Covent Garden sits nicely between Soho and the City and extends south to Somerset House, a wonderful Georgian complex and square, and Waterloo Bridge, which provides unique views west towards Parliament and east towards the Tower of London and Canary Wharf.
Arguably the most famous element of Covent Garden is the former fruit and vegetable market, perhaps best depicted in the film ‘My Fair Lady’ based on Bernard Shaw’s ‘Pygmalion’.
Along its southern border runs the Strand and if you feel like a treat, pop into The Savoy, one of the grandest hotels in London and refurbished not long ago and restored to its former art deco glory. The Savoy is the only hotel with its own inhouse theatre.
Along the north we have Long Acre, a sort of High Street for the neighbourhood, with a very notable map shop, Stanford’s, which apparently is the largest map and travel book shop in the world. Floral Street, which runs parallel with Long Acre, has some high quality fashion boutiques so you could be into spending a lot of money (if it’s above your pay grade simply window shop and then head north to Camden market for low budget grunge).
The other fashionable place to shop is Neal Street, which runs north from the tube station.
The central square of Covent Garden contains the old fruit and vegetable market which was relocated to a modern site at Nine Elms, south of the river, in 1974. It had been a market since 1670 and when it was renovated and given over to small boutiques and cafes. It’s now a very popular meeting place, given its attractive, open, central location and elegant neo-classical architecture.
The London Transport Museum is close by and has old double decker buses, trams and taxis appealing to petrol heads.
But of course, the main feature is the world famous Royal Opera House, known as Covent Garden by opera buffs around the world. It’s a wonderful theatre, rebuilt twice after fires in 1808 and 1856, and massively refurbished in the 1990s so that the original neoclassical structure and elements are now complemented by stunning contemporary additions.
It’s incorrect to assume that an evening at the opera house will cost an arm and leg. It only costs an arm. No, seriously, you may be surprised to learn that a ticket in the upper amphitheatre is less than 50 quid, plus, unlike being in the stalls where tickets are hundreds of pounds, you can see the orchestra (albeit from a distance). The acoustics are so good that even up in the Gods you can hear the orchestra and singing perfectly well. OK you can’t see the singers up close and you can’t see them acting, but you can certainly hear them singing! Another tip: you don’t have to spend loads in the opera house restaurant, you are allowed to walk in with a bottle of wine and some nibbles, so pack a Verve Clicquot cold thermos and a few smoked salmon sandwiches and have a picnic in the loggia overlooking the old market during the intervals.
I went there once and, sitting up the top without armrests and being hemmed in by a very large man pressing against by recently broken collarbone, decided to leave, and walking out was stopped by staff who wanted to know why I was leaving; the kind assistant then ushered me to a private box where I enjoyed the rest of the opera from a throne-like armchair. That’s how helpful the folks are at ROH!!
If you have a very special occasion to celebrate, aside from a visit to the opera, I recommend J.Sheekey in St Martin’s Court, but only if you really like seafood and shellfish because it’s probably the best such restaurant in London! If you happen to have won the lottery you could start with caviar and move on to a Plateau de Fruits de Mer…. Awesome! I went there once with my wife and had a dodgy oyster that went down the wrong way and they were kind enough to have me back some time later and treated me to caviar and Champagne, on the house! Sheekeys has been around since 1896 and is a favourite for theatre goers who like a special treat. If your budget doesn’t stretch to all that, why not go to a great fish & chip shop, Rock and Sole Plaice, 47 Endell Street.
If you’re visiting and need a hotel, I suggest the Covent Garden Hotel (if you are on expenses) or the Premier Inn (if you’re not).
When it comes to youth cult venues, I seem to recall pogo dancing at the punk club The Rock Garden in the 1970s and going to the post-punk new romantic Embassy club in the 1980s. As I’m a boomer I need zoomers to give me the latest readout on fashionable clubs these days and whether they are in Covent Garden (or more like Dalston). I’m not sure what you’re supposed to be these days – mods, rockers, hippies, punks, new wavers, new romantics, hipsters, goths…. In the old days it was easy, everyone was the same at any given moment in time; now we’ve had pretty much every alternative, it’s more like a menu that young ones choose from. If that’s the case, take your pick and find the right hangout. Maybe avoid going to the hippy café if you’re a goth.
