Goodwin's Court

The lowdown

Slip down an easily missed gap off St Martin's Lane and you step back two hundred years into Goodwin's Court, a tiny alley lined with curved, bow-fronted Georgian shopfronts, black-painted woodwork and old gas-style lamps. It feels so untouched that it is often claimed as an inspiration for the crooked wizarding street in the Harry Potter films, and it has stood in for Dickensian London on screen many times.

There are no shops trading here now, just the beautifully preserved frontages and a profound sense of stillness yards from the bustle of Covent Garden. It is free to wander through, a genuine pocket of old London hiding in plain sight, best at dusk when the lamps come on.