Stretching from Aldwych to Charing Cross, this portion of the bustling Strand is a retail and traffic thoroughfare, lined by some of London’s best-known buildings. The celebrated Adelphi and Vaudeville playhouses draw crowds of theatre-lovers to the area, while the rich and famous nominate the Strand Palace and Savoy hotels as their places of refuge after a busy day in London’s West End. Buses and taxis compete for space on the congested street, bringing shoppers to the numerous high street chains that occupy almost every building along it. Charing Cross station is serviced by the Bakerloo and Northern lines, and is a convenient hub for those who work nearby. 24-hour public transport and local attractions such as Trafalgar Square and Covent Garden means that the area is never quiet.

The Savoy Hotel was opened by Richard D’Oyly Carte in 1889 as the first luxury hotel in London, choosing the name to commemorate the site’s history (having once been the location of the Savoy Palace). It was the first hotel in Britain to be lit by electricity and to have electric lifts, as well as private en-suite bathrooms for every room. With Cesar Ritz (who would later found The Ritz Hotel) as manager, the hotel did well, encouraging aristocratic women to dine in public for the first time. Ritz was later fired for his part in the disappearance of £3,400 of alcohol, which would today be valued at around £350,000. The hotel closed in 2007 for a £220 million refurbishment, reopening in 2010. Notable guests have included Claude Monet, Oscar Wilde, King Edward VII, and Marilyn Monroe, amongst many others.

The road that leads up to the entrance of the Savoy, Savoy Court, is the only street in the country on which vehicles are required to drive on the right. Rumour has it that this is because cab drivers would reach out of their driver’s door window to open the passenger’s door, which opened backwards with the handle at the front, without having to get out themselves.

The Strand is very congested, making taxi and bus travel rather frustrating. It was also found to be the second-most polluted road in the city. However, recent developments have sought to minimise these adverse effects.

December 2022 saw the opening of the new Strand Aldwych redevelopment, which is the largest new public space to open in London for over a decade. The £22m, 7000m2 project led by Westminster Council, in partnership with the Centre for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP), has linked up Bush House, Somerset House and The Strand Building with a huge pedestrianised ‘creative thinking quarter’, centred around the almost 300-year-old St Mary le Strand church. The site is designed as a modern, sustainable meeting place and will regularly host public cultural and social celebrations, as well as numerous events for the adjoining King’s College London.