A number of iconic buildings are clustered around this neighbourhood area, centred around St Mary Axe. The Gherkin stands at number 30. Serving as the symbol of the present-day City, this 41-storey structure has been called ‘the most civilised skyscraper in the world’. On the other side of the road, at number 33, stands the Exchequer Court which, after a redevelopment in 2007, provides 110,000 sq ft of office space inside its limestone and granite walls. Then there is The Cheesegrater, more formally known as the Leadenhall Building which stands in the south west of the area. Accommodating 6,000 workers, this opened in 2014 and is the tallest building in the immediate vicinity. Despite being at the heart of the financial and insurance district, this area offers a palette of shopping, dining and drinking choices. There is a TK Maxx adjacent to the Exchequer Court, while the Slug and Lettuce and the Alchemist are two popular boozing destinations for post-work loosening up.

When the infamous 1992 IRA attack significantly damaged the Victorian Baltic Exchange, the ensuing archaeological exploration uncovered the grave and body of a teenage girl who would have been buried here more than one and a half millennia ago. The area would subsequently acquire the name of St Mary Axe in the twelfth century, when – according to one legend – an axe used by the Huns in the massacre of St Ursulla’s 11,000 pilgrims was on display at the medieval Church of St Mary Axe. There has been a church at the present site of St Andrew Undershaft – in the south of the locale – since 1147. The current church is only the third rebuilding of the original, for having survived both the Great Fire of London and the Blitz, this one stands on the site since 1532. A provider of market information for British maritime trade, the Baltic Exchange was started from meetings at a coffee house where merchants would meet to discuss business. After the devastating 1992 attack, the three-hundred-year-old Exchange currently occupies 38 St Mary Axe.

The first actor to have a West End theatre named after him, John Lawrence Toole (1830 – 1906), was born at the church of St Andrew Undershaft. The son of a messenger for the East India Company, Toole was educated at the City of London school, before becoming a clerk in a wine merchant’s office. By the age of 22, Toole was able to make the transition from amateur actor – playing in theatres in Scotland and Ireland – to professional, after being noticed and encouraged by Charles Dickens. His acting style was celebrated as being a convincing balance of the comic with the melodramatic. Though he was able to achieve this tender balance only later in life, after suffering the death of both of his two children, the public did not lose appetite for his uproarious sketches until the very fashion of slapstick began to wither away at the turn of the century.

The aforementioned St Andrew Undershaft church was one of the rare specimens of large stained-glass windows to be found in a London church. This deficit is the consequence of the Blitz and post-war reconstruction did not seem to focus on reinstalling the meticulous pieces of art. Having survived this ordeal, the church would have been home to such a 17th century installation, if it wasn’t for the 1992 IRA bombing which took out the precious relic.

There are currently a number of large-scale developments projected for the area and the surrounding neighbourhoods (see next section). Expect heightened noise levels as a result. Without these, however, there would be no London skyline and conversely no breath-taking views. Sajid has been to one of the restaurants atop 30 St Mary Axe and says that “the deal is very reasonable for an incredible view and excellent cuisine” – £40 for three courses and a cocktail.

This is an area that has seen intense development in the recent past, with Kohn Pederson Fox’s ‘Scalpel’ building completed a few years ago. More recently work concluded on the comically nicknamed ‘Can of Ham’ at 70 St Mary Axe, which offers 28,000 sqft of office space. While land within this postcode has become quite congested for future large-scale development, the surrounding area remains sort-after. The second phase of the Aldgate Place neighbourhood development is underway and set to complete in 2024. With 19,000 sqft of offices, 8,000 sqft of retail floorspace, and 159 new homes, this development will push the architecture of the city ever closer to the east end. Looking slightly more centrally, Unite Students has just completed a new private student accommodation building capable of housing upwards of 1,000 young scholars.