Area Guide, West End & Belgravia

London's West End in a nutshell - a quick corporate guide

The West End is a diverse area of Central London - west of the City - which is home to many of the capital's major businesses and headquarters operations. It also houses some of the world's finest museums and galleries, and is renowned for attractions that range from Royal palaces and churches, to world-class shops, theatres and nightlife.

History

London's West End became popular during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries owing to its proximity to Westminster - the Government and Royal centre of the UK - and was originally built as a succession of palaces, expensive town houses, shops and theatres.

Growing up as a series of “villages”, the West End today is characterised by its districts, all of which have retained their own, distinct identities.  These districts (which were formalised during the early 19th century) are: Bloomsbury, Covent Garden, Fitzrovia, Holborn, Marylebone, Mayfair, Soho, St James's and Westminster. In addition, Belgravia and Knightsbridge - to the west of the traditional West End core - are now often incorporated within the general “West End” term.

Transport

The West End is criss-crossed with a comprehensive network of communications.

Tube - The West End is served by 19 tube stations, with the Victoria, Bakerloo, Piccadilly, Jubilee, Central, District, Circle, Metropolitan and Northern lines all running through it.

Bus - Countless bus routes run through the West End, at all times of the day and night.

Boat - The River Thames runs to the south of the West End, with the nearest access points at the Savoy, Embankment, Westminster and Millbank (Pimlico) piers.

Train - Mainline railway stations serving the West End are at Victoria, Paddington, Euston and Charing Cross.

Air - The nearest airports for London's West End are Heathrow and Gatwick, both of which can be reached by dedicated express rail services departing from Paddington and Victoria stations respectively.

Villages

A quick run-through some of the West End's better known districts provides probably the best means of understanding how it works.

Bloomsbury (WC1) abuts the City - London's financial district - and is predominantly charactiserised by its museums and the arts.  Owing to the presence of a large number of academic institutions and hospitals in Bloomsbury, it also has a reputation for education and medicine.  Covent Garden (WC2), south of Bloomsbury, is very different in nature, and has always been dominated by entertainment and shopping - although commercial occupiers, often associated with the marketing and media worlds, are increasingly attracted to it.  London's Royal Opera House is located at Covent Garden Market (the former fruit and vegetable market - now a shopping and leisure centre), as are a number of London's 48 principal theatres.

Fitzrovia (W1) is probably best known for its association with the fashion industry and, more recently, new media companies. The area was for many years, home to the British advertising industry and is now known for its many and diverse restaurants. Fitzrovia still  houses several major advertising gencies including Saatchi & Saatchi and TBWA as well as Fallon and Dare Digital. A number of television production and post-production companies are also based in the area, as too, are a number of leading engineering firms, including Arup.

Holborn (WC2, also know as ‘Midtown'), bridges London's West End and City districts both geographically and business-wise.  With its roots in the legal profession dating back to Medieval times, the area today is still heavily dominated by legal firms, with all four Inns of Court located in Holborn, as well as the Old Bailey and Law Courts.  Holborn has also emerged strongly as a hotels and offices ‘hot spot', because of its strategic location between the City and West End.

Soho (W1), just to the west of Holborn, is home to a buzzing community of restaurants, clubs and bars near the heart of London's theatreland, as well as being the centre of London's independent film and video industry and the television and film post-production industry.

A word on Sohonet - to explain the profile of Soho's business occupier.  Sohonet is a rooftop telecommunication and underground fibre optics network which connects the Soho media and post-production community to British film studios such as Pinewood and Shepperton Studios, and to other major production centres including LA.  Plans by Westminster Council to deploy high-bandwidth Wi-Fi networks in Soho is likely to further encourage the development of the area as a centre for media and technology industries.

Mayfair (W1) and St James's (W1) are not dissimilar in character - having been established as two of London's most exclusive residential areas, attracting some of the finest retailing to be found anywhere, and at the same time, drawing in some of the world's top businesses for their headquarters locations.  With both areas commanding some of the highest commercial rental levels in the world, the prevalence of corporate headquarters, hedge funds and real estate businesses in Mayfair and St James's is not surprising.

Pubs & clubs

As the centre of London's social scene, the West End is literally brimming with pubs and clubs to suit all styles and budgets. Clubs vary from the traditional Gentlemen's Clubs, located predominantly in Mayfair and St James's, to some of the world's hottest nightspots, including celebrity haunts such as Bungalow 8, Mahiki, The Groucho Club, and Paper. Pubs, on the other hand, range from the traditional to the ultra-modern 'concept' pub. The Lamb & Flag, in Covent Garden, claims to be the West End's oldest pub, occupying a building dating back to Tudor times, and licensed since the early 1600s. According to www.timeout.com (50 best West End pubs), The Cross Keys, also in Covent Garden, is London's most fascinating pub, stuffed full of pop curios, miniature portraits of prime ministers, diving helmets, and signed letters from David Beckham.

Where to eat

London's West End has become one of the gastronomic capitals of the world, with literally, thousands of restaurants to choose from. We would advise investing in a restaurant guide book, such as The Michelin Guide, The Good Food Guide, Hardens London Restaurants 2009, Charles Campion's London Restaurant Guide 2008, Zagat 2009 or Time Out's London Eating and Drinking guide 2009. Many of these organisations can also be found online.

Where to sleep

Similarly, there are no shortages of hotels in the West End, with again, just about every budget - from backpacking hostels to world-class luxury - catered for.  Mayfair has traditionally been home to some of the world's most famous hotels, including The Ritz and The Dorchester, with new hotels - such as the Philippe Starck-designed St Martin's Lane Hotel in WC2, leading the way in ‘cool'.  As with the West End's restaurant scene, there are too many hotels to mention, and we therefore recommend a look at the Michelin Red Guide 2009, The Good Hotel Guide 2009 (goodhotelguide.com) or the London Hip Hotels guide (hip.hotels-london.co.uk).

What to do

Theatre - No stay in the West End is complete without visiting one of its theatres.  According to The Society of London Theatre's 2007 figures, London's West End is home to more than 45 theatres, playing to audiences of more than 13 million people per annum, and generating almost 17,500 performances.   Actors from around the world are attracted to London's theatre scene, which last year staged 243 new productions - from major musicals such as Grease and Hairspray, to the Royal Shakespeare Company's productions of King Lear and The Seagull.

And the rest - London's tourist attractions are world-renowned, and range from a bird's eye view of the city from The London Eye, just across Westminster Bridge (londoneye.com), to its theatres, museums and galleries, its royal palaces and historical buildings, its churches and monuments, its shopping and its nightlife. 

Online guides to London that are particularly helpful include timeout.com and visitlondon.com.

Executive Offices Group

Executive Offices Group provides state-of-the-art serviced office accommodation in eighteen separate buildings in prime locations in London's West End.