Marylebone High Street

Lying between Selfridges department store and Regent’s Park, Marylebone (pronounced mar-le-bone) is an affluent, elegant residential district. Its streets are lined by white terraced Georgian and Edwardian houses and make for excellent strolls, regardless of the season. Marylebone was mentioned in the Domesday book in 1086 and in some ways stills feels like a village today, despite being smack in the heart of London.

Marylebone High Street has been voted best high street in London the BBC Radio 4’s listeners, and they are a very discerning bunch. It’s not a place for hipsters, but rather one that combines high class London style with a homely village feel. It’s never packed with crowds and it still has some brilliant little independent shops.

Check out Daunt Books, which is a store that specialises in travel books. Its setting alone more than warrants a visit, with its creaking oak galleries and luminous skylights.

La Fromagerie is a local favourite. You will have to stomach three trials. First, the cheese room, one of the best in London. Second, the produce store, where you can find things from just about anywhere in Europe. And, lastly, the in-store café that serves hot drinks, deli snacks, cakes — you name it. You are advised to go hungry.

Just off the bottom of the high street keep your eyes peeled for a blaze of scarlet and gold — that will be the Golden Eagle pub. This is a traditional English pub, always loud with chatter and the clinks of glasses — and sometimes with the music of the resident pianist, Tony “Fingers” Pearson too.