Carnaby Street: what is there now, and when it is worth going

Carnaby Street, W1F, runs parallel to Regent Street through Soho, is pedestrianised, and is about three hundred metres long. It takes ten minutes to walk and most people expect more of it than that.

What it was

In the 1960s this was the centre of Mod culture and the boutique explosion that got called Swinging London. The independent shops that made its name are long gone, and it has been a managed retail estate for decades.

Knowing that in advance changes the visit for the better. Go expecting a pleasant pedestrian street with a famous name rather than a piece of preserved history, and it delivers.

What is there now

Mainstream and mid-market fashion along the street itself, with the more interesting part just off it. Kingly Court, halfway down, is a three-storey courtyard of restaurants and bars around an open middle, covered enough to work in bad weather, and it is the reason to come at lunch or in the evening rather than only to shop.

The surrounding lanes, Newburgh Street and Foubert’s Place among them, hold the smaller independents and are the bit that most resembles what people came for.

The one time it is genuinely worth a trip

The Christmas lights. Carnaby installs a themed display each November, and it is consistently the most inventive of the London Christmas lights, more so than Oxford Street and Regent Street, because it changes theme completely each year rather than reusing a scheme.

It is free, it needs no ticket, and it is best on a weekday evening from mid-November. Our Christmas lights guide covers the switch-on dates and the rest of the West End displays.

Practical

Nearest stations are Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus, both about five minutes. It is pedestrianised, flat and step-free.

Saturday afternoon is the worst time to come, for the same reason as every other central shopping street. Weekday mornings are quiet, and evenings are better than either because Kingly Court is what actually works here.

What to combine it with

You are in Soho, so the rest of the evening is on the doorstep: what is on in Soho, the theatre five minutes away, and the comedy rooms and late kitchens that make this the densest square mile of evening in the country.