Trendy Shops in Regent Street and Carnaby Street (1.1 Km)
- philip carey
- Aug 24, 2022
- 6 min read
Updated: Aug 16, 2024
Start at Piccadilly Circus Station
Finish at Oxford Circus Station
THE EXPERIENCE
This 1.1 Km fashionable and trendy shopping route takes you along a large part of Regent Street and all of Carnaby Street, with fantastic shops and stylish things to buy. Due to its status as a place for fashion and its length, Regent Street is sometimes called the “Mile of Style”, whilst Carnaby Street was historically known as the epicentre of Swinging London. There are plenty of places to eat and drink, especially Heddon Street, Kingly Street, and Kingly Court.
Great for fashionable and trendy shopping, history, crowds, iconic sights, hotels, theatres and lots of places to eat, drink and be merry.
MUST SEE PLACES
What to See List
1. Piccadilly Circus
2. Shaftesbury Avenue
3. Waterloo Place & Pall Mall
4. Piccadilly
5. Lower Regent Street
6. Heddon Street
7. Carnaby street
8. Regent Street – Apple Store
9. Liberty London
10. Regent Street – shopping & Hamleys Toy Shop
11. The Photographer's Galery
12. Oxford Street Shopping
PLACES TO EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRY
Areas to Eat, Drink and Be Merry List
1. Around Piccadilly Circus
2. Around the Haymarket
3. Chinatown
4. Piccadilly & Swallow Street
5. Along Broadwick Street
6. Brewer Street & Golden Square
7. Along Beak Street
8. Along Wardour Street - Soho
9. Heddon Street
10. Hanover Square and Maddox Street
11. Kingly Street and Kingly Court
12. Around Argyll Street
Links to nearby Eat, Drink and Be Merry Routes.
The following Eat, Drink and Be Merry Routes are nearby
St James Piccadilly - Starting from Piccadilly Circus to Green Park
https://www.photoruns.com/post/st-james-piccadilly-shopping-eat-drink-and-be-merry-photorun
Regent Street - Starting at Oxford Circus and finishing at Piccadilly Circus
https://www.photoruns.com/post/around-regent-street-shopping-eat-drink-and-be-merry-photorun
BEST TIME
Morning - The best time to do this route is on weekends in the early morning when it is quiet and free from crowds and heavy traffic.
Day - This will be busy during the day.
Evenings - Busy around Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus - less busy elsewhere.
ROUTE OVERVIEW
The 1.1 Km route starts at Piccadilly Circus and heads up Regent Street, following the curve until it gets to Beak Street (third turning on the right). It continues along Beak Street until it gets to Carnaby Street on its left-hand side and then follows this all the way to Liberty London by Great Marlborough Street. The final section turns left and immediately right up Argyll Street until it gets to Oxford Circus Station.
Route at a Glance Video.
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DESCRIPTIVE PHOTO GALLERY
This gallery provides a descriptive and visual reference to many sights along this route. Use the Google Map above to find their location. Double-click to see its full size.
INTERESTING FACTS
Regent Street Facts
Regent Street is approximately 0.8 miles (1.3 km) long and stretches from Waterloo Place in the South to the BBC building in the North.
It's named after the Prince Regent, who later became King George IV. He ruled as Prince Regent for ten years (1810-1820) while his father, George III, was too ill to perform his duties. The Prince Regent was a lover of the arts and architecture, and his statue is in Trafalgar Square.
Regent Street was the location of one of the first late-night shopping events in 1850 when shopkeepers let their stores stay open until 7 PM.
Due to its status as a place for fashion and its length, Regent Street is sometimes referred to as the “Mile of Style”.
The Royal Polytechnic Institution, now the University of Westminster, has been at Regent Street's upper end since 1838.
The department store Dickins and Jones was established at 232–234 Regent Street in 1835 (opposite Hanover Street) and remained there until 2007.
Arthur Lasenby Liberty opened his first shop in 1875 at 218a Regent Street, with just 3 employees. He called this shop ‘East India House’ and he sold silk garments and various oriental goods. In 1925,’ Liberty Department Store’ together with architects Edwin T. Hall built the current mock Tudor building from the timbers of two ships, the HMS Impregnable, and the HMS Hindustan.
