London Monopoly Challenge Mayfair

 

Mayfair unlike all the other colour properties is not a street. It’s an area, a rough quadrilateral – local resident, the Regency wit Sydney Smith called it a parallelogram. It’s bordered by Park Lane, Oxford Street, Regent Street and Piccadilly. Which, to add insult to injury, are all themselves locations on the London board. I can’t help holding this against Mayfair. I can’t help making an anthropomorphic comparison. To me, if Mayfair is a person, then it’s a spoilt toff, who has everything handed to him on a plate, who wouldn’t last five minutes in a dust up with Whitechapel or the Old Kent Road.

Coming back to reality for a minute or two, then, Mayfair takes its name from a fair held in the area during the month of, well, May. The fair predated the development of the area, first taking place during the reign of Edward I. The fair lasted until 1764, specifically in the part of Mayfair that is now called Shepherd Market – you can see the street sign on the sketch which is based on a scene from the fifties, judging by the clothes.
As tended to be the case with other London fairs, the May Fair became known for its increasing seediness, but the area took a remarkable turn upmarket when the land on which it was held was obtained by the Grosvenor family. The family would acquire the title of the Dukes of Westminster, a title that is still in the family. They developed the land, building the elegant Hanover Square, Grosvenor Square and Berkely Square. I’ve never heard a nightingale singing there, but since I only walked through it at midday once that’s not surprising.
Mayfair has not lost its exclusivity since its development following the demise of the May Fair. The nature has changed, though. Prior to the 20^th century it was a London home to many aristocrats, but now there are more commercial headquarters and national embassies – notably the American embassy on Grosvenor Square.
I can’t help wondering whether Victor and Marge were swayed in their decision to make Mayfair the most exclusive property on the whole board by the presence of some very famous hotels. Brown’s hotel between Albemarle and Dover Street is supposed to be one of the oldest in London. A.G. Bell made the first telephone call in the UK there, and Rudyard Kipling wrote at least part of the Jungle Book there. Even more famous is Claridges on Brook Street. During he Second World War it was said that only Claridges was good enough for exiled European Royalty.
Despite my chip on the shoulder about Mayfair, I have to admit that it is a highly diverting part of London to walk around. It’s squares are beautiful, the area is not short on sculpture – I like Hares by Sophie Snyder in Berkely Square and there’s even a couple of museums – one to Michael Faraday, and another in Brook Street dedicated to residents Handel and Jimi Hendricks. What a musical collaboration that might have been.