London At A Glance (1)

Trafalgar Square
The centre of London. The pigeons banished and north side pedestrianized but here is the monumental hotch-potch heart of the beast, with Nelson on his column and the National Gallery to boot.

The Strand, Embankment and Aldwych
The main road between Westminster and the City, east out of the Square, where the admin office blocks of Empire sprang up after the 18th century, the first at Somerset House, overlooking the 19th century's great sanitary achievement: the Victoria Embankment.

Leicester Square and Chinatown
The diminutive showbiz epicentre of the West End boasts a statue of Shakespeare unfazed by the movie premieres all around, the theatrical first nights on Shaftesbury Avenue, the bookselling bonanza on Charing Cross Road and Chinese cuisine next door.

Soho
The West End's late-night party zone sleezily converts the film, music and TV frenzy here by day into some of the best restaurants, gay bars, cinemas and drinking clubs in the capitals.

Convent Garden
Just north of the Strand is a tourist honeypot: a sympathetic conversion of central London's beautiful old covered market into a boutique shopping mall with no traffic and a hint of culture.

Mayfair and Regent Street
West of Soho beyond the glorified sweep of big-name retailers on Regent Street, Mayfair remains the most moneyed, swanky and occasionally discreet home of haute couture, cuisine and hospitality.

Piccadilly and St. James's
The land that time forgot. Beyond the neon hoardings of Piccadilly Circus, Piccadilly heads wests with panache, freighted with Fortnum and Mason's, the Royal Academy and the Ritz, dividing Mayfair from the gentleman's clubland of St. James's and Buckingham Palace.