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The sun has already risen over London's East End when I crawl, still clothed in soaking jeans and T-shirt, into a strange bed in a strange part of town after a night exploring some of the city's lesser-known, but arguably more entertaining, nightlife.

As a 24-year-old who's lived on the northern edge of Soho for the past year, I'm well acquainted with the city's West End, known internationally for its bars, clubs, theatres and restaurants. But there's a sense that something hipper, something truer and something seedier goes down under moonlit skies in the East End.

Since the days of Jack the Ripper, and possibly owing to his nocturnal activities in and around Whitechapel, the East End has been considered rough and crude. But with an increasing number of yuppies and hipsters moving east of the Tower of London, the area's reputation is changing.

My crawl through the area begins with a ride on the Underground to Liverpool Street station, where I meet three college friends. Congregating in Artillery Lane, a cobbled alley not wider than your average hallway, we travel east, past the famed Ten Bells - still serving gin as it did to the Ripper's prey some 130 years ago - down Brick Lane, where a Bangladeshi market buzzes to the sound of hagglers during the day and where side streets are lined with bars and bagel joints that operate early into the morning.

At 32, Kristian - a journalist from Minnesota - is the eldest of our four-man group, and this, coupled with his reputation as a night crawler, makes him our guide.

He leads us first to Kick Bar, a soccer-themed Portuguese pub in Shoreditch where Latin drinks are guzzled over foosball tables as a jazzy samba beat pumps from the speakers. We drink Portuguese beers until midnight, then move to our second venue of the night, the Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen, a one-time car park.

Our entry is blocked by large doormen who turn us away, perhaps because there is not a woman among us, perhaps because we are drenched, with monsoon rain - a freak occurrence in London - sweeping sideways through the streets and into our faces.

There's no time for disappointment, as we soon find ourselves outside the Bethnal Green Workingmen's Club. It's a throwback to another time and place, but precisely when and where are open to interpretation.

From the outside it looks and sounds like a high school dance. A woman dressed in a corset and mesh stockings takes our coats, while a doorman sporting a wide-lapelled polyester suit that should never have left 1975 takes our money. The cover charge is a stiff $20.

Inside the club it's more of the same, as sharp-dressed men in cumber buns mix with Playboy bunnies on a red-carpeted dance floor. A middle-aged drag queen sells popcorn from a carnival-style popper by the bar. There's something about this place that has me expecting Dirty Harry to break down the door, turn on the lights and send us all home at gunpoint.

But he never comes, and we dance until 3 a.m. to the sound of indie rock.

The rain is still falling at a 45-degree angle when we exit the club and make our way to another late-night pub for four more rounds before stumbling into Kristian's Hackney flat, soaked from our flattened hairdos to our squishy shoes. It's here that I crawl into a spare bed as the sun rises to the sound of cooing pigeons.

But while the East End offers visitors a rawer taste of the city, the West End is still the place for a more traditional night on the town.

Soho may have lost some of its seedier charms - the opium dens frequented by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famed detective are long gone - but its proximity to London's Chinatown is a big perk. It's here that eateries stay open well into the night, serving famished party-goers under neon lights and gilded dragons. Wong Kei, a four-storey restaurant, is my favourite, but don't bother going if you can't use chopsticks: Requesting a fork will get you ridiculed by the waiters, infamous for their bad manners.

The area around Piccadilly Circus can be a hot spot for those who want to be seen and don't mind dishing out some extra cash (cover charges can creep upwards of $50) for the chance to party late into the night with celebrities such as Prince Harry and members of the band Girls Aloud. If you're not sure where to go for the best celebrity spotting, look for paparazzi standing on the street, waiting to snap the lead photo in the next day's tabloids.

Covent Garden is often overrun by tourists and buskers during the day, but it can be the ideal place for a drink or supper if you're taking in a show. I suggest the Covent Garden Grill, which serves a wonderful calf liver, grilled pink and topped with bacon.

Those who don't care for the razzle-dazzle of the theatre district but still want to catch a show may enjoy a night at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, along the south bank of the Thames. My girlfriend and I paid a modest $12 each to watch Othello as groundlings. Standing through a three-hour Shakespeare performance may be testing for even the Bard's most devoted fans, but it's worth it - especially on a nice night, when the moon and even the odd star can be seen in the sky above the stage.

Those hoping to catch the skyline at dusk may enjoy a trip on the London Eye, the Ferris wheel built for the millennium celebrations opposite the river from Big Ben. At $33, tickets aren't cheap, but the sunset over Westminster Abbey is a sight to behold.

