Category: Central London
Mayfair – The One Hundred Acre Dowry
This is the story of how a dowry of a hundred acres of swampy land becomes posh Mayfair. Whilst I may not have heard a nightingale sing at Berkeley Square, I certainly find a reason to hear it sung in memory of a famous frequent diner at the Ritz Hotel. Read more at http://daytrips.caramelsalty.com/mayfair-the-one-hundred-acre-dowry/
From Mayfair, With Love
From Mayfair With Love was a spectre-cularly fun blog to write. You will have just as much fun reading it, I’m sure.
Piccadilly – Christmas Time Around Fortnum and Mason
In 1886, Mr. Heinz disembarks at an English port. He has, with him, 5 heavy cases. He lugs them all the way to Piccadilly. There, the grocers Fortnum and Mason, […]
New Bond Street (Part Two) – License To Shop
200 years separate them. But both live only a wall apart from each other. One stuck to his long German style wig, whilst all around him wore the fashionable tied […]
New Bond Street (Part One) – The Spy Who Loved Shopping
My simple disguise is complete. Sunglasses on, I hoist a large brown bag onto my shoulder, allowing me to blend in with the hundreds of shoppers around. I pat my […]
Oxford Street – Shop Till You Drop
A staggering half a million people visit Oxford Street every day. Closer to Christmas, it jumps to two million, or so it seems to me! But during Shakespeare’s time, no […]
The South Bank (Part Three) – Blackfriars Bridge to Millennium Bridge
In 1715, bridges over the Thames were scarce. So an Irish actor named Thomas Doggett jumps on a river ferry to get him back to his residence in Chelsea. He […]
The South Bank (Part Two) – Hungerford Bridge To Waterloo Bridge
It’s a story straight out of a James Bond movie. It’s 1978. A Bulgarian dissident writer stands at a bus stop at Waterloo Bridge. He feels a sharp pain in […]
The South Bank (Part One) – Westminster Bridge To Hungerford Bridge
1500 years pass before a second bridge is built over the Thames in central London. Until then, London Bridge is the solitary bridge on this side of town since the […]
Kensington Palace – A Carousel Of Kings and Queens
There are many movies and stories about the second longest reigning British monarch. She becomes Empress of India, may or may not have become Mrs. Brown, controversially befriends Abdul Karim, […]