Terence Conran: My London

Home is...
Butler's Wharf. When I first saw the area by riverboat it was derelict, but I was smitten by the robust Victorian industrial architecture. My apartment is above our offices.
Have you been away recently?
Brittany with my wife, at the Grand Hotel des Bains, Locquirec. It was filled with elderly French intellectuals. I'm going back there next week to design, draw and write. We went to the Amandari resort in Bali, near the artist community of Ubud. I sensed virtually everybody there was creating something uplifting. I went to Tokyo, to a tea party at the British Embassy with architects and designers, checked out the Conran Shop and saw my grandson Toby who lives there.
What are your favourite eateries?
Roka has an inventive menu. St John serves the finest British ingredients with a minimum of fuss. Sweetings is another favourite of mine.
What was the last show you saw
Priscilla Queen of the Desert. It was so camp and full of fun. I haven't laughed so much in ages.
What would you tell a tourist?
Get on the London Eye to see how the bewildering maze of streets link together. Its sheer optimism has seen off its critics.
What are your secret London addresses?
Sally Clarke's shop is wonderful, and if there are two finer butchers in London than Lidgate and Randalls I am yet to find them. I like Chantal's chocolate shop and Konditor & Cook for delicious coffee, cakes, bread, chocolate and caramel - a hidden delight near Waterloo. Borough Market for fresh fish, meat and vegetables and an old-fashioned market atmosphere. Few and Far for all manner of beautiful objects, and Alfies Antiques Market.
What's the best meal you've ever had?
The first night at Boundary, surrounded by friends and family and the happy buzz of a packed restaurant.
What's on your tombstone?
I'd be proud for it simply to read that I had been a good, practical designer of useful things who had opened quite a few nice restaurants.
What are your guilty pleasures?
Smoking cigars and drinking glasses of Vieille Prune in my greenhouse while hiding from my physio. I am also rather partial to a tin of Heinz tomato soup with half a pint of full-fat milk in it.
What would you do as Mayor for the day?
Get all the high-end retailers, restaurants and hotels to club together and offer a luxury weekend in London with cheap hotel rates and restaurant meals while theatres, films and clubs would offer special evening events.
What animal would you most like to be?
My team would say a grizzly bear but I'd say something proud, cunning and wise with a keen eye for an opportunity - maybe a lion.
What would you save from a fire?
A delicate porcelain bowl made especially for me by the Japanese potter Kawase Shinobu.
What makes you laugh?
Paul Merton's waspish wit.
What makes you cry?
Most recently, when I heard that Christopher Frayling, who was a quite wonderful rector, had decided to leave the Royal College of Art after many years of excellent service.
What are you up to at the moment?
We are opening our latest restaurant, Lutyens on Fleet Street. I've just launched a collection of special bed linen in John Lewis called Heirloom.
Where do you like to shop?
Marylebone High Street for its diversity and individuality of shops, restaurants and cafés.
What do you love to wear?
I do like my stripy socks. They make me smile.
What's London's most romantic spot?
Chelsea Physic Garden is intimate, inspiring and encloses you like a secret world, which is rare.
What are your favourite discoveries?
Leadenhall Market is wonderful as is Denis Severs' house. I love the angel in Kensal Rise cemetery, the lake in St James' Park and the Palm House in Kew Gardens.

Lutyens restaurant and bar opens on Fleet Street at the end of June 2009