|
Tube: Covent Garden. The area to the north of Covent Garden Piazza is, on the whole, more interesting in terms of its shops, pubs and eating places than is the piazza itself. Floral Street, Long Acre, Shelton Street and especially Neal Street are all good shopping locales. Looking east down the gentle curve of Long Acre, it's difficult to miss the austere, Pharaonic mass of the Freemasons' Hall (Mon-Fri 10am-5pm; free; www.grand-lodge.org), built as a memorial to all the masons who died in World War I. Whatever you may think of this reactionary, male-only, secretive organization, the interior is worth a peek for the Grand Temple alone, whose pompous, bombastic decor is laden with heavy symbolism. To see the Grand Temple, turn up for one of the free hourly guided tours (Mon-Fri 11am-4pm). North from Long Acre runs Neal Street , one of the most sought-after commercial addresses in Covent Garden, which features some fine Victorian warehouses, complete with stair towers for loading and shifting goods between floors. Neal Street is now dominated by trendy fashion stores like Mango, Diesel and, on nearby Shorts Gardens, About Time. A decade or so ago, the feel of the street was a lot less moneyed and more alternative, but that ambience only really survives in Neal's Yard , a wholefood haven set in a tiny little courtyard off Shorts Gardens, prettily festooned with flower boxes and ivy. West of Neal Street is Seven Dials , the meeting point of seven streets which make up a little circus centred on a slender column topped by six tiny blue sundials (the seventh dial is formed by the column itself and the surrounding road). Earlham Street , which runs west from Seven Dials, harbours an ironmongers and a local butchers alongside clubbers' shops. It was once a flourishing market street, and of the handful of stalls that remain is one of London's very best flower stalls - a visual treat at any time of year.
Your Tip for North of Convent Garden Piazza
Help other backpackers! Write your own guides and backpacking tips to North of Convent Garden Piazza - they will appear instantly on this page - Please only write a tip/guide to North of Convent Garden Piazza - visit the main North of Convent Garden Piazza forum to ask a question!
Please do not post links to your site here (they won't work) - please use the North of Convent Garden Piazza webguide section below! Thanks.
|
