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A nice London station with good new facilities and connections.
Bond Street in the West End of London links Piccadilly in the south to Oxford Street in the north. Since the 18th century the street has housed many prestigious and upmarket fashion retailers. The southern section is Old Bond Street and the longer northern section New Bond Street—a distinction not generally made in everyday usage.
The street was built on fields surrounding Clarendon House on Piccadilly, which were developed by Sir Thomas Bond. It was built up in the 1720s, and by the end of the 18th century was a popular place for the upper-class residents of Mayfair to socialise. Prestigious or expensive shops were established along the street, but it declined as a centre of social activity in the 19th century, although it held its reputation as a fashionable place for retail, and is home to the auction houses Sotheby's and Bonhams (formerly Phillips) and the department store Fenwick and jeweller Tiffany's. It is one of the most expensive and sought after strips of real estate in Europe.
There is evidence of Roman settlement around what is now Bond Street. In 1894, a culvert made from brick and stone was discovered in the area.[7] The street was named after Sir Thomas Bond, the head of a syndicate of developers who purchased a Piccadilly mansion called Clarendon House from Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle in 1686, and proceeded to demolish the house and develop the area.[8] At that time, the house backed onto open fields, known as Albemarle Ground, and the development of estates in Mayfair had just begun.[1]
New Bond Street was laid out during the second phase of construction 14 years after Bond's syndicate began developing the area.[8] Most of the building along the street occurred in the 1720s, on what was the Conduit Mead Estate.[1][3] John Rocque's map of London, published in 1746, shows properties along the entire length of Bond Street, including the fully constructed side streets. The two parts of the street have always had separate names, and a plan by the council to merge the two into a singular "Bond Street" in the 1920s was rejected by locals.[9]
During the 18th century, the street began to be popular with the bourgeoisie living around Mayfair. Shop owners let out their upper storeys for residential purposes, attracting lodgers such as Jonathan Swift, George Selwyn, William Pitt the Elder and Laurence Sterne.[1] In 1784, Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, an active socialite, demanded that people boycott Covent Garden as its residents had voted against Whig member of parliament Charles James Fox. This had caused him to lose his seat in Parliament, leading to the dissolution of the Fox–North Coalition. She insisted people should look for nearer shopping streets, and encouraged people to go to Bond Street. Consequently, the street became a retail area for people living in Mayfair. By the end of the century, an upper-class social group known as the Bond Street Loungers had appeared, wearing expensive wigs and parading up and down the street in a pretentious manner
Lord Nelson stayed at temporary lodgings in New Bond Street between 1797 and 1798, as did his mistress Emma, Lady Hamilton between 1811 and 1813.[10] Thomas Pitt, 2nd Baron Camelford lived in Bond Street and was unhappy about the presence of the Bond Street Loungers.[8] Already notorious for a violent and abusive temper, on 7 October 1801 he refused invitations to join in celebrations of peace between Britain and France (which led to the Treaty of Amiens), resulting in an altercation with several Loungers at his doorstep. Camelford retreated upstairs and fired upon the crowd with a pistol.[11]
During the 19th century, Bond Street became less known for its social atmosphere but increased its reputation as a street for luxury shopping. The auctioneer Phillips was established in 1796 at No.
