brewery on the bank of the Thames in Chiswick for 350 years.

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