Behind Mayfair’s Grand Facades: A Walking Tour of the Hidden Lanes
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About the Tour
About the Tour
Mayfair doesn’t just flaunt wealth. It hides it down narrow cobbled lanes where former stables now sell for tens of millions.
On this walking tour, you’ll venture behind the grand facades of London’s most exclusive district to discover a secret network of mews, hidden pubs, and architectural curiosities that tell the real story of how aristocrats, servants, and coachmen once coexisted.
The tour starts in Shepherd Market, a village-like enclave where the notorious May Fair once attracted pickpockets and prostitutes rather than property developers. You’ll wind through Hay’s Mews, one of Mayfair’s widest lanes, thanks to fire regulations from the 1800s, and into streets where Blue Plaques mark the former homes of Somerset Maugham, Gloria Swanson, and President Kennedy. Along the way, you’ll discover how the Grosvenor family transformed fields into London’s priciest real estate, and why World War II bombs reshaped entire mews.
You’ll explore the Gothic Revival splendour of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, and discover which former Bentley garage sold for £24 million. The tour ends at Brown Hart Gardens, an elevated oasis built atop a still-operational Edwardian electricity substation.
On this 90-minute tour, you’ll also have a chance to:
- Stand outside the Curzon Cinema, described as the finest surviving cinema building of the post-war period
- Hear stories ranging from why Lady Thelma Furness lost King Edward VIII, to how General Eisenhower attended services at Grosvenor Chapel before D-Day
- Visit the Coach and Horses, Mayfair’s oldest pub dating to 1740, with its extraordinary bar-back fitting
- See Mount Street Gardens, created on a former burial ground with an English Civil War fortification
- Walk through Reeves Mews, where Christina Onassis kept a flat visited by Aristotle and Jackie Kennedy
- Admire the Art Deco facade of the Beaumont Hotel, originally a glamorous 1926 garage
- Discover the John Pawson House, a striking minimalist residence built for art collector Doris Saatchi
By the end of this tour, Mayfair’s hidden architecture and forgotten stories – from stable yards to society scandals – will have revealed themselves to you.
Tour Producer
Tour Producer
Paul French
Paul French was born in London and lived and worked in Shanghai for many years. His book Midnight in Peking was a New York Times Bestseller and a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. He received the Mystery Writers’ of America Edgar award for Best Fact Crime and a Crime Writers’ Association (UK) Dagger award for non-fiction. City of Devils: A Shanghai Noir received much praise with The Economist writing, ‘…in Mr French the city has its champion storyteller.’ Both Midnight in Peking and City of Devils are currently in development for film. His most recent book is Her Lotus Year: China, the Roaring Twenties and the Making of Wallis Simpson was described by the New York Times as ‘…beautifully told through meticulous historical research and examination of contemporary literature and film — gives the reader a vivid picture of what China must have been like for an American expat in the 1920s.’
Preview Location
Preview Location
Location 15
Hill Street - The Coach and Horses Pub
Here stands the Coach and Horses, Mayfair's oldest public house.
This three-story pub dates back to 1740 when the area was first developed. The stucco was added in 1850. There are of cour... Read More
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Major Landmarks
Major Landmarks
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Ye Grapes
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Shepherd Market
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Curzon Mayfair
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Blue Plaque: W.S. Maugham
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The Footman
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Farm House
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Mount Street Gardens
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JW Marriott Grosvenor House London
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The Beaumont Mayfair
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Brown Hart Gardens
Getting There
Getting There
Route Overview
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Start locationShepherd Market, London W1J 7QS, UK
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Total distance3km
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Final locationBrown Hart Gardens, London W1K 6WP, UK
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Distance back to start location822.13m
Directions to Starting Point
The starting point is the Ye Grapes pub, 16 Shepherd Market, London W1J 7QQ, in Shepherd Market, a collection of streets and squares just off Curzon Street. The nearest tube stations are either Green Park or Hyde Park Corner. Bus routes that run close by along Piccadilly include the 12, 14, 19, 23, 38, 88, 94, 139, 159, and 453. You can access Shepherd Market either from entrances on Curzon Street or by White Horse Street, just off Piccadilly.
Show Directions
Tips
Tips
Places to stop along the way
The Ye Grapes pub and the Kings Arms are two pubs in Shepherd market, which also contains a range of restaurants - Lebanese, Japanese, Italian, French, Polish - as well as many cafes.
The Coach and Horses - 5 Bruton Street
The Punch Bowl pub - 41 Farm Street
The junction of Mount Street and Audeley Street is home to the popular Audley Public House while that section of Mount Street contains several cafes
There is a cafe at Brown Hart Gardens
Best time of day
Daytime or early evening - Mount Street Gardens are open from 7am-9pm daily.
Precautions
Please be aware that there are steps up to Brown Hart Gardens at the end of the tour - there is no alternative way to enter the Gardens unfortunately.
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