As Taylor Swift swoops into town later this month with The Eras Tour at Wembley Stadium, you might want to channel your inner Swiftie and visit a few of Taylor Swift’s favourite places in London. The capital city has long held a place in the pop megastar’s heart, ever since she played her first UK gig at the student union of King’s College London in 2008. Indeed, as well as being spotted on numerous occasions in the city, she mentions the capital no less than 17 times in her songs (not least in her tracks London Boy and So Long, London). Here’s our guide to the singer’s go-to restaurants, bars and shops in London.
Taylor Swift’s London
Taylor Swift’s favourite London neighbourhoods
If you’re keen to know more about Taylor Swift’s favourite places in London, you only need to listen to London Boy. In the 2019 song, which also features the voice of east Londoner Idris Elba, she namechecks various locations in the city, including Camden Market, Highgate, Brixton, Shoreditch, Hackney, Bond Street and the West End. The track is about falling in love with a Londoner – though she has dated local boys Harry Styles and Tom Hiddleston, it’s widely believed to be about Joe Alwyn.
The singer relocated to north London after she began dating the British actor in 2016 and the couple were often spotted out and about, notably in Crouch End (home to Alwyn’s parents), Primrose Hill, where they rented a £7 million home, and Hampstead. Indeed, in London Boy Taylor sings: “Took me back to Highgate, met all of his best mates’. She was also a fan of the Heath, where she could walk unrecognised and she may even have taken a swim in the ponds (in her 2019 song Paper Rings she sings: “When you jumped in first, I went in too. I’m with you even if it makes me blue”). Plus, of course, the ‘house by the Heath’ gets a sorrowful shoutout in So Long, London on her album The Tortured Poets Department.
Taylor’s favourite restaurants in London
Casa Cruz, Notting Hill
Taylor Swift loves this elegant Victorian pub-turned-neighbourhood restaurant in Notting Hill, often visiting when she’s in town. Perhaps because its very ethos is to be a “home-away-from-home”, from the decor – glistening copper walls, plush emerald green seating, bewitching lighting, leafy roof terrace – to the warm, welcoming staff and South American-inspired menu (the genial owner Juan Santa Cruz is Chilean-born). The singer was recently spotted letting her hair down here with Kate Moss, Stella McCartney, Andrew Scott, Phoebe Waller Bridge, Chrissie Hynde and long-time pals Lena Dunham and Cara Delevingne, where they no doubt tucked into such dishes as red mediterranean prawn carpaccio, Argentine steak, wood-fired vegetables and pistachio tiramisu.
Bob Bob Ricard, Soho
The Soho institution Bob Bob Ricard is one of London’s most fun spots to dine, thanks to its flamboyant David Collins interiors. Think retro leather booths, gilt, marble table-tops and mirrored ceilings, the hand-printed Japanese wallpaper… not to mention the ‘Press for Champagne’ buttons and a menu of lobster mac n cheese and caviar. Little wonder Taylor Swift’s a fan, spotted here for Alwyn’s 29th birthday in 2020, alongside guests Ed Sheeran and his wife Cherry Seaborn.
The Wolseley, Mayfair
Buzzy and busy, grand Art Deco all-day cafe-restaurant The Wolseley on Piccadilly has long been a place to rub shoulders with London’s creatives and power brokers. Whether you’re here for breakfast, lunch or to feast on a platter of oysters and Champagne, you’ll likely see someone famous too – over the years, everyone from Kate Moss to Madonna has eaten here (Lucian Freud even had his own table), including Ms Swift.
Laylow, Notting Hill
There was a flurry of excitement and much speculation early last year when Taylor Swift was spotted dining at members’ club-music venue-restaurant Laylow on Golborne Road in Notting Hill alongside Cameron Diaz, Lena Dunham, Stella McCartney and Sacha Baron Cohen. Were they working on a secret project? We are yet to find out. But they almost certainly enjoyed the menu which served the likes of seabass aguachile and lettuce wraps and seared yellowtail tuna tacos. The venue has since shut its doors ahead of moving to a yet-to-be-revealed West End location.
Hawksmoor, Covent Garden
On a break from her smash Reputation tour in the summer of 2018, Taylor flew over to London for a few days to spend time with her boyfriend Alwyn. The couple enjoyed a romantic evening at the Covent Garden outpost of the award-winning steakhouse Hawksmoor, where they tucked themselves away in a sectioned-off area and ate filet steaks, mac n cheese, creamed spinach, followed by panna cotta for dessert.
