London Guide
Marylebone
Once the outlying village of St Mary-by-the-Bourne (the bourne in question being the Tyburn stream), Marylebone (pronounced "marra-le-bun"). Samuel Pepys walked through open countryside to reach its pleasure gardens in 1668 and declared it "a pretty place". During the course of the next century, the gardens were closed and the village was swallowed up as its chief landowners – among them the Portlands and the Portmans – laid out a mesh of uniform Georgian streets and squares, much of which survives today.
Marylebone may not have quite the pedigree and snob value of Mayfair, but it's still a wealthy and aspirational area. It was here that The Beatles took up residence when they hit the big time in the 1960s, and more recently Madonna and family moved into the area. Compared to the brashness of Oxford Street, Marylebone's backstreets are a pleasure to wander, especially the chi-chi village-like quarter around Marylebone High Street. The area's more conventional sights include the massively touristed Madame Tussaud's, on Marylebone Road, the free art gallery and aristocratic mansion of the Wallace Collection, and Sherlock Holmes' old stomping grounds around Baker Street.