Sunday, 27 December, 2020
Well, here it is, almost the end of the most unusual year ever – the same year I’d anticipated back in January, thinking that 2020 must be perfect after all (a reference to vision).
We are now in our third lockdown and this is the most serious, serious enough that they created a whole new label for it – Tier 4. This means ‘you must stay home’ but it seems like quite a few aren’t listening. This is no big surprise.
Last weekend I did a lovely virtual Christmas lights tour with Look up London and really enjoyed it. I did this tour because I thought I wouldn’t be able to do one in person. However, yesterday it was a dry day and I had the idea that maybe with lockdown in place and no Boxing Day sales, just maybe I might go down and see some lights for myself. So off we went.
The bus wasn’t busy and we felt pretty safe. It was the first time I’d been into the west end since last year at Somerset House. Along the way, I was trying to remember the way – what were we going to pass by and see on what would a year ago have been a familiar journey. What follows is a great many photos, I think, with some narrative.
There was a very light rain so things were shiny and sparkly and, with not much traffic, and not many stops requested, we sped to Tottenham Court Road in a little over 20 minutes.
My plan was to get off near Fortnum and Mason, back over to Piccadilly Circus, up Regent Street and into Soho, Chinatown and home again. It’s much less than I’d really like to do but it’s important to allow for the journey home and not need a rest or the toilet.
To get to Fortnum and Mason, you have to go through Piccadilly Circus, and Piccadilly Circus is just about the busiest intersection in London – that and Oxford Circus. It was less quiet and busy than usual, but still bustling compared to elsewhere. They’ve put in extra walking space and there are more bicycles than I usually see but just as many buses in the same London-narrow space.
Fortnum and Mason is a very posh place. It’s been here since 1707, and it stands for luxury. Hugh Mason ran a small store and met an entrepreneur called William Fortnum, whose family were high class builders reinvigorating Mayfair in the wake of the Great Fire. The partnership evolved. When I can get inside again, I’ll say more. For now, I’ll just say that it’s Christmas eye candy.
This extraordinary year F&M are featuring windows from their 313 years . And most splendidly, the front of their store has become a giant advent calendar. I find the whole thing magical.
Piccadilly Street itself has the same angels that it’s had each time I’ve visited. They’re looking over a grand street in an afluent, fashionable area called Mayfair that takes its name from the May fair held in Shepherd’s Market in the area (a fantasticvstreet for another day). Here are fashionable arcades and fancy boutiques and also the Royal Academy founded in 1768 by a group of 40 artists and architects who became the first Royal Academicians. I love its gates (now closed) and courtyard.
Behind Fortnum and Mason is Jermyn Street. This area dates from 1661 and often looks the part. Sir Isaac Newton, William Pitt, Sir Walter Scott, William Gladstone; and W. M. Thackeray have all lived here. The shops along here are exclusive – mostly it was quiet, even quieter than lockdown Piccadilly today.
This video shows the Piccadilly Arcade entrance from Jermyn Street. Very elegant.
We walked along the quiet street until we hit the ‘busy’ Regent Street. It’s hard not to be impressed by the sight of sweeping Regent Street. It was built in 1819 under the direction of architect John Nash. The barricades to widen the walking areas meant that the bicycles, taxis and buses seemed crowded in.
I reluctantly chose to turn off of Regent Street and head into Soho without looking at the Hamley shop windows or at Liberty. I was curious to see what Soho looked like now. In fact, Saturday night Soho would normally be a place to avoid. It would be teaming with club and pub goers, foodies and tourists. Tonight it was pretty much a ghost town.
Through surreal Soho and across Shaftesbury Avenue to London’s Chinatown. The Chinatown in London is compact and separated from the surrounding streets. The restaurants here aren’t bad but I’ve never liked eating here as much as in Toronto, so we rarely go.
I went into a bakery and bought a roast pork pastry, usually Krish’s favourite. It was like a scone with some dried up chunks of sweet roast pork in the centre. We each took a bite and threw it quickly in the bin. Two hours later, now home, I could still taste it. Ugh.
Finally we turned into the edge of the Covent Garden area to see Seven Dials on the way to our bus home. Seven Dials was laid out in the early 1690s in a series of triangles to maximise the number of houses as rentals were charged per foot of frontage and not per square foot of interiors. In the centre of the star formation is a Sundial Pillar built in 1693-4.
The bus home was quiet and fast. The evening had been very enjoyable, a real adventure. We told ourselves we could come back and see more, but who knows!