In Focus – Bond Street

Bond Street underground station, London (Marylebone Lane exit, by Disney Store – north side of Oxford Street)

Guided by Judy

Streets Ahead! More trail blazing by the best urban walking tour guides on the planet. In Focus walks are an extremely detailed look – "what I love about London Walks is the degree of granularity you get" (as that American visitor memorably put it) – at the most famous streets and squares of London. And their tributaries. Today's In Focus walk explores Bond Street, past and present. Ah yes, Bond Street. London's most expensive street for retailers. Not just the place to shop – the place to be seen shopping. Fashionable address from the get-go. A roll call of the famous second to none: Jonathan Swift, Edward Gibbon, Laurence Sterne, James Boswell, William Pitt the Elder, Admiral Nelson, the poet James Thomson, Beau Brummell. "Bond Street Loungers" (men who took equal pleasure in adorning themselves and in surveying the titled ladies who promenaded in the afternoons). Chappell, the music publisheer. Asprey's the jewellers. Richard Benson and William Hedges – they pitched up in 1873. Art galleries and auctioneers fitted in splendidly amidst the goldsmiths and china shos, culminating in the arrival of Sotheby's at its present location in 1917. And – goes without saying, this – Bond Street continues to attract the most prestigeous names, especially in contemporary culture. An eye-opening couple of hours – you're going to enjoy this one. It's been created and is curated (guided) by one of the brightest stars in the London Walks constellation (which of course in itself speaks volumes), Blue Badge Guide Judy (some Blue Badge, she won the big one, the Guide of the Year Award in her year.