Our Mayfair: a neighbourhood guide from 45 Park Lane
Where is Mayfair?
Mayfair sits in the heart of London's West End, within the City of Westminster. It's a compact grid of roughly one square mile, bounded by Oxford Street to the north, Regent Street to the east, Piccadilly to the south, and Park Lane (where we are) to the west. Just across the road from 45 Park Lane, Hyde Park stretches out further west. It’s not technically part of Mayfair, but is much-loved by our guests and locals here.
The people who made Mayfair
In 1677, the 12-year-old Mary Davies – heiress to around 500 acres of meadow and marsh west of the City of London – married Sir Thomas Grosvenor. From the 1720s, the Grosvenor family laid out Grosvenor Square and the elegant grid around it, prompting Daniel Defoe to describe an "amazing Scene of new Foundations" rising on London's edge. Mary’s descendants still own much of Mayfair today.
The name came earlier, and had considerably rowdier origins. From 1686, a fortnight-long May Fair filled the fields around today's Shepherd Market with jugglers, boxers, puppet shows, and gambling tables – the fair ran until the 1760s, when polite society had it closed down. (We think Shepherd Market keeps a little of that spirit, with its narrow lanes, old pubs, and tables spilling onto the pavement.)
Then came the residents. George Frideric Handel lived at 25 Brook Street for 36 years and composed his soaring Messiah there. In 1968, Jimi Hendrix moved in next door, and both houses now form the Handel & Hendrix London museum. A short walk away, on January 30, 1969, The Beatles gave their final live performance on the roof of 3 Savile Row and brought West End traffic to a standstill.
Top of the board
Mayfair's reputation even made it into a board game. In 1935, Victor Watson (from games maker Waddingtons) took his secretary, Marjory Phillips, on a day trip from Leeds to London to choose locations for the British edition of Monopoly, the property trading game. The two most expensive squares went to Park Lane and Mayfair.
Since the 18th century, Park Lane had been lined with the mansions of London's wealthiest families: one of them, Dorchester House, was home to the American ambassador before it made way for The Dorchester in 1931. Three decades later, Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius designed the building that is now 45 Park Lane.
Nearly a hundred years on, the Monopoly board is still right.
The art of London life
Mayfair has been the centre of London's art world since the Royal Academy of Arts was founded in 1768 (now home to the Summer Exhibition, a fixture of the cultural calendar). Today, the most influential Mayfair art galleries cluster around Cork Street, Dover Street, and Berkeley Square, from Gagosian on Grosvenor Hill to Thaddaeus Ropac in Ely House, a former bishop's residence.
One of our favourite details is on New Bond Street, where Sotheby's has held auctions since 1917. Above its entrance sits a statue of the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet – she's around 3,000 years old and has watched over the saleroom door for more than a century.
Quiet places
Some of the best things to do in Mayfair are the calmest. Mount Street Gardens, tucked behind Farm Street Church, is a leafy refuge many Londoners have never found. Nearby, on Carlos Place, Tadao Ando's Silence fountain releases a slow mist across a shallow pool. Berkeley Square, laid out in the 1740s, is shaded by some of the oldest plane trees in central London, planted in 1789.
Shopping in Mayfair
This area has a long devotion to craft. Savile Row has dressed princes, presidents, and rock stars for generations, and its tailors cut by hand in workshops below street level. Bond Street is home to the great fashion houses’ flagship stores (so expect spectacular window displays here for the festive season), while Mount Street, lined with terracotta townhouses, suits a slower afternoon.
Restaurants in Mayfair
When guests ask our team for the best restaurants in Mayfair, our recommendations begin right in the building. CUT, Wolfgang Puck's only London restaurant, is where the night gathers pace, with high ceilings, bold art, and fabulous steak. Upstairs, Michelin-starred Sushi Kanesaka sets a different rhythm with an intimate counter and an omakase menu that changes with the seasons.
Beyond our doors, Mayfair's dining runs from candlelit Shepherd Market bistros to some of London's most talked-about tables.
After dark
There's no shortage of bars in Mayfair, but BAR 45 is where our guests tend to end up. Low light, small plates worth lingering over, and a Negroni trolley that appears just as a second round starts to sound like a good idea. It’s no surprise that one drink here has a habit of becoming two.
45 Park Lane is the boutique hotel Mayfair regulars like to keep to themselves. Planning your stay? Explore our rooms and suites and see what's on at the hotel this season.