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London is often described as a collection of distinct urban villages rather than a single sprawling metropolis, due to the way it developed over time. Discover each neighbourhood's unique character and charm.
Clubland: a Tudor palace, shirtmakers and hatters, wine merchants who have not moved since 1698, and the art trade.
Henry VIII built St James's Palace on the site of a leper hospital in the 1530s, and after Whitehall Palace burned down in 1698 it became the monarch's official London home. It still is, formally: ambassadors are accredited to the Court of St James's even though no monarch has lived there since 1837. The district around it was laid out for courtiers. Charles II gave the land to Henry Jermyn in the 1660s, and Jermyn built a grid of streets around St James's Square for people who needed to be near the palace. When the aristocracy moved on, the shops that had served them stayed, which is what makes this the strangest surviving piece of old London: Berry Bros and Rudd have sold wine from the same shop on St James's Street since 1698, Lock the hatters since 1676, Floris scent since 1730, and Jermyn Street is still a run of shirtmakers. The clubs came in the nineteenth century and gave the area its other name. White's, Brooks's and Boodle's are all on the same short street, and none of them has a sign on the door. The art and auction trade fills the rest: Christie's on King Street, and dealers with a single painting in the window. Fortnum & Mason has been on Piccadilly since 1707, and the park is a minute's walk from any of it.