When Sharon Horgan — writer, executive producer and star of HBO’s mid-life crisis comedy Youth, premiering September 20 — was looking for where to set the show, she stuck with what she knew.
Horgan, the creator of Prime Video’s Catastrophe (about the beginnings of married life) and HBO’s Divorce (about the end of it), sought the perfect setting for a post-divorce middle-aged woman. Youth tells the story of a 50-year-old divorcée navigating dating, love and sex at an age when society tells you that’s all behind you. At the same time, Horgan’s Alex is trying to care for her ailing mother (Anne Reid, Last Tango in Halifax) and her grown-up son (Aran Murphy, son of actor Cillian) as he leaves the nest — and then promptly returns under a cloud. When a dashing old flame (Rupert Friend) reappears on the scene as a friend with benefits, Alex has to work out what she wants — and who comes first.
Horgan’s comedies are always personal — she is a 50-year-old divorcée with grown-up children herself — which is why it’s no surprise that she chose to set Youth in London. Though she is a proud Irishwoman, she was born in Hackney, east London, and has lived there since the mid-aughts.
Horgan and Aran Murphy in a scene from Youth
She knows the city well: “When I was pregnant with my first daughter, we were living in Bermondsey, and we just did not want to stay in Bermondsey. Because, as a parent, you're just really winging it, and you feel like you need some kind of support network — as well as the possibility of life after babies. So, we got in a car and just drove around London and looked for the places with the most push chairs [strollers] that looked kind of fun. I've been here ever since.”
Fun is something that always present in Horgan’s work, no matter how bittersweet the subject matter or the stories. Wherever her home city, she is a people watcher. “I love bars,” she says. “I love anywhere that’s got a bit of buzz — just anywhere you can watch the world go by in some form or other.”
That makes Sharon Horgan the perfect guide for a buzzy London, a city full of youth, those pining for their youth and everyone in between. Here, she talks up her favorite spots in England’s capital, whether for dating, family, food or just hanging out.
LIVE MUSIC
The Golden Hinde
“I like making the most of London and doing the kind of eclectic things that you could only do here,” Horgan says, citing a recent gig by the Irish musician Seamus Fogarty that took place on board a reproduction of Sir Francis Drake’s The Golden Hinde, moored by London Bridge. “It’s a ship that’s been remodeled. They’ve got a little bar in there, and we went to see him play his recent album, Ships. Only in London could you go and watch an Irish artist play a set on a ship that you literally had to walk around with your head bent down. It’s kind of wonderful.”
RESTAURANTS
Horgan lives in east London, but her Merman production company has offices centrally, in Soho. Much of her work takes place there. “So, I end up eating in Soho a lot,” she says. Her favorite spots include the classic seafood restaurant J. Sheekey, deep in the city’s theaterland. “Getting served oysters while sitting at the bar — that’s my kind of thing. In fact, I love sitting at bars and eating. Duck Soup is also great for that. That’s right up my alley.”
BAKERY/COFFEE
Pophams
London has a thriving artisanal bakery scene for the occasional fancy danish and caffeine hit. Horgan recommends Pophams. “Ours is in Victoria Park Village, but they’ve got a few branches [in Islington, north London and London Fields, also in Hackney].” She says any recognition she gets when popping out for a latte tends to be positive: “It's very geographically dependent. I mean, if I went to Kensington or somewhere like that, no one no one would give me a second look, whereas Hackney is my demographic. I’m very lucky in that it’s always women, and it’s always mothers, and they’re always nice.”
FITNESS
Even as a tourist in other cities, Horgan loves to go for a run. “That's always the best way to see [a city] — just get your trainers on,” she says. “I know you're not supposed to, and it fucks your knees, but running around London is one of my all-time favorite things.” In Youth, when Alex decides it’s time to start looking after her health, she turns to yoga. For Horgan, it was running. “When I was hitting 50, I was like, ‘I want to get fit,’” she says. “London is the perfect place to head out and discover.”
MUSEUMS
The V&A East Museum 
Horgan describes the new V&A East Museum in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park as “Just beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous.” She also recent went to a Tracey Emin exhibition at the Tate Modern: “It might be a massive tourist destination, but it never disappoints,” she says. “Then there’s The Photographers’ Gallery in Soho, which is on a whole other level but still amazing. … London, it’s just all there.”
Youth is streaming now on HBO Max.