Restaurant Review
Taylor’s favourite London pubs
The Spaniards Inn, Hampstead
When she was dating Alwyn and living in Crouch End, Taylor Swift was known to frequent The Spaniards Inn (wearing a black wig to remain under the radar). Indeed, it’s where photographers first captured the camera-shy couple in February 2019, who according to onlookers, emerged “in good spirits and gazing at each other.” The wood-panelled inn, popular for its welcoming fire and large garden, is said to be haunted – built in 1585, it was the site of a duel between fraternal Spanish landlords, with the deceased brother Juan believed to spook the pub to this day.
The Flask, Highgate
In the early throes of their relationship, Swift and Alwyn were spotted on a lunch date at the centuries old The Flask in Highgate. Something of a north London institution, its name comes from the tradition of selling flasks from the pub, which were then used to collect water from the springs around Highgate and nearby Hampstead Heath. It’s since served Byron, Shelley, Keats and, of course, Taylor and her beau who enjoyed a couple of pints of London Pride.
The Black Dog, Vauxhall
Though it’s not confirmed whether Taylor Swift ever visited The Black Dog in Vauxhall it’s likely she did, after catapulting the south London pub into the limelight when she named a song after it on her 11th album, The Tortured Poets Department. The first verse of The Black Dog includes the lyrics “And so I watch as you walk – into some bar called The Black Dog – and pierce new holes in my heart” said to reference an ex who forgot to turn off his location-sharing on his phone. The charming neighbourhood local has since been inundated with Swifties, which an employee has described as “charming” and “overwhelmingly positive”.
Taylor’s favourite members’ club in London
The Groucho Club, Soho
No celebrity can visit London without stepping over the threshold of Soho’s The Groucho Club. The notorious private members’ club on Dean Street was founded in the 80s as an alternative to the traditional gentleman’s club, where women were as welcome as men. It soon became the hub of London’s cool creatives and remains to this day the epicentre for London’s arts, media and literary crowd. Taylor has been spotted here throughout the years.
Taylor’s favourite London hotel
The Savoy, The Strand
The Savoy has been at the forefront of luxury hospitality for over 130 years, with its unmatched views of the River Thames, unparalleled service and the American Bar, the oldest surviving cocktail bar in Britain. Though the glittering five-star establishment is the epitome of discretion, it is believed that Taylor has stayed here on more than one occasion, favouring the Royal Suite, which spans the entire riverside of the fifth floor. With its four-poster bed, cedar-lined wardrobes, gold bar and butler service, a night here starts from £17,500. Taylor certainly has a penchant for the hotel – she featured the Royal Suite in the video for End Game (2017) and she’s also done a photo shoot for Vanity Fair in the Beaufort Bar.
Taylor’s favourite shops in London
Liberty, Great Marlborough Street
The Grade II-listed luxury department store – with its mock Tudor facade – is one of the last great emporiums in London, home to a beautifully curated collection of jewellery, womenswear, beauty, homewares (its fabrics are world-renowned) and more. Taylor is most definitely a fan. She recently said in an interview that she wrote the 2014 song Clean “after walking out of Liberty in London.” She has also purchased furniture from the shop, picking up a pair of flower-patterned armchairs which are now in her Tribeca apartment.
Portobello Road Market, Notting Hill
It is well known that Taylor likes antiquing – she sings about it in Timeless from her 2023 album Speak Now: “Down the block, there’s an antiques shop, And something in my head said, ‘Stop,’ so I walked in”. When in London, the singer has been known to browse the vintage treasures at Portobello Road Market. On a visit with a friend, she popped into antique furniture and curios specialist Alice’s, where she reportedly spent £30,000 in a 30-minute spree. The bright red shop is also a popular filming location, most memorably doubling up as Mr Gruber’s antiques emporium in Paddington.
Stella McCartney, Old Bond Street
Stella McCartney and Taylor Swift are long-time friends and collaborators. The pair teamed up on a Stella x Taylor merchandise capsule in 2019 when the album Lover was released, and Taylor wore the designer on the covers of subsequent albums evermore and folklore. Stella also created a series of one-off sustainable pieces which the singer wore whilst promoting both albums, including on the cover of Rolling Stone and at the 2020 Academy of Country Music Awards. So there’s every chance that when Miss Americana comes to London in a couple of weeks, she’ll swing by her friend’s store on Old Bond Street.
