Bloomsbury, WC1B, twenty minutes from the noise and worth the walk

Bedford Square is the only complete Georgian square left in the district, an oval garden behind railings with the doorways all framed in the same rusticated stone. Russell Square is the largest, with a fountain that runs until late and a cafe under the trees. Queen Square is small enough to cross in ninety seconds and keeps a statue of Queen Charlotte at one end.

The British Museum sits in the middle of all of them, and the Great Court under its glass and steel roof is the largest covered square in Europe, which is a fact worth having at a dinner table. Late openings run on certain evenings and finish at half past eight, which shapes a good many of the bookings here.

Russell Square station is three minutes from the middle of the district on the Piccadilly line, with lifts rather than escalators and a spiral staircase of one hundred and seventy five steps that nobody should attempt. Holborn is five minutes south on the Central and Piccadilly. Goodge Street is seven minutes west on the Northern.

From the West End the walk itself is about twenty minutes, and plenty of guests do it on purpose. For a companion, twenty five to thirty five minutes from confirmation is the usual figure, less when she starts in Fitzrovia or Holborn. Euston and St Pancras are both a short ride north, which is why this district fills up before an early train.

WC1B 5BE is the vast terracotta building on the east side of Russell Square, with a staircase carved from a single block of marble and a lobby that takes a minute to cross. WC1B 3NN was designed by Lutyens for a bank and keeps a small courtyard behind the front, with a club room upstairs.

WC1B 5BJ has a conservatory and a terrace overlooking a private garden, and WC1V 7EN is seven minutes south when WC1B is full. The district also holds a great many serviced apartments and university lets, which are visited on the same footing. No hotel here has any arrangement with this desk.

Academic and conference visitors in town for three or four days, who spend the day being talked at and want a conversation rather than a performance in the evening. Guests here for a late museum opening or a lecture who find the evening still has three hours left in it at half past eight. Publishing and legal visitors staying near Bedford Square. Travellers with a morning train from Euston or St Pancras.

Bookings here run quieter and longer than in the theatre postcodes. Two hours at £500 and three hours at £700 are the two most common, and a great many of them are made two or three days ahead rather than on the night.

Seven, a drink in a conservatory with the garden going dark outside it. Half past seven, five minutes on foot to a dining room on a street where half the buildings still have blue plaques on them. Half past nine, a walk around one of the squares, which takes as long as you want it to. Ten, a last glass somewhere with a fire and about fifteen chairs.

Three hours at £700 covers that at an unhurried pace. The four hour dinner date, £900, is the right length when the conversation is the point. The ten hour night at £1,800 is the booking for the evening before the train.

Danielle reads history for pleasure, knows the late openings and is completely at ease in a quiet room. Roxi paints, hunts second hand bookshops and will find the snug bar with no music in it before you do.

From nearby, Nora comes over from Holborn in eight minutes and is the most energetic company on the list, Patricia walks the same distance and is precise about time, Sonya crosses from Fitzrovia for the long conversation, Lucy does the same walk in twelve minutes, and Rosa comes down from Marylebone with an hour of chamber music already in her. The rest of On The Books travels here on the same figures.

Romilly holds the desk at every hour and answers in ten to fifteen minutes whenever you write, on WhatsApp or Telegram. In this district, though, a message sent two days out is worth more than in most, because the bookings are longer and the diary fills in blocks rather than in hours.

One check follows the confirmation: the name the booking is held in, the building and the room number, matched once and used for nothing else. Her fee is handed to her in person in the first minute she is in the room.

South across Bloomsbury Way the legal quarter of Holborn begins within five minutes. West over Tottenham Court Road the media streets of Fitzrovia take over. South west down Endell Street the Piazza of Covent Garden is about fourteen minutes on foot. Euston, St Pancras and King's Cross all sit a short walk north, and the whole zone is drawn together on the Central London page.