The thinking behind Cosy London

Val Taro RIP

Why am I sharing my favourite cosy spots? It's a good question, since the reason many of them are so lovely is because they're not very well-known, and it's for this very reason that it's more easy to get a seat.

But since I've lived in London, some of my favourite places have sadly closed down due to a lack of business. For example, in just one small corner of our fair capital - on a tucked away street between Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square - three lovely places have closed down in just a few years. Hamptons wine bar, the Hand & Racquet pub (still depressingly unoccupied) and, most recently, Val Taro wine bar and restaurant, pictured above.

Val Taro was my favourite cosy spot in the world. You could always get a table without booking. Its underground wine bar was genuinely homely with candles shoved into old wine bottles, simple multicoloured fairylights around the bar and Halloween decorations still intact from at least three years ago. The proprietor of over 30 years - Luciano - knew his regulars by name and gave us a free round of drinks on every single visit. The food was simple and delicious, with plates heaped full of pasta, risotto, meat and seafood, and the waitress always remembered my favourite dish. The tiramisu was an amazing big, messy homemade heap of soggy coffee sponge and lashings of cream. The cocktail menu lovingly painted on a mini blackboard - which now proudly hangs in my kitchen - was, without any irony whatsoever, wonderfully retro, boasting snowballs, screwdrivers and pinacoladas.

But now Val Taro is gone, sold to a wealthier owner who apparently wants to turn my favourite underground wine bar in London into the ground floor restaurant's kitchen. Heartbroken. And the saddest thing is that, in the week before it closed, Luciano had never seen his beloved Val Taro busier, as all of the regulars brought their friends and family for one final meal and round of Amarettos to say their teary farewells.

So it's time we got behind all the Val Taros in London, to celebrate some of the lesser well-known eateries, wine bars, cafes and pubs that may not necessarily have a reputation for being 'hip', but hit the spot in terms of warmth, friendliness and spirit. Places that have soul, places that make you smile, places that feel like home and, perhaps most importantly, places where you can sit down.

Cosy London doesn't want to ruin these places, but if we don't share them, they might - like Val Taro - disappear forever.