Ask any unsuspecting tourist where Fitzrovia is on London’s map, and chances are they would eye you with the most puzzled of looks. But those who have previously looked at this quarter with an air of suspicion—especially any Londoners who consider it an afterthought—are missing out.
The central London district offers the best of all worlds. While minutes away from the chaos of Oxford Street and the glitz of Shaftesbury Avenue, the main theater strip of London’s West End, Fitzrovia also gives visitors to the British capital one thing its other boroughs do not: the opportunity to experience quaint urban “village living” right in the centre of one of the world’s biggest metropolises.
Like New York neighborhoods such as the West Village and Soho, Fitzrovia has always been a countercultural hub. A historic bohemian sanctuary, it’s a hotspot for literary thought and artistic experimentation—George Bernard Shaw, Quentin Crisp, George Orwell, and Dylan Thomas all lived here—and thanks to its academic credentials, with half a dozen university campuses spread across its leafy Georgian terraces, it remains a beacon for young minds thinking outside of the box. Now, it’s known as one of London’s major creative business hotspots, packed with all sorts of advertising, PR, media, and film agencies—Netflix included.
If you’re of the mind that London is having a bit of an image problem right now—or at least feel that popular luxury hotel enclaves like Mayfair, Belgravia, and Knightsbridge are a bit of a snoozefest—then Fitzrovia is just the tonic. Here, in this alternate universe, you are in the land of the independents, where slick boutiques and forward-thinking stores—from Labstore for the latest Rick Owens and Yohji Yamamoto collections, to Margaret Howell for reliable British classics—trump the grandeur of all the high-end fashion flagships that line Bond Street.
But why, exactly, is Fitzrovia having such a moment? You could chalk up at least some of that buzz to the arrival of newbie hotel The Newman, which hits the block this month. (The block being a corner of Newman Street, a tucked-away spot just steps from the Byzantine splendor of Fitzrovia Chapel as well as the lively pubs and restaurants of Charlotte Street.) The Art Deco-inspired 81-room property is the first hotel from London-based hospitality group Kinsfolk & Co, whose directors have worked on a handful of other beloved British hotel institutions like The Goring—a go-to of the royal family—and The Beaumont in Mayfair. Three years in the making, the building has lived many lives, formerly existing as a post office and the headquarters of a major PR agency.