Mayfair

The length of the walk is 4.5 km

  Green Park  

Mayfair takes its name from the fairs that used to take place here (at the time in an open square) every May. Despite the origin of the somewhat vulgar name, it is now one of the finest and most costly places in London.
We will start our walk from the Green Park Underground station and end there as well. If you want to fill your water bottle before the walk, there is an opportunity to do so right at the nearest end of the park. We start walking at the edge of the park in the direction Southwest and turn into White Horse Street. After a hundred meters we can turn left. To our right is a block called Shepherd Market. There are now all kinds of shops and quite eclectic architecture. Around 1920 it was one of London's finest districts. Experts also recommend the Polish-Mexican bistro there (strange combination?). In one of the houses there (9 Curzon Street) took 1978 rock star Keith Moon fatal overdose. Four years earlier, singing star Cass Elliot had died of a heart attack in the same flat. Both were 32 years old...
Let's venture further using the added map. When we reach the second street joining Audley Street on the left (Tilney Street), it is worth looking to the right. There is an old octagonal cast iron light pole. In its lower part, behind a small hatch, there was a hideout of Russian spies' letters, or Dead Letter Box, for a quarter of a century. Moving on, we come to a gorgeous shop: Thomas Goode & Co. Porcelain, crystal, cutlery. Queen Victoria and the Russian Tsar have been customers of this shop. Just across the side street is the gorgeous Grosvenor Chapel. We turn right and go through the chapel garden. It turns out there is another church, Farmstreet Church. From the back gate we get to Mount Street, turn right. Directly opposite the gate is the Connaught Hotel with an arched facade, which I guess we have no business going to. One night in the cheapest room costs over a thousand pounds. On the right is the fish restaurant Delfino, one of the best of its kind. The tycoon Charles Saatchi loves this place very much, but restaurant guests have repeatedly had to witness his noisy quarrels with his wife...
We soon turn left (Davies Street) and follow it to Brook Street, where we turn right. Just around the corner is Claridges Hotel, which has been in business for 150 years. On the way we pass Penhaligon's perfume shop and Fenwick's department store. But just before the first one, on the right is a house where Jimi Hendrix once lived. After reaching Regent Street, we turn right and then left again as soon as possible. We are now in front of Liberty, a really fine department store. It's worth poking your head around and seeing what's on the roof. The house is very peculiar in general. The name Liberty is not an allusion to the freedom to buy or not to buy, it is the surname of the owner of the department store founded in 1924. Wood from two old ships was used in the construction of the house.
The onward journey leads through Savile Row. It is known as Tailor Street. Huntsman & Sons is worth a visit. It looks like you entered a gentlemen's club, not a store. The customer is always "Sir" here. Just imagine, Nelson, Churchill and Chaplin have chosen their clothes in these rooms! But at the southern end of the street, in front of the penultimate house on the left, look up. It doesn't look like anything special, but know that it was on that roof that The Beatles gave their last concert. From here on the neighbouring street behind this block of houses with an entrance on the other side is also the place where David Bowie's "other me" Ziggy Stardust was born. Maybe we'll get there on one of our next walks...

If you turn left (Burlington Gardens), you will see a magnificent facade on the left. There is an art gallery, behind that the Royal Academy of Arts, behind that again a gallery and so on for almost 200 meters of pure art to the next street (Piccadilly). The covered shopping street Burlington Arcade leads right next to it, but we avoid the temptation to turn there. We'd better go to the end of the street where Old Bond Street and New Bond Street meet. It has been a place for wealthy people since the 18th century, there are many luxury shops and here we can find the most high-priced real estate in Europe.

On the way back to the Underground station, we pass the Berkeley Square park. It's worth seeing how different the architecture is on the two sides - old English-style houses on the west side, huge and boring block of flats on the east. Next door is the house with the address 7 Bruton Street, where on April 21, 1926. Queen Elizabeth II was born. Perhaps it is also worth watching the house with 44 Berkeley Square. An old house is said one of the most active ghosts in London had to live. It was from the skylight of this house that a young woman once jumped to death in the 19th century.