Much like New York has Greenwich Village and Tribeca, now London too boasts an array of "villages", each with a distinct character. Lonely Planet London guide author, Sarah Johnstone names Borough, Bermondsey, Broadway Market and Haggerston as among the upcoming regions that are now defining the capital.

Bermondsey and Borough have even gained themselves a Big Apple style acronym, SoBo, according to Johnstone, although it's not clear whether the phrase is being used regularly outside the offices of the estate agents who coined it.

While some of these places may not be familiar even to London residents, such as Broadway Market, which is near Hackney, Johnstone says tourists are finding them. "I've been in Borough Market on a Saturday and there are huge numbers of tourists there - it's almost overtaken Spitalfields Market," she told Times Online.

"Last time we did the guide [in 2004] there were only two restaurants and one pub in Broadway Market, but now it has a Saturday market and lots of trendy bars and restaurants, and it's getting the overspill of visitors from Brick Lane,"

One of the most attractive features of London's new "villages" is the absence of chain pubs, bars and restaurants. In her 2004 guide to the city, Johnstone spoke of the danger of "Generica", a trend among London streets to become indecipherable owing to omnipresent chains such as Starbucks and Pizza Express.

"While some of the upcoming areas have simply not attracted chain bars and restaurants yet, in some cases, like Broadway Market, the residents have been locked in battle with developers to preserve the character of their area."

Visitors to London will also be pleasantly be surprised by a new stock of budget boutique hotels. Says Johnstone: "Finally hoteliers have cottoned onto the fact they need to sharpen their game and chuck out the chintz in order to compete with other cities around the world."

She recommends The Mayfair in Earl's Court, B&B Belgravia near Victoria, the Southwark Rose Hotel near the Tate Modern and Borough Market, and the Pavilion Hotel (read our 2003 review) and Vancouver Studios, both in Bayswater.

But it wasn't all good news. The loss of London's iconic red Routemaster buses on all but a couple of tourist routes is very sad, says Johnstone, who also calls The London Dungeon a "camped-up gothic gorefest", Victoria nothing more than a transport hub and Mayfair and Kensington, "a pristine swathe of territory primed with blue blood and old money".

The fifth edition of Lonely Planet's London city guide is out on January 20, priced £12.99.

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