Burlington Arcade

The West End


Flanking Burlington House, which is home to the Royal Academy of Arts, is this delightful arcade, built in 1819. Today it is a shopping precinct for the wealthy, and is most famous for the Burlington Beadles, uniformed guards who patrol the area keeping an eye out for such offences as running, chewing gum, whistling, opening umbrellas or anything else that could lower the tone. (The fact that the arcade once served as a brothel is kept quiet.)

Running perpendicular to it between Old Bond and Albermarle Sts is the more recent 1880 Royal Arcade.

Transportation

  • underground: Green Park

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby The West End attractions

1. Royal Academy of Arts

0.02 MILES

Britain’s oldest society devoted to fine arts was founded in 1768 and moved here to Burlington House a century later. For its 250th birthday in 2018, the…

2. Royal Arcade

0.08 MILES

Running perpendicular to Burlington Arcade between Old Bond and Albermarle Sts is this more recent arcade dating from 1880.

3. St James’s Piccadilly

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The only church (1684) Christopher Wren built from scratch and one of a handful established on a new site (most of the other London churches are…

4. Faraday Museum

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5. Regent Street

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The handsome border dividing the trainer-clad clubbers of Soho from the Gucci-heeled hedge-fund managers of Mayfair, Regent St was designed by John Nash…

6. Spencer House

0.23 MILES

Just outside the borders of Green Park is Spencer House, completed in the Palladian style in 1766 for the first Earl Spencer, an ancestor of the late…

7. Eros Statue

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At the centre of Piccadilly Circus stands the famous statue (Alfred Gilbert, 1893) called Eros but actually modelled on Anteros, his twin brother. To add…

8. Green Park

0.25 MILES

At 19 hectares, Green Park is the smallest of the eight royal parks. It has huge plane and oak trees and undulating meadows, and it’s never as crowded as…

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