The West End is the centre of town, or what Americans would call Downtown. In fact this area of London is W1 (West One) in the City of Westminster. In the west end, you’ll find the biggest shopping area. We decide to go there on Saturday, the busiest day of the week, on our second day. We arrive by bus so that we can see the sights along the way. We're taking the number 8 after walking through the Roman Road market. Just west of the market road, we discover a fish and chip shop that's been voted the best in East London for years in a row. And, yes, those chips were amazing. Krish immediately begins to consider the possibility of exporting the British potato to Canada. He'll get no argument from me. Those potatoes are incomparable.
Our route takes us past Bethnal Green, The City with its incredibly jumbled and narrow streets, and there on our left is St. Paul's just as we cross from east to west. My first thoughts of St. Paul's after all these years is that I have rarely seen it without scaffolding (yes, it's there again) and the wonder that I've forgotten how very old and soiled it is. But still magnificent.
There’s no doubt at all that you’ve arrived when you reach the west end. The bus routes converge and suddenly there are endless red buses in all direction. The crowds of shoppers are also endless. There are people as far as the eye can see, crowding on all points of the compass since West End streets don’t run North-South, East-West, but off in many directions, down alleys and sidestreets, yet every one of them with their contingent of people packed onto the narrow sidewalks. This isn't just true of the centre of town either. Everywhere we go, the high streets are packed with people. This photo was taken from the top of a bus, pointing my camera through the narrow open window. To the left is Selfridge's, a huge department store and if you really look, you can see the line of buses stretching to the horizon. I even managed to catch one single decker bus at the back of the line.
I love walking around the West End. Oxford Street, Regent Street (right) with its lovely curved buildings, Bond Street (Old and New), Picadilly. My favourite is Liberty, a store built in the Tudor fashion. If anyone has photos of the inside, please let me know. Liberty has mahogany wood everywhere, with galleries that overlook the lower floors, and shining staircases and hallways. Each department is housed within its own room and the goods are spectacular. Liberty is especially famous for its printed fabric, rich colours and silks. We wanted to buy everything we saw but this is not a store for everyday shopping! The price tags were equally spectacular...
We enjoyed some of the cheaper, trendier stores too, like Next. I especially appreciated that clothing in many stores came in every size from 4 to 24 without changes in style or colour. This has been my dream for a long time.
TIP: Everything costs more in the West End. If you can, figure out what you like and then see if you can find the same or similar in the street markets. The prices will be much lower. Otherwise, look for the budget-conscious clothing stores, like C&A Modes or British Home Stores. You’ll be surprised at the selection and quality. You have to look a bit harder for the trendier styles, but they are there.