Now that summer is here, St James's is celebrating by offering guided walks around its London neighbourhood, inviting you to discover a part of town unique in its secrets and stories.
Over three hundred years in the making and still evolving, St James's is an iconic area of central London and to guide you through its hidden gems is your very own Blue Badge tour guide from the British Guild of Tourist Guides.
Blue Badge Guides are internationally recognised for excellence in their field and offer the gold standard when it comes to local knowledge. Our guides will host four walks that will lead you through the best this one of a kind area has to offer, from food & fashion to art & architecture.
St James's Art & Architecture Tour - Sunday June 2/June 30/July 28/Aug 25
Starting Point: The Pavilion, St James's Market
St James's is renowned for its art dealers, from Philip Mould to White Cube, and its cultural sensibilities inspired some of London’s grandest neo-classical facades built by men such as Robert Adam, Sir Charles Barry and Decimus Burton. This walk will guide you through the heart of the London art world still florishing today winding through centuries of Regency, Edwardian and Modernist architecture, elegant gentlemen’s clubs and purpose-built institutions such as the London Library.
St James’s Food & Fashion Tour - Sunday June 9/July 7/Sept 1
Starting Point: The Pavilion, St James's Market
Ever since the 17th century St James’s has been a magnet for the fashion forward individual due to its proximity to the royal palace. This walk explores the fine art of retail, from tiny shops and galleries to the tailors who dressed Winston Churchill and 007, from the holders of Royal Warrants to the masters of British food.
Women of St James's Tour - Sunday June 16/July 14/Aug 11
Starting Point: Green Park tube station, park side exit (turn left as you exit the ticket barriers, staying on the lower ground level: the guide will be waiting under cover).
This area has historically been a masculine one, home to men’s fashion and accessories, gentlemen’s clubs, barbers and sporting institutions, so it’s easy to ignore the many inspiring women who have lived and worked here over the centuries. This walk seeks to redress the balance, examining the lives and careers of women as diverse as actress and mistress Nell Gwynn and world-class scientists at the Royal Society, Modernist author Virginia Woolf and modern cheesemonger Hero Hirsch.
St James’s History of Shopping Tour - Sunday June 23/July 21/Aug 18
Starting Point: Pall Mall/Cleveland Row entrance of St James’s Palace at the bottom of St James’s Street (nearest tube Green Park). If it’s raining, the guide will wait around the corner on Marlborough Road, beneath the palace colonnade.
The presence of St James’s Palace has had a profound effect on retail in this area, which has one of Britain’s highest concentrations of Royal Warrant Holders – suppliers of goods and services who have served the Royal family for five years or more - and an unusually large number of independent, unique shops. One of the delights of modern St James’s is the gradual arrival of contemporary brands, hand-picked, frequently British, several of them holders of modern Royal Warrants. The walk winds its way through shops selling clothes, accessories, art and perfumes.