Bond Street and Savile Row – Mayfair's two sides of luxury

Bond Street has sold jewellery, art and fashion since the 18th century, and one block east, the tailors on Savile Row still cut suits by hand. A guide to London's two most famous shopping streets in Mayfair – and the arcade in between.

Bond Street and Savile Row lie a block apart in Mayfair in London, but represent two different ideas of luxury. On Bond Street it is visible – jewellers, flagship shops and auction houses behind glass façades. On Savile Row it is almost hidden: chalk lines on cloth, fittings behind half-drawn curtains and suits that take weeks to make.

Sir Thomas Bond and the street built in the 1720s

Bond Street gets its name from Sir Thomas Bond, who led the consortium that in 1686 bought Clarendon House on Piccadilly, demolished it and began building on the land behind it. Most of the houses along the street were built in the 1720s. The southern section is called Old Bond Street and the longer northern section New Bond Street; a proposal in the 1920s to merge them under a single name was voted down by residents. The whole street is around 800 metres long, and many shopfronts are narrower than six metres.

In the 18th century Bond Street became a fashionable promenade for Mayfair's upper classes, and the shopkeepers let the floors above to tenants including Jonathan Swift and Laurence Sterne. In the 19th century the street lost its role as a meeting place but strengthened its reputation for luxury retail, and it has at times been ranked as Europe's best shopping location.

Sotheby's, Bonhams and the Allies statue

The auction house Sotheby's has its London headquarters on New Bond Street, and the sculpture above the entrance comes from ancient Egypt and is believed to date from around 1600 BC. Bonhams bought the former Phillips in 2001 and spent £30 million expanding the premises. The jeweller Asprey opened on the street as early as 1830, and the department store Fenwick has been here since 1891.

On New Bond Street there is also Allies, a sculpture of Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt sitting on a bench, by Lawrence Holofcener. Between Grafton Street and Clifford Street, the street is partly pedestrianised, making the walk calmer than on Oxford Street.

Burlington Arcade – the Regency arcade from 1819

Parallel to Bond Street, from Piccadilly to Burlington Gardens, runs Burlington Arcade. It was built for Lord George Cavendish on a side garden of Burlington House, designed by Samuel Ware and opened on 20 March 1819. The 179-metre arcade is sometimes called the world's first modern shopping centre.

The arcade is watched over by beadles in top hats and frock coats. The first were veterans of Cavendish's regiment, the 10th Royal Hussars. The Regency rules still apply: no singing, humming, hurrying or whistling – the last because whistling was once the pickpockets' signal.

Savile Row and the word bespoke

Savile Row was built in 1731–1735 as part of the Burlington Estate and was named after Lady Dorothy Savile, wife of the third Earl of Burlington. The tailors came to the area at the end of the 18th century, first to Cork Street around 1790 and then to Savile Row in 1803. The word bespoke, meaning a suit cut and sewn by hand to the customer's measurements, is believed to have originated here.

In 1846, Henry Poole opened an entrance onto Savile Row from his father's tailoring business on Old Burlington Street. Poole is credited with the dinner jacket, which he made for the future Edward VII in 1860, and Henry Poole & Co remains on the street. Huntsman moved to number 11 in 1919. Anderson & Sheppard builds on Per Anderson's soft "London cut", and Gieves & Hawkes, formed in 1974 through a merger of a naval tailor and an army tailor, introduced ready-to-wear on the street.

In 1969, Nutters of Savile Row modernised the trade with bold shop windows and clients such as Mick Jagger and Elton John, and in the 1990s the "New Bespoke Movement" followed with Richard James, Ozwald Boateng and Timothy Everest. The Savile Row Bespoke Association, founded in 2004, safeguards the craft.

The Beatles on the rooftop and the Norwegian oil fund

Savile Row also has a place in music history. In July 1968, The Beatles moved their company Apple Corps to number 3, and on 30 January 1969 the band gave their last live performance on the rooftop. At number 1 stood the Royal Geographical Society, where British expeditions to Africa and the South Pole were planned. The properties are owned by the Pollen Estate, in which the Norwegian oil fund bought a 57.8 per cent stake in 2014.

Mayfair's streets in VERA PI

See the streets in VERA PI's street files for New Bond Street, Old Bond Street and Savile Row, or start with VERA PI's London guide.