The toy store Hamleys is one of the largest toy shops in the world and was first opened in Regent Street in 1881. However, it was founded as Noah's Ark at 231 High Holborn in 1760. The store was often the first to market the latest games and toys. A late 19th-century example is table tennis equipment, which allowed the sport to become a popular activity in the UK and established the games nickname ‘’
Jaeger, at 200–206 Regent Street, was established in 1935 by Lewis Tomalin. He was inspired by naturalist Gustav Jäger's pioneering use of anti-animal fibre-based clothing. Henry Morton Stanley is known to have worn Jaeger clothing while searching for Dr. David Livingstone in Africa, as did Robert Falcon Scott on his fated trip to the South Pole.
The Apple Store opened on Regent Street on 20 November 2004. At the time, this was the first such store in Europe. However, the building dates back to 1898 and it was the studio of the Victorian Mosaic Salvietti of Venice. And he did a number of mosaics in St. Paul's cathedrals, as well as the Houses of Parliament and the Albert Memorial. Look for the four coats of arms and two lions above the arches.
No tall buildings
You will notice as you look around that there's not a lot of tall buildings in this area. That is because Regent Street is a conservation area, and you needed to maintain strategic views across the whole length of the street because the place is affected by the Primrose Hill to the Palace of Westminster strategic view line.
The Cafe Royal opened at 68 Regent Street in 1865 and stayed at the same premises until it closed in 2008. It has since been redeveloped to become the Hotel Cafe Royal.
Carnaby Street Facts
Until the 1950’s, Carnaby Street was dominated by cheap rental properties and workshops.
The area around Carnaby Street became a hotspot for supporters of Pan-Africanist politics and jazz with the opening of the Florence Mills jazz club in 1934.
In the early 50’s, a young Scottish clothing entrepreneur named John Stephen set up his own menswear workshop on Beak Street and the first boutique called “His Clothes”, on Carnaby Street. He offered a distinct flamboyance not seen in other menswear brands, with clothes geared towards a newly emerging youth market.
Other retailers and designers followed suit, and by the early 1960s, Carnaby Street had been taken over by boutiques that catered for specialist groups such as the mod and hippie movements, with many of its shops and bars being popular with bands such as the Rolling Stones. John Stephen would soon become the ‘King of Carnaby Street’, with Carnaby Street being known as the epicentre of Swinging London. A plaque in his honour can be found at No. 1 Carnaby Street.
In 1973, the Greater London Council pedestrianised the street, and this led to a 30% increase in pedestrian traffic. Today, Carnaby Street remains a pedestrianised shopping avenue, and together with its adjoining streets, it is home to over 150 shops, from global brands to small boutiques; the surrounding area has over 50 independent bars and restaurants catering for all tastes.
In a Simpsons episode from the eighth season, Bart and Lisa appear on Carnaby Street wearing Mod fashions.
Tom Jones once walked down the street with Bond girl Christine Spooner and a live cheetah on a lead, to publicise the opening of a shop called “Tom Cat”
Carnaby Street The Musical tells the story of a band trying to make it big in the rock and roll heyday of the ‘60s.
In 1966, the Lady Jane boutique on Carnaby Street gained great publicity from the national press by having models changing in the shop window for the first three days. Henry Moss, the owner of the boutique, was arrested and fined £2 for obstructing the highway due to the large crowd of men who had gathered to watch the spectacle.
You can access Kingly Court from Beak Street, Carnaby Street and Kingly Street. Kingly Court has three floors of open-air alfresco dining with over 20 international concept restaurants, bars and cafés within its vibrant courtyard. It is open air in the summer months and covered in the winter. Kingly Court’s restaurants have been carefully chosen to offer a unique dining experience that can’t be found anywhere else in London.
VIRTUAL TOUR OF THE AREA
Click on the picture below to go on a 360 virtual tour of the shopping areas and have a look around.
Use the blue route to explore this location by looking around in 360, taking in the sights and sounds, listening to an audio recording about the area and going on a virtual tour.
HISTORY & GUIDES VIDEO LIBRARY
Please note - These date from before 2018 and have been done in a variety of styles to determine which one works best. They all provide very useful information and we would welcome feedback to help create the new versions
SIGHT GUIDE
This short (1:49 minute) video gives you a quick guided tour of some of the sites on this route.
HISTORY GUIDE
These history videos provide you with a history of the area and a history of shopping in the west end of London.
8:11 Minutes
7:26 Minutes
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