Mayfair

For other uses, see Mayfair (disambiguation).

Mayfair
New Bond Street
Mayfair  Mayfair shown within Greater London
OS grid reference	TQ285805
London borough	Westminster
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LONDON
Postcode district	W1K, W1J
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
EU Parliament	London
UK Parliament	Cities of London and Westminster
London Assembly	West Central
List of places: UK • England • London

Mayfair (originally called The May Fair) is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster.

History

The north side of Grosvenor Square in the 18th or early 19th century. The three houses at the far left form a unified group, but the others on this side are individually designed. Most later London squares would be more uniform.

Mayfair is named after the annual fortnight-long May Fair that took place on the site that is Shepherd Market today (from 1686 until it was banned in that location in 1764). Until 1686, the May Fair was held in Haymarket, and after 1764, it moved to Fair Field in Bow because the well-to-do residents of the area felt the fair lowered the tone of the neighbourhood.

Mayfair was anciently part of the parish of St Martin in the Fields, and became part of St George Hanover Square in 1724. The new parish stretched to Bond Street in the southern part of Mayfair and almost to Regent Street north of Conduit Street. The northern boundary was Oxford Street and the southern boundary fell short of Piccadilly. The parish continued west of Mayfair into Hyde Park and then south to include Belgravia and other areas.

The old telephone district of MAYfair (later 629) changed east of Bond Street to REGent (later 734). Most of the area was first developed between the mid 17th century and the mid 18th century as a fashionable residential district, by a number of landlords, the most important of them being the Dukes of Westminster, the Grosvenor family. The Rothschild family bought up large areas of Mayfair in the 19th century. The freehold of a large section of Mayfair also belongs to the Crown Estate.

The district is now mainly commercial, with many offices in converted houses and new buildings, including major corporate headquarters, a concentration of hedge funds, real estate businesses and many different embassy offices, namely the U.S.'s large office taking up all the west side of Grosvenor Square. Rents are among the highest in London and the world. There remains a substantial quantity of residential property as well as some exclusive shopping and London's largest concentration of luxury hotels and many restaurants. Buildings in Mayfair include both the Canadian High Commission and the United States embassy in Grosvenor Square, the Royal Academy of Arts, The Handel House Museum, the Grosvenor House Hotel, Claridge's and The Dorchester.

The renown and prestige of Mayfair could have grown in the popular mind because it is the most expensive property on the British Monopoly set.

Economy

Mayfair has become an attractive location away from the City of London for private banks, hedge funds and wealth managers.^{[citation needed]} The Egyptian Education Bureau, is located in Chesterfield Gardens. EasyGroup has its head office in Mayfair.

Cadbury formerly had its head office in Mayfair. In 2007, Cadbury Schweppes announced that it was moving to Uxbridge, London Borough of Hillingdon, to cut costs.

Mayfair also boasts some of the capital's most exclusive shops, hotels, restaurants and clubs. Just alongside Burlington House is one of London's most luxurious shopping areas, the Burlington Arcade, which has housed shops under its glass-roofed promenade since 1819.

Education

For education in Mayfair, see List of schools in the City of Westminster.

The City of Westminster operates the Mayfair Library as a local library.

Streets and squares

Savile Row

Shepherd Market

The Royal Arcade in Old Bond Street

• Albemarle Street
• Berkeley Square
• Berkeley Street
• Bond Street
• Brook Street
• Brown Hart Gardens
• Bryanston Square
• Cork Street
• Curzon Street
• Dover Street
• Grosvenor Square
• Hanover Square
• Harrowby Street
• Hill Street
• Hyde Park Corner — road junction at the south west corner
• Marble Arch — road junction/plaza at the north west corner
• Old Park Lane
• Oxford Street — northern boundary
• Park Lane — western boundary
• Piccadilly — southern boundary
• Piccadilly Circus — road junction/plaza at the south east corner of Mayfair
• Regent Street — eastern boundary
• South Molton Street
• Savile Row
• Shepherd Market
• South Audley Street

Transport and locale

Nearest tube stations

The nearest London Underground stations are Bond Street, Green Park, Hyde Park Corner, Marble Arch and Oxford Circus.

• The former Down Street tube station is in the area, but no longer in use

Nearest railway station

• Victoria station

Museums

• Handel House Museum

See also

• A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (disambiguation)
• Mount Street Gardens
• The Punch Bowl (Mayfair)
• Allens of Mayfair

External links

• London/Mayfair travel guide from Wikitravel
• The Site of the original May-fair
• BBC News story: Reviving the Mayfair May Fair
• History of Mayfair
• St. Nicholas College of London