“I'VE lived all over London,” says the novelist Jake Arnott. And he's really lived: working as a mortuary technician, artist's model and appearing as a mummy in The Mummy before beginning his literary exploration of London's dark side in He Kills Coopers.

He has even been a squatter, like the characters in Johnny Come Home, his latest book. “Clerkenwell is where I live and write now. It's grown-up without being bland. It's still got an edge.” Sandwiched between the City and Smithfield, Clerkenwell attracts creatives with cash and clout. “I couldn't afford to move here when I was still getting books rejected,” admits Arnott, from the comfort of his live-work warehouse apartment. D&AD, the leading design and advertising charity, is based here and architects and designer-makers crowd the studios around Clerkenwell Green. Get your essential Eames chair at Vitra and chance upon a bespoke bargain at Made in Clerkenwell, the biannual open-studio sale.

Until it died in 2004, no magazine was edgier than The Face. Published from offices just off Exmouth Market, it featured work by Julie Burchill and Tony Parsons and was famously sued for making unfounded claims about Jason Donovan. Myriad magazines and dot.coms remain, as well as the offices of The Guardian.

Hungry creatives can shoot ideas around and play tabletop football at Café Kick or grab honest pub food at The Eagle, the original gastropub. Their bosses can afford to eat at Moro. Arnott can often be found lurking in a dark corner of the Three Kings pub nursing dark thoughts about his next novel. He says: “Clerkenwell still has a few inspirational dark alleys. St James's churchyard, full of office workers at lunchtime, empties in the evening and the quiet air lets ideas settle.”

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