The art of "Londonmaxxing"

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2:45A lot of us are now using social media to search for city guides and recommendations. But a new phenomenon, London Maxing, is all about getting to the heart of the city just by, well, being in it. Hi, and welcome back to The Standard Podcast. I'm Tamara Kormonik. For all the latest news, head to standard.co.uk. Coming up, the art of London Maxing.

3:26When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life. For there is, in London, all that life can afford, said the late, great Dr. Samuel Johnson in 1777. But during a cost of living and housing crisis, does this still ring true?

3:50In this episode I speak to our senior social features editor at the London Standard, Katrina Mirapuri, whose love for the city far precedes the phenomenon of London maxing. Listen up for a breakdown of this trend, plus recommendations from her little black book of London hauls. Here's my chat with Katrina.

4:14Hi, Katrina. Thanks so much for jumping on the stand and podcast. Hi, thank you. So you are, I mean, to me, you're the author of all things cool. And I saw this pop up and I hadn't really heard about it. But London Maxing, can you tell us what it is? Yeah, so London Maxing is a mindset where you are going to squeeze all the fun that you possibly can out of your city. That is London. so I'm talking culture, food, art, random experiences just doing all of the things that London has to offer and making the most of it, maxing out on it. Well there is that old adage, you know, if you're tired of London you're tired of life, right?

4:54Yeah, and I really believe that. Yeah, it's fair. I mean there is something for everyone here. It's sort of a counter trend to negativity around London, around the crime rate or the cost of living. Do you think that that's what kind of caused the trend to emerge? Yeah, and I think people just want to make the most of the city and also share tips on how to max out in London. Like where are the cute little delis to go to? Where are the free galleries? Where are the interesting secret walks in London that you can go on? People will never know everything you can do in London, even if you're from London.

5:31I'm from London and I still don't know the whole city. So I think London maxing is like a kind of counterculture to all the bad things. but also a great way to max out and share tips on all the cool things you can do in the city. It's kind of like a newer version of TripAdvisor, really. So I remember there used to be those forums, you know, I'm going to Rome for two days. What do I do? It seems to be, you know, a similar kind of sentiment. It's just more on social media and it's more of a kind of visual medium.

6:04so typical london maxing video piece of content what are we seeing so people go to a lot of the cool delis like jolene toad bakery and then there's also towpath cafe on the canal a lot of the london maxing things are food focused but you've also got the other side which is the galleries and also places like hamster teeth and the cute little parks that you can go to personally a lot of the London matching things I see on social media are great but they're very level one London and level two London whereas as a Londoner I'm looking for level three London and level four London which is the actual secret places the hidden tucked away gems those London hidden gems that most people don't know about unless you're a Londoner so I definitely have a few of them in my back pocket that I don't mind sharing oh please please do yeah I mean in terms of the art world everyone knows that you can go to the Tate in the National Portrait Gallery but places like Copperfield Gallery in Southwark are great it's a tiny little gallery in an old church and my friend actually used to live next to it that's how we discovered it she used to sign for their packages and then we just popped over next door and turned out to be one of the most amazing indie art galleries and they are also one of the galleries that throw parties so once you're in you've got good invites for parties as well.

7:26Hampstead Heath Ponds everyone knows about but people still don't know about it at the same time but there are other places you can swim in London so really recommend just looking at the different Lido's and there are also places that are opening up this summer that are going to be great for that kind of thing but again it's not exactly a hidden gem but it's definitely London Maxing. I recommend going for a swim in the London Aquatic Centre in Stratford, which is the old Olympic swimming pool. I think that's a great London place. That's incredible. I remember seeing Paralympic swimmers in that pool.

7:58I can't quite imagine swimming there myself, even though I do swim. It just seems really daunting, but how amazing that they're letting amateurs in. And then another one that sprung to mind is Muswell Hill. You've got this adorable little cheese shop called Cheeses of Muswell Hill. It's a tiny little old shop but um it's a family business and they actually aged their cheese in an old world war ii bunker but i mean it doesn't get more london than going to an old school cheese monger and nothing beats that you'd rather get your cheese from there than somewhere like tesco right yeah yeah totally we'll take a quick break here coming up i asked katrina for tips on how to find spots off the beaten track and i asked her whether she sees the trend as a counterculture to the city's affordability crisis.

8:49We'll be back here in just a moment.

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10:33Welcome back. Let's get back to my chat with Katrina.

10:42Say you want to jump on the London Maxing trend, but you don't want to go to level one places or places that other people are thinking of. What tips do you have for people trying to find these gems, the gems that are actually hidden? I really recommend just getting lost on purpose. There's nothing better than just choosing a tube line and saying, let's get out there and walk around. one of my favourite things to do when I'm London maxing is to get on the Uber boat and just get off at one of the stops it feels touristy but at the same time it's not an actual tourist boat you can get from A to B and you can tap your Oyster card so I mean any of the locations there are great and they even take you deeper into southwest London so you can go from Barking Riverside to Putney Pier or wherever it is but a lot of these places aren't easy to get to on the tube either or you might not think to go there in the tube so yeah hop on a boat hop on a train and get lost on purpose follow some people down alleyways and you might just find the best deli you've ever eaten at or a really cute pub I love the boat tip I will say my London maxing tip would be if you go to a concert at the O2 centre in Greenwich don't bother sweating getting on the tube after the gig, you can actually just get the Uber boat or the Thames Clipper, as we used to call it.

12:09You can get that into central London. And it's actually such a pleasant journey and such a nice kind of cool London way to round out a night rather than being in those awful queues waiting. Yeah, that's a good one for sure.

12:26When I was reading about this trend, a thought that popped up for me was that maybe the trend has emerged as a result of a tougher economic climate, i.e. whimsically exploring your own neighborhood. That can be a fairly low-cost activity. Or just maximizing time spent in London. This could be in relation to the housing crisis and thinking, oh, okay, I'm only going to live in London for X number of years. I really want to make the most of it while I live here. Do you think the trend is a bit random or do you think these things are kind of factored in? I think a lot of people are leaving London or visit London so I think the trend is based on you have a limited time in London, max it out, enjoy as much of London as you can because you're going to miss it when you're not there.

13:16And do you think London maxing is for Londoners or for tourists? I think it's for everyone. Everyone's allowed to London max, you just have to unlock new levels of London maxing. Well, thanks so much, Katrina, for jumping on the Standard Podcast. It's been great to chat. Thanks for having me.

13:38And that's The Standard. For all the latest news, head to standard.co.uk. If you're new here, hit follow and give us a rating. If you'd like to get in touch, email us at podcasts at standard.co.uk. We'll be back here tomorrow morning. See you then.

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