An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Silicon Roundabout, East London’s Tech City

Campus London is Google’s free space for the capital’s start-up community. It serves as a central locus for London entrepreneurs, organising free events and workshops and hosting Campus Residency, a 12-week programme for high-potential start-ups focused on machine learning. The ground-floor coffee shop is open to the public, but get here early – seats are picked up quickly by innovators and venture capitalists looking to spot the next big thing. Seed fund Seedcamp and Code First: Girls, which aims to increase the number of women working in tech, also occupy the building – making Campus a true one-stop shop for London’s innovators.

Located just off Silicon Roundabout, Old Street’s WeWork office space is home to entrepreneurs working on early-stage ideas as well as established businesses looking to expand their approach. The co-working community attracts companies of all shapes and sizes, and the site is perfectly situated at the heart of the Tech City buzz.

IDEALondon is a post-accelerator centre for start-ups and entrepreneurs to grow and expand their business, from UCL Engineering, Cisco’s incubator and capital enterprise group and EDF Energy Innovation.

A stunning co-working space at the heart of East London’s creative cluster, Second Home sits on the outskirts of Tech City, near Brick Lane. The space hosts a carefully curated and connected community made up of teams from a diverse range of industries, including charities, corporates, creative businesses and innovators such as Kickstarter.

Even entrepreneurs need a break. Head to Boxpark, Shoreditch’s trendy pop-up shopping centre made of repurposed shipping containers; it’s great for independent and global fashion and lifestyle stores and cafes.

Selling everything from vintage clothes, accessories and jewellery to music, arts and crafts, Brick Lane is an East London staple. Food trucks dominate the street seven days a week, plus there’s the Boiler House Food Hall, the Tea Rooms, the Backyard Market, the Sunday UpMarket and the Vintage Market near the Old Truman Brewery, so you’re spoilt for choice.

Redchurch Street is a six-block stretch of East London that is home to the city’s coolest design-led stores, cafes and restaurants. Stores include Labour and Wait, for home goods; cult beauty brand Aesop; Monologue, for furniture; and luxury clothing Sunspel.