De Beauvoir. I love it. It’s really well located, because you’re right in between Islington and Hackney. A lot of the roads are pedestrianised and it’s very quiet, but it’s also got an amazing number of really good pubs in a very small space.
Where was your first flat in London?
My first flat was in Peckham in 2012, where I basically just danced and ate Morley’s chicken for three years. It was when Bussey Building had just started doing nights and when Soul Train began. It was such a vibe. There was a bakery on Rye Lane that reopened on Friday nights as a mini club. It wasn’t really a club, it was just the bakery owner with an iPod and some beers, but it was so much fun.
What was your first job in London?
I taught piano to little kids when I was 15 or 16. I was quite good at piano when I was younger, so I taught grades one to three.
Where would you recommend for a first date?
God, I haven’t been on a first date in a really long time. But I would say Bar Termini on Old Compton Street is a very chic and cosy Italian cocktail bar. Or if you wanted something more casual, I would always go with the French House.
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Which shops do you rely on?
The corner shop at the end of my road for a late-night chocolate run after promising to be healthy and not keeping any chocolate in the house. Diptyque to make my house smell nice. Burley Fisher Books, the independent bookshop on Kingsland Road, which I’ll always go to for a last-minute gift. Arket for socks. And Columbia Road Flower Market.
What’s the best meal you’ve had?
Brat in Shoreditch is my favourite restaurant in the whole world. Go there. Get a martini. Get a great bottle of red wine. Always get the sirloin and basically every starter on the menu. My husband (actor Douglas Booth) and I go there to celebrate special occasions, or when we have friends visiting from out of town, or sometimes we go at 5pm and beg to be at the bar because we just want to have a fab dinner.
What would you do if you were Mayor for the day?
Life in prison for anyone who takes the pedals off Lime bikes.
What makes someone a Londoner?
Knowing your route on the Tube well enough that you know whether to be at the front or the back of the train to make your connection.
Bel Powley and her husband, actor Douglas Booth
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Who is the most iconic Londoner?
Where do you go to let your hair down?
Forest Road Brewing Co in London Fields. Great beer. Good tacos. Really good outside bit. It’s got a pool table. And really lovely staff.
Who do you call when you want to have fun?
My best friend, Lola. We have a habit of trying to have a cosy night in and then getting to about 10pm and looking at each other with a glint in our eye and going, “Should we go out?”
What’s your biggest extravagance?
The bar tab from my wedding.
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What’s your London secret?
The shortcut to the eastbound Elizabeth line platform at Tottenham Court Road, so you don’t have to walk 10 miles to get to it. When you get to the bottom of the escalator, you just immediately turn back on yourself, go left, and you’re there.
Who’s your professional hero?
Frances McDormand. She can do everything. She can do comedy. She can do drama, she does theatre, she does film. She gives zero shit. And has seemingly managed to overcome the pressure women in the industry face where they have to look and be a certain way.
Clothes. The ratio of wardrobe space between my husband and me is about one to 50.
What’s your favourite work of art?
It’s not a single work of art, but I love the National Portrait Gallery. I find it really inspiring for my job, because I wander around and there are so many different incredible characters from throughout history.
What are you up to for work?
Right now I’m rehearsing Christmas Day at the Almeida Theatre, written by Sam Grabiner and directed by James Macdonald. It is a darkly funny play about a Jewish family on Christmas Day, about traditions and rituals and how they are affected by what’s going on in the world around us. It’s beautiful, very confronting, very touching, and I’m really excited for it.
Christmas Day is at the Almeida from December 9 until January 8; almeida.co.uk
