More from Walker's London

"Great was my joy with London at my feet -
All London mine, five shillings in hand
And not expected back till after tea!"

- from John Betjeman's Summoned by Bells; Chapter 6, London.

My morning meeting on Chancery Lane over, time to get in my daily dose of walking London thoroughfares, narrow and broad, well-trodden and little known. Follow me, then, on a Most beautiful sunny day in late January, for a walking tour of the West End...

Just off Chancery Lane is Carey Street, once home to the bankruptcy court, hence the old saying that someone's 'on Carey Street', it suggests that they are insolvent.

Below: turn through 180 degrees, and here's the back of the Royal Courts of Justice.

"Five floors up the Charing Cross Road and never a job at the top of them." Up there, maybe, still work the successors to fictional theatrical agent, Raymond Duck.

This is the lowest of low seasons for tourists - as a result, a walk along Oxford Street around lunchtime was actually pleasant - not being jostled by frenzied shoppers barging by with large bags and boxes, I could focus on the architecture. Below: look up from the shop fronts! An eclectic mix of facades at the Tottenham Court Road end. The area around the junction of Oxford St, Tottenham Court Rd and Charing Cross Road is still a huge building site after the best part of a decade, given the overrun on Crossrail.

Below: the architectural splendour of what was the Waring & Gillow's furniture showroom, now clothing retailer H&M's flagship London store.

Below: the 1950s replacement for the John Lewis department store destroyed during WW2. A rare example of the British expression of modernist architecture that I actually like.

Below: by Bond Street, Debenhams flagship store, visually enhanced in 2013 with a new facade.

Below: Selfridges. Opened in 1909, this department store is considered the best on a street known for its department stores.

Below: waiting at Marble Arch for the Central Line train back to Ealing Broadway.

Below: glorious winter afternoon, Cleveland Park.

This time three years ago:
Daffodils and crocuses in bloom, in January!

This time four years ago:
Populist start to election campaign

This time five years ago:
Straż Ochrony Kolei explained

This time six years ago:
The end of winter? So early?

This time seven years ago:
How much education for the nation? 

This time eight years ago:
To the Catch - short story

This time nine years ago:
Eternal Warsaw

This time 11 years ago:
From the family archives