Actress Lucy Punch loves living in Fulham and is a familiar face in the local coffee shops. Now she's about to make a hop and a skip over the water to LA
“I've lived in Fulham for five years. I was suddenly homeless, and it seemed like an easy and obvious option as it’s close to all my family. It’s very convenient for everything and easy to get into town which is where I usually have meetings and go out. And when I'm coming home late at night, which I often do, it feels completely safe, which is important. Also, I love being near parks and the river – I'd be claustrophobic living somewhere too urban.
In some ways it’s too convenient. You get the feeling some people never leave Fulham and explore other parts of London. Although there is always a lot going on here, I think there is a real lack of interesting nightlife. I never go out or really socialise in Fulham despite all the great things about it. If I want to have fun then it’s just too bland and sterile. And I prefer bars to pubs.
I always read my scripts in cafés so I'm constantly highly caffeinated! I like to drink lattés in Plum and Local Hero on the Fulham Road which is great for coffee, and also on Fulham Road the Nomad Books coffee bit is lovely. But my favorite is the Aziz coffee shop and deli. It has the most amazing selection of delicious cakes and it’s really cozy.
I love Thai food, so it’s perfect being so close to the Blue Elephant – they do a great lunch deal. Sugar Hut is also fun, delicious, and good for cocktails. But my latest discovery is Suko Thai on the Fulham Road. The food is incredible... mmmm!
I’m a terrible cook and eat out a lot, so I don't buy alot of groceries. I get the basics from my local Budgens. There’s a Planet Organic hidden behind Fulham Broadway which is great but I always forget it’s there.
My friends are spread all over London, but I have a lot of family in the area which is really lovely. I spend a lot time pottering and procrastinating. A lot of coffee drinking and cake eating and then I feel guilty and start exercising. I recently took up Hot Bikram Yoga which I was doing locally and it’s incredible, you get very bendy very quickly!
As an actress the opportunity to travel and meet so many different and interesting people is wonderful. But mostly I just love the acting part – creating a character and pretending to be somebody else for a while. Obviously I despise being out of work! I'm always frantic I'll never work again and it's hard not being able to make plans properly. You have to be very flexible for whenever a meeting, audition, or job comes up. When I was little I wanted to be a fairy, a front crawl Olympic champion, and then an actress.
Workwise I've just finished doing a teeny tiny bit in Edgar Wright and Simon Peggs’ new film Hot Fuzz - it was lots of fun and I think it's going to be very funny. I'm about to start on a new sitcom in the States, called The Class, produced and written by the creators of Friends. I have no idea what it's going to be like as they're still writing the scripts. But I'm really excited and looking forward to living and working in LA for a little bit."
