Just pretend like you're rich

Can I possibly enjoy the capital for just £20? When I was a student in London, I survived on £20 a week, although I have to admit that I was often so hungry I used to frequent Neal's Yard in Covent Garden to gorge on the free samples of peanut butter.

I tried to supplement my meagre grant by getting a job as the coat-check girl at the Blitz club in Holborn, but as it was summer and nobody wanted to check their amazing outfits anyway, I remained firmly on the breadline and discovered a real life-saver at Cranks in Soho, who gave away health food at the end of the night.

None of these marvellous institutions exists any more, but, 20 years on, it is still possible to be both frugal and healthy. Dear old Food for Thought is still there on Neal Street, dishing out stir-fried vegetables and rice for less than a fiver, and Islington's best-kept secret is Ravi Shankar on St John Street, where two very greedy people can eat delicious, vegetarian, southern-Indian food for about £15; you can also eat as much as you like there on a Sunday for the same price - make sure you wear trousers with an elasticated waist.

It might sound daft, but my advice if you haven't got any money is to act as if you have. Go to the Wolseley on Piccadilly for their reduced-price set lunch and sit alongside the likes of Michael Caine.

Or why not enjoy a drink at the Sanderson or Claridges? Although half your budget will be blown on a glass of wine, you get to eat lots of free nibbles and stare at people who make you feel glad to be very, very poor.