I’m a modern day Cinders. I want glass slippers and a Fairy Godmother. Granted I don’t often get the less train home and the night bus means that I’m never in bed by midnight, but the good shoes are very important. So where does a modern day Cinderella get her shoes from in London?

Kate Kuba: This small chain of shoe shops is full of wearable quirkyness. The brands are often Italian, the shoes vary from classics all the way to studded high heels that you’ll either love or hate. Teetering around the £150 mark, but if you pass by and there’s a sale on, pop in and treat yourself to some bargain leather shoes for under fifty quid.

Kate Kanzier: Another Kate, but this one is very much at the bargain end of the scale. Brogues in any colour for £30! Hurrah! Of course, you’re not paying for particularly high quality here – these shoes aren’t going to last forever. But the shop has a mass of fans and it’s easy to see why.

Cleo B: No Qype reviews for Cleo B! If you like your shoes with an 80s Flashdance vibe (and who doesn’t?) then head here. Expect to pay £250-300 for heels, £100 for flats. But once you do Flashdance moves, you won’t care about that. Have you been to their Chelsea branch? Write a review and tell us what you think.

Black Truffle: Not content with their flagship store on Broadway Market, Black Truffle have now opened another shop in Fitzrovia which you Qypers seem to be liking more because they also happen to do coffee. And they have shortbread owls. Owls are better than shoes.

Irregular Choice: These guys drive straight past quirky and end up at just plain mad. You’ll either love them or hate their mad creations with a passion.

Poste Mistress: Their sexy and vintage style makes these guys popular, the shop in Covent Garden is very lovely indeed. Much nicer than the garish branches of Office where they have a concession.

Old Curiousity Shop: This is actually the shop that Dickens based his classic on. That’s enough of a reason to go, surely?

Got any more? Tell us in the comments! Or review them on Qype.

Flickr image from UggBoy♥UggGirl [ PHOTO // WORLD // TRAVEL ]‘s photostream.

It’s been fifteen years since Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was first published, and with the release of the eighth and final film last month, thousands took to the streets of London to say a sad farewell to the much-beloved Boy Who Lived.

But if, like me, you’re not yet ready to admit it’s all over, then here’s some ideas for walking the same steps as the lightning-scarred teen wizard without even leaving London:

Cast your mind back to the first film in the franchise, when Dark Mark tattoos and Neville Longbottom‘s transformation into heroic heartthrob were still a long way off.

Before Harry even realises his true identity as wizarding wunderkind, his Aunt and Uncle Dursley take him and his cousin Dudley to Little Whinging Zoo.

Harry has a good old chinwag to a Burmese boa constrictor, and then accidentally sets it free. Want to see where it happened? Head to the Reptile House at London Zoo.

Platform 9¾ is the place to board the Hogwarts Express, and if you look for it  at King’s Cross station, you’ll find a luggage trolley in the perfect place for a photo opp when you’re showing Harry Potter obsessives around town. (For the truly fanatical, Surbiton station in Zone 6 is where Harry meets Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince).

The Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley is another landmark, and one you’ll find down Bull’s Head Passage in Leadenhall Market, while the scenes with the magical phonebox entrance to the Ministry of Magic were filmed on Scotland Place in Westminster.

In the books and films, 12 Grimmauld Place (also known as top secret headquarters for The Order of the Phoenix) can only be found by witches and wizards who’ve been told its true location by a Secret-Keeper. In real-life though, all you need to do is head to Lincoln’s Inn Fields in Holborn.

Want more London landmarks that have featured in the films? Lambeth Bridge is where the Knight Bus squeezes between two double-deckers in The Prisoner of Azkaban, and Millennium Bridge meets a spectacular end in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, when it gets destroyed by Voldemort’s Death Eaters within the first few minutes of the film.

Still want more? If you’re up for adventuring out of London, scenes featuring Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry are actually filmed at a long list of different locations, but the most famous are Durham and Gloucester cathedrals. Mischief managed!

(Platform 9¾ photo via Curtis Cronn)

This summer’s finally heating up, and what better way to get hot under the collar than a bit of burlesque? Proud Kitchen in Camden are launching a new nightly cabaret show on July 20th, with vintage-style cheek, contortionist waiters, jugglers and live music, to be enjoyed while you’re munching their NY-diner style food.

To celebrate, two lucky Qypers can win a dreamy dinner date of burgers, burlesque and booze. Read on to find out how to enter!

Want to enter? All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning two VIP wristbands for Proud Kitchen, including a three-course dinner and bottle of house wine is ONE of these two:

1. Email us on qdl@qype.com with the subject line “I’m not Proud, I want free burlesque”

2. Retweet us saying “I’m not Proud, I want to win free burlesque”

Closes Tuesday, 12th July at 5pm. It might get a bit saucy, so it’s only for Qypers over 18. Not exchangeable for cash or anything other than what’s stated above; them’s the rules, so don’t hate the player, hate the game.