Islington resident Gabrielle Ackroyd, 24, is a qualitative research manager for Fresh Minds. She tells us where she loves to shop and hang out

“I’ve lived in Islington for a little over a year. Our first flat was just off Essex Road and now we live near Highbury Fields. Islington is so great for just wandering around on a sunny afternoon, when you don’t have the intention of really doing anything. There are some really gorgeous Victorian houses, with pretty gardens that are lovely just to walk by. It will be great being so near Highbury Fields in the summer; we used to come up quite often for picnics. I’m not very active but there’s a good gym at Highbury Pool as well, which offers a number of different yoga classes.

My favourite clothes shop is Past Caring on Essex Road. It’s kind of like a charity shop but with some really cool vintage 60s and 70s stuff. I love it because it’s quite different and you can find some great stuff pretty cheaply. For general shopping, Angel has some useful shops, such as GAP and Oasis for basics. It would be good if they had Mango and Zara to save me having to go central but it’s pretty good. And, if I had the money, there’s a whole lot of shops I could happily spend it in on Upper Street. Oliver Bonas always has pretty dresses.

Upper Street is so great just to walk up and down looking in all the shops and there’s a really good range of places to eat out. We like the Afghan Kitchen near Islington Green, Gem (Turkish), Gallipoli, and Isarn, a Thai place which we go to in the daytime for its lovely Bento boxes. It’s a really pretty restaurant. From the outside it looks quite posh, but inside it’s like something out of a design magazine. Then there’s the Thai Corner Café, which is our local and does the best Thai food I’ve ever eaten.

There are some pretty nice pubs as well. One of my favourites is The Orwell on Essex Road. It’s slightly random – crazy vintage wallpaper and it looks kind of uncared for – but there’s a nice atmosphere. Every time I’ve been in there it has been a different kind of music night and all different types of people. One time there was a guy playing who used to be in Squeeze, a south London band from the 70s and 80s. They don’t have loads of types of drinks but they do have cool beaten-up leather sofas. We also like the Old Queen's Head on Essex Road. That’s where we first came across musician Jack Peñate during one of their acoustic nights, who we’ve become rather sentimentally attached to. There’s also the Bastille Brasserie bar in Canonbury. It’s changed quite a bit since we first started going there but it’s quite laid back and you can usually get a seat so it’s an ideal to place to catch up with a friend.”