Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and most expensive nineteenth-century arcade, lined with mahogany-fronted luxury
shops, including Linley, run by the Queen's nephew. Upholding Regency decorum, it's
still illegal to whistle, sing, hum, hurry or carry large packages or open umbrellas on
this small stretch, and the arcade's beadles (known as Burlington Berties), in their
Edwardian frock coats and gold-braided top hats, take the prevention of such
criminality very seriously.
Piccadilly and Princes arcades
W
piccadillyarcade.com,
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princesarcade.com •
!
Green Park or Piccadilly Circus
Neither of Piccadilly's other two arcades can hold a torch to the Burlington, though
they are still worth exploring if only to marvel at the strange mixture of shops. The
finer of the two is the
Piccadilly Arcade
, an Edwardian extension to the Burlington
on the south side of Piccadilly, whose squeaky-clean bow windows display, among
other items, Russian icons, model soldiers and buttons and cu
inks supplied to
Prince Charles. The
Princes Arcade
, to the east, exudes a more discreet Neoclassical
elegance and contains Prestat, purveyors of handmade, hand-packed chocolates and
tru
es to the Queen.
3
Bond Street
Bond Street
runs more or less parallel to Regent Street, extending north from Piccadilly
all the way to Oxford Street. It is, in fact, two streets rolled into one: the southern half,
laid out in the 1680s, is known as
Old Bond Street
; its northern extension, which
followed less than fifty years later, is known as
New Bond Street
. In contrast to their
international rivals, rue de Rivoli and Fifth Avenue, both Bond streets are pretty
unassuming architecturally - a mixture of modest Georgian and Victorian townhouses -
but the shops that line them are among the flashiest in London.
Bond Street shops
Unlike its overtly masculine counterpart, Jermyn Street (see p.74),
Bond Street
caters
for both sexes, and although it has its fair share of old-established names, it's also
home to flagship branches of multinational
designer clothes
outlets like Prada,
D&G, Versace, Chanel and so on. This designer madness also spills over into
Conduit
Street
, home to Issey Miyake, Vivienne Westwood and Moschino, not to mention
Rigby & Peller, corsetieres to the Queen, as well as into neighbouring Dover Street,
where Comme des Garçons have a vast indoor fashion bazaar at nos. 17-18.
Bond Street also has its fair share of perfumeries and
jewellers
, many of them
long-established outlets that have survived the vicissitudes of fashion, and some, like
De Beers, relatively recent arrivals. One of the most famous is
Asprey
, founded in
1781 by a family of Huguenot craftsmen, and now jewellers to the royals. The
facade of the store, at no. 167, features a wonderful parade of arched windows,
flanked by slender Corinthian wrought-iron columns. Close by is
Allies
, a popular
double statue of
Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt
, enjoying a chat on a
bench - you can squeeze between the two of them, in the space where Stalin should
be, for a photo opportunity.
Auction houses and art galleries
In addition to fashion, Bond Street is renowned for its
auction houses
(see box,
p.82) and
art galleries
, although the latter are actually outnumbered by those on
neighbouring
Cork Street
. The main difference between the two is that the Bond
Street dealers are basically heirloom o
oaders, where you might catch an Old
Master or an Impressionist masterpiece, whereas Cork Street galleries and others
dotted throughout Mayfair - such as the Mason's Yard outpost of White Cube
(see p.234) - show largely contemporary art.