Others may prefer to watch the day turn to night over a bottle of wine in one of the city's many parks or along the Thames. Public drinking is legal in Britain.

Unfortunately, public drunkenness - although illegal and frowned upon - is a common sight, especially in the early morning. Charing Cross Road, a street lined with used bookstores and packed with tourists by day, descends into a scene from a post-apocalyptic movie at night, with hordes of screaming drunks stumbling between chestnut and hot dog vendors.

Traditionally, English pubs close at 11 p.m., making it an early night for Londoners, many of whom begin drinking immediately after work and don't stop until last call. There are a growing number of pubs licensed to close later, but finding places with no cover charge still serving after midnight can be difficult.

It's also hard to find an authentic English pub in central London. Most have been torn down or redone in a way that sacrificed their original charm. But there are a few that haven't changed much over the years.

A favourite is Gordon's Wine Bar, a former 17th-century cellar near Embankment Station. The low, concave ceiling makes you feel like you're drinking in the leaky depths of an ancient prison, but the candlelit atmosphere makes this subterranean bar a charming stop. The Wheatsheaf on Rathbone Place, an unassuming boozehouse where George Orwell often ate a late supper and where Dylan Thomas met his future wife while tipped out of his tree, is another great spot for drinks. So, too, are the nearby Lamb, a Victorian pub where Charles Dickens and Virginia Woolf doused their creativity, and the George Inn, a well-aged pub near the south end of London Bridge that both Shakespeare and Dickens are said to have frequented.

A recent smoking ban in all enclosed public areas hasn't killed the nightlife at London pubs, where patrons usually spill out onto the street, beer mugs in hand, cigarettes dangling from their lips.

Angel and Islington are a bit north of the city centre but offer much in the way of nightlife for young and old. Bistros, pubs and nightclubs line the area's main streets. Some of these places stay open until 4 a.m. - when the nearby Smithfield's meat market comes to life.

It's in this area that William Wallace was disembowelled some 700 years ago and where night owls still on the streets at dawn can wander into pubs specially licensed to serve the Smithfield's breakfast: a fry-up served with Guinness and a whiskey.

Music lovers of all tastes can generally find something they like on most nights. The city's major venues attract the top performers in the world, but they also charge top prices.

Jazz lovers can choose between renowned acts at the world-famous Ronnie Scotts in Soho, or they can take in some lesser-known but equally entertaining jazz bands at Soho's jazzed-up Pizza Express on Dean Street.

Those who like classical music can enjoy candlelit performances for free at St. Martin's in the Fields church, just opposite Nelson's Column and Trafalgar Square.

Live punk, reggae, rock and hip-hop clubs can be found in most quarters of the city - especially in Brixton, south London, where there is a significant live music scene.

And finally, visitors looking for a more artistic but less traditional night out may want to head out on the first Friday of every month when the Tate Britain, one of the city's top-ranked museums, hosts "Late at Tate," where art lovers can relax with a drink and enjoy exhibitions, performances, music and films after hours.

Summer nights in London buzz no matter what part of town you happen to be in. Just don't let the rain keep you in.

*****

If you go

Places to go in the East End

The Bethnal Green Workingmen's Club 44-46 Pollard Row, near Bethnal Green Station; 020-7739-7170

The Ten Bells 84 Commercial St., near Liverpool Street Station; 020-7366-1721

Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen 2-4 Hoxton Sq., Shoreditch; 020-7613-0709

Kick Bar 127 Shoreditch High St., Shoreditch; 0871-223-1287

Places to go in the West End

Wong Kei 41-43 Wardour St., near Leicester Square; 0871-332-8296

Covent Garden Grill 16 Henrietta St., Covent Garden; 020-7240-9600

Gordon's Wine Bar 47 Villiers St., near Embankment Station; 020-7930-1408

The Wheatsheaf 25 Rathbone Pl., near Tottenham Court Road Station; 020-7580-1585

The Lamb 92 Lamb's Conduit St.,near Russell Square Station; 020-7405-0713

The George Inn Borough High Street, near London Bridge Station; 020-7407-2056

Ronnie Scotts: 47 Frith St., Soho; 020-7439-0747

Jazz@Pizza Express 10 Dean St., Soho: 020-7734-3220

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre 21 New Globe Walk, near London Bridge Station; 020-7902-1400. Season ends October 7.

For information on what's on in London during any given week, check out Time Out: http://www.timeout.com/london