Written with girl-guide enthusiasm shot through with department of culture speak - London is variously, edgy, vital and home to "youth culture" - these Wallpaper-lite gazetteers nanny us through the uncertainties of vulgar city streets, settling us in temples of good taste, mostly a little heavy on the pocket.

Each book is cleaved neatly in two. A first section, Street Wise, deals with "neighbourhoods"; a second, Style Traveller, tackles places to stay, eat, drink, shop and hideaway.

Published, presumably, in a rush, there are many innocent, even charming errors. Julia Barfield, one of the architects of the London Eye is Julie Barkow. The British Museum has a Great Court by Norman Foster that had already been given to it by Robert Smirke 150 years ago.

These are trifles. Far more likely to cause dyspepsia is the fact that old London pubs given ghastly-good-taste "gastro-pub" makeovers are gushed over enthusiastically.

Still, you could buy these guides in order to find places to avoid. Luckily, both miss many of the real gems - whether architectural or gastronomic - among London and Paris's shops, bars, pubs, restaurants and hotels, so those seeking unpretentious style and unforced charm can breathe easy. Until the second editions.