Walking tour · London

A Mayfair Wander

2.2 mi walk

Open in Stride Stories

The stories on this route

1. Mercato Mayfair (St Mark's, North Audley Street)

   Welcome to Mayfair! We're starting at Mercato Mayfair on North Audley Street, and the walk is about 2 miles. Each story plays by itself when you reach its stop, so just stroll and listen.

2. Grosvenor Square

   Look at the middle of the garden. That standing bronze figure is President Roosevelt. He's on a stone platform with water basins, on a line from north to south. The sculptor was Sir William Reid Dick, and Mrs Roosevelt herself unveiled it in April 1948. By then, the square had plenty of American neighbours.

3. The Connaught and Carlos Place and Mount Street

   Look at the red-brick hotel curving round from Carlos Place into Mount Street. It began in 1815 as the Prince of Saxe Coburg Hotel. Everyone called it the Coburg. It was fashionable early on. In 1832 Queen Adelaide came here to visit the Duchess d'Angoulême. In the 1890s the old hotel came down and this one went up.

4. Berkeley Square

   Look up into the plane trees filling the garden. They're enormous, with patchy, peeling bark. This square is here because of a promise. In 1696 Lord Berkeley sold Berkeley House, down on Piccadilly. He agreed not to build in front of its view to the north.

5. Shepherd Market

   Look around at these narrow lanes and little squares, the pub signs, the café tables. It feels like a village. And this is the spot that gave the whole of Mayfair its name. Every year, from the first to the fourteenth of May, a fair was held here: the May Fair. Picture the fun.

6. Burlington Arcade

   Look up at the big arch over the entrance, and above it the coat of arms: three stags' heads, held up by a buck and a greyhound. Now look inside. The glass roof, the arches, the lanterns. The arcade was designed by Samuel Ware and built for Lord George Cavendish. Why build it at all? A magazine of 1817 had a guess.

7. 3 Savile Row (the Beatles rooftop concert)

   Look up at the roofline of No. 3. That's the roof. The house is old: one of eight originals left from the 1730s, when Savile Row was first laid out. It still has its original doorway. In July 1968 the Beatles moved their company, Apple Corps, in here. They made Let It Be in a studio down in the basement.

8. St George's, Hanover Square

   Look at the portico, six Corinthian columns reaching right out over the pavement. The church was built in the 1720s, one of the 'fifty new churches', designed by John James. A great composer lived nearby. Handel lived round the corner on Brook Street, and he's said to have worshipped here.

9. Handel & Hendrix House, Brook Street

   Look for the two blue plaques, side by side on neighbouring houses. No. 25 is Handel's. He was the first person ever to live there. He rented it from 1723 until he died there in 1759. It was home, and it was work. He sold printed copies of his music from the house. In 1741, while living here, he wrote Messiah.

10. Brown's Hotel

    Look at the entrance here on Albemarle Street. Brown's didn't start here. It began round the corner, at 23 Dover Street, in the 1830s. The founders were James and Sarah Brown, former servants. One account says James had been Lord Byron's valet, and Sarah was Lady Byron's maid. They opened one house.

Stories researched September 2026 · every fact checked against a source