If you want a suit tailored where do you go? The answer has been the same since the 19th century. Savile Row, of course.
Or maybe you're planning a visit to one of London’s most fashionable restaurants, an illustrious members' club or one of the world’s leading and most nostalgic hotels for a cocktail or a room for the weekend. It might be you fancy a stroll down Bond Street, one of the world’s most glamorous shopping streets, tea at The Ritz, or a pint of real ale and a pie in The Guinea.
In other words, you need to be in Mayfair.
The same can be said if you’re after a voyage of discovery into some of London’s hidden gems: a 100-year-old family chemist, rare book shop, Cuban cigar room, art gallery or Italian delicatessen. Back in the day, Shepherd Market might also have been a draw for less innocent reasons, though thankfully those red lights have long gone. So while Mayfair may not be home to all the household retailers, it has all the world’s best brands and many other individual boutiques that do their best to remain discreet to their loyal customers.
One of London’s oldest villages, Mayfair has always been attractive to the more low key and perhaps understated visitor than its Knightsbridge neighbour. Careful management by Grosvenor and other stakeholders, its conservation, unrivalled heritage, royal parks on two of its borders, more Blue Plaques celebrating past residents than you can shake a stick at all set the area apart.
So it should come as no surprise that over the past 10 years, Mayfair has recaptured its title as London’s most valuable real estate and re-entered a golden age. It’s home to London’s most prestigious addresses and residential developments and those residents that want and can afford the very best. The Monopoly board game isn’t outdated after all.
Home to some of London’s finest architecture and golden postcodes, leafy Grosvenor Square has been one of the city’s most prestigious addresses since the 18th century. Berkley Square is famed for its grand Georgian townhouses and collection of plane trees planted in 1789, while the redbrick mansions surrounding Mount Street Gardens are perennially popular. Whether seeking a one-bedroom flat, pied-à-terre, new build apartment, tucked away mews house or trophy townhouse, the properties here are some of the highest calibre in the world.
So what’s been happening?
Two outstanding developments on Grosvenor Square definitely started the renaissance: Finchatton in collaboration with the Four Seasons at number 20 and number one, a painstaking rebuilding brick by brick by Lodha.
Mayfair is not stuck in the past either, the new Elizabeth line offers speedy delivery across town and to Heathrow airport. Stroll down to Berkeley Square, past Annabel’s, and you’ll reach Curzon Street where one of the world’s leading interior designers, the late Thierry Despont, has meticulously curated the art-deco inspired building.
Mayfair is firmly in the box seat for best in class residential development. Like London buses, you have to wait a while but then, eventually, they all come along together.
60 Curzon is the latest addition to London’s most prestigious addresses, offering a rare opportunity to live within a new, art-deco inspired landmark building which has a dedicated concierge team and state-of-the-art spa and wellness level with a 20 metre pool and private gym.
Also in the heart of Mayfair, 36 & 37 Hertford Street Residences is a boutique development set inside two grand Georgian buildings. The luxury development comprises 16 one and two-bedroom lateral apartments, with exquisite interiors by Albion Nord & Buckley Gray Yeoman.