Cheap chocolate, the library and a bench ... the unlikely places for London love
From a Kensington hotel room filled with the cheapest chocolate possible to a wooden bench on the South Bank - who knew London was filled with such unlikely locations for love?
When ES magazine asked celebrities where they would meet for a Valentine's date, the answers and the reasons behind them raised an eyebrow.
Tamara Ecclestone, 27, a model and presenter, chose the "dark, intimate" Blakes Hotel, saying it is "one of the most romantic hotels in London".
She said: "Staying in a hotel is sexy because you're out of your home environment; you feel special and you make more of an effort. I love four-poster beds. Couples who have been married for 20 years should come here for a naughty weekend."
The daughter of Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone says it is "only a matter of time" before she marries boyfriend Omar Khyami and reveals she bakes chocolate fudge cake to aid seduction.
"Chocolate is a great aphrodisiac, the cheaper the better: I go for Galaxy or Cadbury's Whole Nut."
Rachel Johnson, the writer and sister of Mayor Boris, picked the London Library in St James's, which she says is scented with the "musk of scholarship". It reminds her of studying at the Bodleian at Oxford, where she had a three-year unrequited love for a Classics student. She said of the London Library: "I often find myself exchanging glances with a Byronic youth who's working on his thesis. My London Library love affair is yet to happen, though."
She added: "Growing up, I never fancied a single one of Boris's friends and they never fancied me. It was probably because I was his younger sister and they were too in love with him."
Actor Russell Tovey, star of the BBC drama Being Human, chose the scene of a secret affair seven years ago involving a fellow cast member from a National Theatre play. He said: "We used to meet up at a bench first thing in the morning before rehearsals to catch up. Whenever I walk past now, I smile to myself and remember the romance and excitement of it all."
ES Magazine is free with tomorrow's Evening Standard.
