This central neighbourhood sits right at the heart of London’s tourist district, in between Regent’s Park and Hyde Park. Located right at the junction of the rumbling Marylebone and Edgware Roads, the neighbourhood is affluent and urban, an enclave of large Victorian and Edwardian terraces, some of which have been split into flats, and lush green squares. The aforementioned main roads are ideal for those who travel by bus or by taxi, though they do have a tendency to get congested. For those who wish to avoid this traffic, Edgware Road and Marylebone stations are right on the doorstep. Art lovers will make the most of the esteemed Lisson Gallery or the Wallace Collection, whilst avid readers should take a look in the famous Daunt Books. With Selfridges department store to the south and countless restaurants to suit a range of budgets, this is a mainstay for London’s many visitors.

The area of Marylebone derives its name from the church of St Mary, which was built on the banks of the small stream, or ‘bourne’, known as the Tyburn. The area became known as St Mary at the Bourne, and later Marylebone, as French was the aristocratic language of the day. Henry VIII was given the manor in an exchange with Thomas Hobson in 1544, enclosing the northern half for a deer park. Marylebone was sold in 1710 to John Holles, Duke of Newcastle, and was later put into the hands of the Earl of Oxford. The area was known for the next hundred years for its rather tenuous entertainments, such as bear-baiting and bare-knuckle boxing.

Marylebone has always been an area that has attracted the rich and famous. One such couple was John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who lived in a fashionable townhouse on Montague Square, right next door to the embassies of Sweden and Switzerland! Their tenure in 1968, is today marked with a National Heritage blue plaque, unveiled by Ono herself in 2010.

Not only do the area’s high house prices make this neighbourhood inaccessible for the vast majority of Londoners, but the busy Edgware and Marylebone Roads cause a significant degree of noise and air pollution. The roads, as mentioned before, are subject to quite severe traffic, which can be a nuisance for commuters, which is exacerbated by the fact that the smaller streets in this neighbourhood are often filled with tourists.

Long overshadowed by its trendier neighbours, Mayfair and St John’s Wood, Marylebone has been attracting more and more wealthy individuals over the past few decades thanks to the numerous luxury housing developments that have happened and continue to happen nearby. One of the biggest factors that has more recently affected this shift is the near-completion of an Elizabeth Line station set to open in November 2022 at nearby Bond Street. This will further increase investment in the area, encouraging more house-building to accommodate the new population who are likely to move in.