• Tube stations: Holborn, Chancery Lane, Farringdon
  
• Rail stations: Farringdon, City Thameslink
  
• Location: north of Aldwych and the City, southwest of Clerkenwell, south of Bloomsbury and east of Covent Garden
  
• Borough: Camden (www.camden.gov.uk)
  
• Postcode: WC1, WC2, EC1

Landmarks:
The Royal Courts of Justice are imposing enough to terrify even the completely innocent. Legend has it that the courts contain 1,000 rooms and three and a half miles of corridors.

Known for:
Being the centre of London’s squadron of lawyers. Holborn is home to Gray’s Inn, Lincoln’s Inn and loads of legal eagles with pinstripe suits and expensive briefcases.

Who’s there?
Throngs of lawyers, financial high-fliers spilling over from the City and a few journalist stragglers left over from the media empire days of Fleet Street.

Making history:
Holborn started out as an empty field beside the City. When a tollgate was installed, a tiny village grew up around it. By the 19th century, Holborn was poverty-ridden like much of the rest of East London. Although the area was bombed during the second world war, much of the architecture and important buildings escaped significant damage.

Pub quiz facts:
18th-century London was no stranger to prostitution, but Holborn was famous for a slightly different kind – it was the location of London’s most famous gay brothel. Mother Clap’s molly house was raided in 1726 and she was sent to the stocks for aiding in sodomy.

Famous faces:
Famous writers who have lived in Holborn include Charles Dickens and Zadie Smith.

When it’s hot:
Holborn has little bits of green space, but if you’re there during lunch hour you might have to fight the lawyers for a spot on the grass.

When it’s not:
Members of the public are allowed in the courtooms of the Royal Courts of Justice, as long as they promise to behave themselves.