Tuesday 7 August 2018

The Bespokist Society Guide to…London


The Bespokist Society Guide to…London
First published in the UK by Acorn Independent Press on the 1st April 2018.

How I got this book:
Received a review copy via Rachel's Random Resources

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars


Add The Bespokist Society Guide to…London to your Goodreads

"sparse... some glaring omissions” FoodPorn London

“only page 23 is of mild interest” http://www.londonpetlover.com

“Wow!!! A genuinely bespoke city guide!!!” Tommy Sponge, Chairman, The Bespokist Society

You have in your hands one of the most curated city guides ever created. As the first travel book produced by the hugely influential Bespokist Society, this handy guide takes you to a London you’ve never seen: a London of challenging Etruscan restaurants, edgy branding parlours, emoji hotels and hidden Icelandic communities; a London where 8-ply toilet paper is a thing.

On the way, meet an eclectic band of inspiring Londoners - from scriveners to socialites via urban wordsmiths and coffee preachers - and see why London is now the global epicentre of Bespokist consciousness, community and culture.



As you might have spotted from the publishing date, The Bespokist Society Guide to ... London is a joke, but it's a very clever and funny one that repeatedly had me giggling. At first glance simply a regular city guide, albeit one illustrated with particularly moody monochrome photography, this one pokes fun at the pretentiousness of a certain type of city lifestyle. As someone who visits London every once in a while and usually goes to Brixton market, I could appreciate the spoof entries for restaurants and cafes, clubs and hotels, allegedly located all across the capital, and all competing with each other to provide the most authentic niche experience for consumers with - let's face it - more money than sense. I loved the ideas of an artisan margarine maker and of a restaurant which only virtually serves food - zero waste dontcha know?!

I think that a copy of The Bespokist Society Guide to ... London would make a fabulous gift idea for Londoners and hipsters from further afield, provided of course that they don't take themselves as ridiculously seriously as some of the business owners interviewed in the Guide. If your friends are completely of the 'knitting-their-own-bread' variety (with thanks to Helen Arney for the paraphrase), they might just think you were taking the piss!

Meet the author:

The Bespokist Society Guide to London is a work of fiction written by born and bred Londoner, Jeremy Liebster. Somewhat surprisingly, Jeremy is also a city lawyer – formerly at DLA Piper and now a General Counsel within a large private equity group. Jeremy is utterly obsessed with travel books and although he might poke fun at urban fads, hipster fried chicken is his guilty pleasure. He also has an unusual interest in clothes hangers.

Author links: 
Website ~ Twitter




Etsy Find!

by Miss Bespoke Papercuts in
Portsmouth, England

Click pic to visit Etsy Shop


Search Literary Flits for more:
Books by Jeremy Liebster / Humorous books / Books from England