A Pauline About Town

LONDON’S WEST END

Rohan McWilliam (1973-78)

I wrote my book, London’s West End: Creating the Pleasure District, 1800-1914 (Oxford University Press, 2020), because of my life-long love of what this special area in the centre of the metropolis has to offer. Remarkably, this is a history no one had written before. As I write, the West End in lockdown faces the greatest challenge in its history (even during the Blitz it mostly stayed open). Let us look forward to a time when we can spend a day prowling round luxurious shops, meeting a friend at Eros in Piccadilly Circus, catching a show on Shaftesbury Avenue and eating an over-priced meal in Covent Garden.

WHERE TO EAT WHERE TO DRINK

The West End can boast the first restaurant in Britain: Rules on Maiden Lane in Covent Garden. Founded in 1798, it used to be famous for its oysters that men about town cherished for their aphrodisiac qualities. Walk through the door and be whisked back in time. It retains a defiantly old world feeling with its stags’ heads, Vanity Fair prints and hunting scenes on the walls. The food is of a similar highly traditional quality. It specialises in game (brought in from the Rules estate in the Pennines) whilst its steak and kidney pie is legendary.

More up to date is Gymkhana on Albermarle Street. Having opened in 2013, Gymkhana is one of the best Indian restaurants in London and enjoys a Michelin star. A friend recommended we go as it opened which was just as well. Gymkhana got rave reviews from food critics and quickly became booked up for months in advance. The restaurant goes for delicate flavouring, which contrasts with most high street Indian restaurants. The elegant oak panelling offers a refined environment that nods to a fantasy of the Raj. You will feel the price in your next credit card statement but it is worth it.

p Rules, Covent Garden Most places to drink in the West End are, let us face it, aimed at the lowest common denominator. Pubs can be packed out but here are a couple of recommendations if you want a quiet drink. For a pub, check out The Angel on St Giles High Street. A little off the beaten track, it is at odds with most modern pubs. There is no piped music and no Sky Sports. Instead, it offers cosy wooden nooks in which to drink Sam Smith's and have a decent conversation. The food is like school dinners but I suspect most Old Paulines are okay with that.

Much more up market, one of the best-kept secrets in the West End are the martinis in the bar at the Duke’s Hotel on St James's Place. Ian Fleming maintained that the Duke’s served the best cocktails in London and the bar returns the compliment with drinks named after James Bond characters like Vesper Lynd. I have often wondered why no one can make a gin martini as well as the waiters at the Duke's who mix the drinks in front of you. It is not spacious so you may not get in but it is worth the effort. The martinis pack a serious punch and on no account should you have more than two. The polite waiter will advise you against. Listen to him.

p Pollocks Toy Museum, Scala Street

WHERE TO VISIT WHERE TO VIEW

One of the best-kept secrets in the West End are the martinis in the bar at the Duke’s Hotel on St James’s Place

This is a bit of a cheat as it is just off the West End as I define it but everyone should go to the Pollocks Toy Museum on Scala Street when it reopens. The Museum is often under threat of closure and needs your support. Check out its collection of Victorian dolls, Punch and Judy puppets and toy theatres upstairs. I argue in my book that nineteenthcentury toy theatres were an important way in which the stage was opened up to children.

Make sure you catch the performers in Covent Garden. No walk round the West End is complete without taking in the jugglers, clowns, magicians and entertainers who perform outside St Paul’s Church (the actors’ church). Covent Garden was originally designed by Inigo Jones in the 1630s and very quickly became the site of a fruit and vegetable market that was only moved over to Vauxhall in the 1970s. Since the 1980s the market building (which dates back to 1830) has become a tourist venue. The performers engage in traditional form of entertainment such as mime and escapology. Where to see a show or watch a film? Well, here the possibilities are almost endless. The West End has been attracting leading performers since the 1660s and every theatre has a rich history. Movie premières are part of West End life. I have seen Tom Cruise taking selfies with fans outside the Odeon Leicester Square when one of his new films has opened. What makes the pleasure district special is that it combines so many different forms of entertainment and prestige shopping. Despite the challenges of lockdown, the West End is likely to survive as it enjoys its own special magnetism.