Mayfair and Marylebone: the back story

About Mayfair and Marylebone: the back story

By the ULTIMATE London Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Mayfair is London at its most polished: Georgian squares, grand hotels, luxury shops and tailors. North of Oxford Street, Marylebone feels like a village, with its own high street and quiet garden squares.

The May Fair

Mayfair takes its name from a two-week fair held each May in the 17th and 18th centuries, closed down for its disorder. The great estates, above all the Grosvenor family’s, then laid out squares and streets of elegant houses, many of which still stand.

Luxury and tailoring

Bond Street, Savile Row and Burlington Arcade have been synonymous with luxury for two centuries. Today the area combines fashion houses, jewellers and art galleries with some of London’s most famous hotels: Claridge’s, The Connaught and The Dorchester.

Mayfair was named after a rowdy fair, and became the most exclusive address in London.

Marylebone

Marylebone grew up around the old village of St Marylebone. Its high street, with independent shops, cafés and Daunt Books, keeps a village feel, and the Wallace Collection and Wigmore Hall add culture of the highest order.

Our advice: start with a coffee on Marylebone High Street, cross Oxford Street into Mayfair for Bond Street and the arcades, and end with a cocktail at The Connaught Bar.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Mayfair and Marylebone: the back story before you go.