The best things I’ve written

Even though Wooden City comes out fortnightly, I appreciate that some readers probably can’t keep up with everything I write. My own inbox is full of emails from newsletters that I love, and that I struggle to find the time to read.

So this week, while I take a break, I wanted to revisit 10 pieces that capture what Wooden City is about. It’s just the shorter digest this week – I’ll resume publishing longer guides and articles on Wednesday 8 July.

The first thing I published here and the product of half a decade of research. Parts two and three cover more ground, but I like this one most because of the introduction, and the fact that the entries show that central London is still good. Part three has the map.

Sometimes I worry that this guide got overshadowed, because I published it early on and more people associate me with caffs. Wooden City now reaches a much larger audience, so if you’re a new reader, I want to make sure you know about this piece. I’m not aware of a longer list of second-hand bookshops for which the writer has been to every single place. Also more bookshops here and here.

My most popular free piece, which I think was the first time I recognised that my real interest lies in community spaces in general, rather than just old ones. I think more people should be celebrating buildings like these, that let you sit down inside without paying anything and do things like sleep, read and charge your phone.

Another early piece, that involved some very fun weeks of wandering around areas like Clapton, Sydenham and Shepherd’s Bush, going to loads of specialist shops. I’m really proud of part two as well, and am currently sitting on a long, chaotic spreadsheet of shops for an overdue follow-up.

Catford was the first neighbourhood that I wrote about in detail, followed by Walworth. But I think I really hit my stride with Lewisham, which has so many important places that I found it very hard to stop adding new ones to this list. Part two here.

My thinking has evolved a bit since publishing this, but this essay is probably my clearest expression yet of some of this newsletter’s key themes, particularly the responsibilities that newcomers can have in a space with an existing crowd.

My most popular paid piece so far. If I wrote it again tomorrow, I reckon I could quite easily choose a whole different set of 100 favourites, which is precisely why I love running this newsletter.

I tried to make this piece of writing about The French House a critical review, rather than a three-part vignette. One way I did this was by reading a lot of Jonathan Gold, who I now realise kind of wrote vignettes. But I love really atmospheric writing like his, that focuses on smells and sounds as much as visual and gustatory perception, and actual criticism. I’m still figuring out whether the review format is for me, but if and when I write more of them, I think I want to continue doing so in this style.

Wooden City is about community spaces in London, but everything I write is informed by looking hard at the details. I like doing this with objects as much as places, and it brings me great joy to know that this list has inspired people to look out for random old things on the street.

After I published this guide, I got a WhatsApp from a close friend who said, “Loved today’s article. Clear, concise writing and genuinely useful.” This is exactly what I’m trying to do with Wooden City. I received similar messages from other other readers and was really encouraged by the overall response, especially for a piece that I initially thought I was taking a punt with.