Jasmin, the Soho local who starts late

Jasmin keeps a Soho address and a Soho body clock, which means she is only really getting started when the theatres let out. Petite at 160 cm, with chestnut brown hair that runs long, sleek and straight, she lets her brown eyes do a good deal of the talking. She dresses like the fun guest at a boutique hotel: a short satin skirt, a cropped knit, one statement ring, heels that could manage a dance floor if pressed. In her early twenties, she arrives bubbly and leaves the night better than she found it.

Curiosity drives her. Jasmin asks the second question as well as the first, and she flirts with charm rather than volume, all teasing and delighted laughter. Her English is quick and friendly. Perfume is her private study, and she can name the notes of a scent from across a table; mixology is the skill she likes to show off, reading a cocktail list as if it were a novel; salsa is how she spends her Sunday afternoons, and she will gladly explain why the basic step matters far more than the spins.

Because she lives around the corner, her evenings can begin late and still feel unhurried. Her favourite first stop is the Experimental Cocktail Club, behind an unmarked door on Gerrard Street in Chinatown, where the drinks are serious and the lighting kind. She takes a seat at the bar, trades notes with whoever is shaking, and orders for you after two questions about what you usually drink. One round there, perhaps a second, then a short walk back to your hotel beneath the red lanterns.

As a Soho local she is often at a W1 hotel door well inside the hour. Tell booking where you are staying and pick any hour after nine; she tends to be ready before you are.