Guided Tour Around Mayfair

It was a trip down memory lane for some and over familiar territory for others but all with fascinating historical detail told by our expert guide Charlie Forman who had led our walk last autumn from Battersea. Starting in Green Park and an introduction to Mayfair from the context of the area of St James’s Palace, we stopped briefly at Spencer House before moving across Piccadilly. The Grosvenor family and other landowning families of the era were integral to the story, with royal palaces and their occupants all creating a heady mix of aristocratic influence with the occasional whiff of scandal. A particular revelation was the visit to Farm Street church, remodelled in 1951 by Gilbert Scott. Our group, pictured in Berkeley Square with, in the distance behind them, Annabel’s (a haunt of at least one of the group back in the day) and the Clermont Club of Lord Lucan fame, enjoyed the stories and vistas pointed out by our expert. Half of the group were able to stay for a convivial lunch in Shepherd Market where we said goodbye to our guide who had another walk scheduled for the afternoon.