NFT (Not For Tourists): new London guidebook

Who do you think they're marketing to? Business travelers? People moving to a city to live? I'll have to check one of these out.

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Dick, you have posed the right question here. I too have wondered about the relationship between their bold title and their target demographic. Their text throughout was the kind of stuff that anyone doing their homework could've amassed independently. But those maps, whew---taken as a whole they are quite an impressive collection.

I am done. the streets

Who do you think they're marketing to?

To tourists of course. Look at how many people on here start their question as wanting "places tourists don't go", or "local restaurants", or "off the beaten path", as tourists, we want to go where tourists don't go...though we go all the places tourists go.

This may be a Brit-based company

It's not - the company is based in New York. Their first book was about Manhattan.

Thank you for the clarification, Mardee.
Fans of the Big Cities in question won't regret the purchase.
I am done. the correction

According to the website (thanks, Mardee), "NFT is an urban lifestyle brand that works closely with city and neighborhood editors in Boston, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, and New York." It describes its Seattle book as "the manual to the seaport city that no local, or tourist, should be without." Looks very comprehensive for shopping, dining, and entertainment, but the website doesn't refer to tourist attractions or "sights." Maybe the company should be called NJFT: "Not Just for Tourists."

I haven’t used paper maps for years other than Ordnance Survey maps when hiking. Come to think of it, I now use the OS app, so my phone is all I need.

Any guide book is outdated by the time it’s published. Again, the info on the phone is more up to date.

Any guide book is outdated by the time it’s published.

I agree to a certain extent, Jennifer - certainly admission prices, hours and so on can change on a regular basis, but the sights are still going to be there, and the atmosphere and photos are not going to change in a hurry. Quite frankly, I don't use guidebooks for the changing information - I use it to plan itineraries, to get a feel for the places I will be visiting, and to find interesting things to do that are curated for the traveler (so I don't have to go down the internet rabbit hole).

I also use online sources a lot, especially for logistics of traveling, but there's nothing like sitting with a guidebook in your hands, planning a future trip (or just dreaming of one).

'...but there's nothing like sitting with a guidebook in your hands, planning a future trip (or just dreaming of one).'

I'm with you on this, Mardee. I used to do a little semi-pro travel writing on the side back in the '80s and '90s. My research style since has been an amalgam of books plus a targeted usage of the Interwank. Luckily for us here in Toronto, there is a world-class Reference Library downtown. Its second-floor Travel section has every single guidebook (inc. original print Baedekers from the turn of the century), as well as numerous specialty titles. The adjoining Maps room is also top quality.

Happiness is sitting there at a table with 3 dozen books, comparing, contrasting and copying.

I've one small bone to pick with NFT's writers. Through their opinionated summaries, they basically ranked some notorious London neighbourhoods for their quotient of 'hipness'. In our experience, 'hipper-than-thou' appraisals aren't of much use to veteran travelers.

I am done. The tragically hip

Those hip neighborhoods are usually out of date by the time the guidebooks are out. I don't know too many people under 50 who even use a paper map so I'm suspicious how "hip" the neighborhoods are. But maybe it's for the aging Gen X or boomer who wants to feel hip.

I bought the 2021 Kindle edition for $1.99 on Amazon. My husband has spent the last 30 minutes paging through the maps and calling out the names of places we’ve been or have walked past on our many visits to London. And he’s not finished yet. . . .

This is a great book. I have an older version, meaning that, sadly, some of the restaurants listed went out of business during Covid, but I'm keeping the book for the maps. I research online to find restaurants.
Mardee and gregglamarsh, I so agree here:
"I also use online sources a lot, especially for logistics of traveling, but there's nothing like sitting with a guidebook in your hands, planning a future trip (or just dreaming of one)."

I do use paper maps. I study them beforehand and take them along when walking in London. No, I don't get them out to glance at while on the street, but I will go into a coffee shop or lunch place and whip out a map to study while sitting in there.

The maps in this book are perfect for what I need. A close-up look at neighborhoods. Much better than carrying a large fold-out map along with me.

gregglamarsh, what a great library you have near you:
"Luckily for us here in Toronto, there is a world-class Reference Library downtown. Its second-floor Travel section has every single guidebook (inc. original print Baedekers from the turn of the century), as well as numerous specialty titles. The adjoining Maps room is also top quality.
Happiness is sitting there at a table with 3 dozen books, comparing, contrasting and copying."