Mary Portas's My London

The retail guru avoids Leicester Square and can't live without her leopard-print knickers

Home is
My townhouse-cum-hostel in Maida Vale. It's always full to the brim with people.

What's the first thing you do when you arrive back in London?
Open the back door, take off my shoes and stand on the grass in my garden.

What was the last play you saw?
Richard III at The Old Vic with Kevin Spacey. I'd waited for months to see it and I was unbelievably impressed.

What advice would you give a tourist?
Avoid Leicester Square, it's hideous. Angus Steakhouse, Garfunkel's and Tiger Tiger down the road: what is it that makes people want to go there? It's the antithesis of London.

Which shops do you rely on?
Sadly, number one is Majestic Wine on Loudoun Road, St John's Wood. They know me inside out because I'm in there so often. I've got a really good local deli called Soloman, which sells bundles of mint and parsley, olives and dates at a great price. I'd drive across London to get to Steve Hatt's fishmongers on Essex Road, it's the best in the country. I'm a bit of a coffee addict and I love Coffee Plant on Portobello Road.

Which is your favourite London shopping street?
Church Street, NW8. I go there every Saturday to buy my fruit and veg and pop into Joel & Son for fabric.

What animal would you most like to be?
I think I'm a mad lurcher dog, but I'd like to be a bird. There's nothing more joyous than morning song.

What's the best meal you've had in London?
Spiced lamb chops at Tayyabs in Whitechapel. I love spicy food in the summer so we drive there with the roof down, playing Queen very loudly.

What's your biggest extravagance?
Red wine, especially Pomerol.

Do you have a recurring dream?
That the brakes don't work on my car and I'm driving backwards.

What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?
'When you become comfortable with uncertainty, infinite possibilities open up in your life,' by Eckhart Tolle.

Which is your favourite London pub?
The Princess Victoria on the Uxbridge Road does a brilliant Sunday lunch and excellent wines by the glass.

What's the most romantic thing someone's done for you?
My partner Melanie had the garden replanted for me by a divine gardener who put in all my favourite flowers, like white anemones.

If you could live in any building in London which would it be?
There's a really rundown Victorian building on the corner of Seymour Place and Marylebone Road. I think it's a drop-in for down-and-outs, but my dream would be to put a shop in it and live above.

What would you do as Mayor for a day?
Let new talent occupy every empty shop free of charge for six months so they could build up businesses.