Meet Miss Brit, our new secret spy on the London scene.  Every week, she'll dispatch on fashion, music, art, and parties, while reminding us to drink our tea.

Here's her first report, from the crazy Brit Awards in Oxford Circus...

What better way to start a column as Miss Brit than by letting you all in on what went on backstage at the BRIT Awards, held at London's Earls Court?

My housemate Annabel styles one of the big bands of the night so we got full backstage access. Getting there in the morning was always going to be dangerous (all day free bar, you see) but no-one seemed to mind - drinks were for calming nerves and, at one point we were sitting at the bar with Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson (so hot), Rihanna, and The Klaxons.

Once the awards were done we were whisked-off to the Universal party at The Hempel hotel.... spirits were high and, with the big show over, everyone was ready to let loose. Take That looked like they were having the time of their lives...

Things get a bit hazy as the night goes on but Jack Osbourne was a sweety, as were Sophie Ellis Bextor and her super-charming hubby Richard Jones from The Feeling - neither of whom seemed to mind my drunken chatter.

Spent most of the night flitting about the room or with Annabel and her new friend Coffin Joe from the Horrors! The fun ended at 4 am with an alarm clock at 7 to get back to work - hardcore!
 
 Anyway, onwards and upwards. The newest craze to sweep Shoreditch is the squatters bars that I only feel I can mention considering New York police probably won't be bothering to get on a plane for 6 hours to shut one down. Not that they would find the locations thanks to the ridiculously cryptic codes that it takes to locate the next venue.

Found by chance one afternoon strolling back to Bethnal Green from Brick Lane – notable only for a woman swaying in a doorway and loud music blaring from behind her. She beckoned us in – not advisable unless you have cohorts with you, which I did – only to reveal a make-shift bar with people smoking, drinking and, well, doing whatever the hell they wanted – in a derelict building. After much fun was had by all, we left (not revealing any more details than that) only to find it boarded up and labelled "dangerous" when we next went for a tipple.

My friends Hannah and Ali managed to locate the arranger of these covert operations who, evidently has a MySpace page for the more hardcore to follow the clues to the next destination of free, liberal fun…. We are planning a mission next weekend to find the next location (this weekend reserved for rest after too many fashion weeks) so I will let you know how I get on.
 
--MISS BRIT

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