1707 at Fortnum & Mason

Thanks to a recent bold makeover, Fortnum’s looks good for another 300 years. Its basement wine bar 1707 – reminiscent of a cool Galician bodega, perhaps – makes an agreeable pitstop. Enjoy oysters, terrines, rarebits, earthy salads & sinful puds for lunch, or tapas (£16 for four items) served 5-8pm. To drink, take your pick from wine flights (three thoughtfully selected small glasses grouped by grape or region), modest carafes of Provençal Grenache (£12.50), modish Sancerre rosé, or a weighty Chassagne Montrachet premier cru 2005 at £87. Any bottle from Fortnum’s cellars is also offered at retail plus £10 corkage, bringing bins that would otherwise be reserved for Coutts & Co customers within reach of hoi polloi. Cocktails come with a historical twist; hanky panky (gin, Noilly Prat Ambre, orange marmalade & Fernet Branca) is a Victorian creation from London’s Savoy – not the old Madonna number.