F14 - St James Westminster to Victoria - What to See and Where to Eat and Drink (1.8 km)
- philip carey
- Jul 9, 2023
- 13 min read
Updated: Dec 22, 2024
Start at Westminster Station
Finish at Victoria Station
THE EXPERIENCE
Discover the hidden sights to delight your eyes and stomach between Westminster and Victoria.
This route is located between Westminster Station on Parliament Street and Victoria Stations and takes you into the heart of St James’s Westminster with a ‘Eat, Drink and be Merry’ theme. The area has a rich history nestling between Westminster Abbey in the east, Buckingham Palace and St James’s Park to its north and Victoria Station towards the end. The route starts near the Houses of Parliament. It takes you past Westminster Abbey, St James’s Westminster, Wellington Barracks, the grand hotels on Buckingham Gate, and then along Victoria Street with Westminster Cathedral, Cardinal Place Shopping and the theatres close to Victoria Station.
The route is excellent for history, iconic sights, hotels, transport links, shops, places of worship, government buildings, theatres, and places to eat, drink and be merry.
BEST TIME
Morning- This route is not too busy, but it can get crowded around Westminster Station, Victoria Street and Victoria Station. The best time to explore the route is early morning when the lighting is at its best, and few people are around. It is also a great way to discover places for breakfast.
Day - This route will get busier around Westminster Station, Victoria Street and Victoria Station.
Evening - This route will be quieter in most places except Victoria Station.
ROUTE OVERVIEW
This 1.8 km route starts on Parliament Street, taking in the magnificent views of the Houses of Parliament, Parliament Square, and the government buildings on Great George Street. It then turns down Storey’s Gate and heads towards Westminster Abbey, where it turns into St James’s Westminster. The route passes impressive architecture towards Buckingham Gate and Victoria Street. The final section passes Westminster Cathedral and Cardinal Place shopping centre before finishing at Victoria Station.
See the route at speed (2:56)
Use this to see what the route looks like as if you were doing it at speed and to make you more familiar with what you will see along the way.
GOOGLE AND STRAVA MAPS
Use 'My Google Maps' to explore this route's venues. If you are using a mobile device, the map can help you find the start point for the route, navigate to places of interest, and show your position on the map.
What to see and places to eat, drink and be merry.
What to See List
1 Parliament Square
2 The Houses of Parliament
3 Great George Street and Storey’s Gate
4 Central Methodist Hall and QEII Conference Centre
5 Westminster Abbey
6 St James Park Station and the Conrad
7 Petty France and Wellington Barracks
8 Buckingham Gate and Hotels
9 Buckingham Palace and St James’s Park
10 Westminster Cathedral
11 Cardinal Place Shopping
12 Victoria Station and Theatres
St James's to Victoria - Pubs and Bars
This will help you locate the pubs and bars around this Photorun. These are centred near Victoria Station, St James Westminster, and Buckingham Palace Gate.
Here is a listing of nearby pubs and bars.
PUBS
The Red Lion
48 Parliament St, London SW1A 2NH
https://www.redlionwestminster.co.uk
St Stephen’s Tavern Pub & Restaurant
10 Bridge St, London SW1A 2JJ
Two Chairmen
39 Dartmouth St, London SW1H 9BP
Westminster Arms
9 & 10 Storey's Gate, London SW1P 3AT
The Old Star
66 Broadway, London SW1H 0DB
Cask & Glass
39-41 Palace St, London SW1 5HN
Colonies
25 Wilfred St, London SW1E 6PR
The Feathers
18-20 Broadway, Greater, London SW1H 0BH
The Albert
52 Victoria St, London SW1H 0NP
Greencoat Boy
2 Greencoat Pl, London SW1P 1PJ
The Duke of York
130-134 Victoria St, London SW1E 5LA
Shakespeare
99 Buckingham Palace Rd, London SW1W 0RP
The Beer House
Victoria Rail Station, 115 Buckingham Palace Rd, London SW1E 5ND
The Windsor Castle
23 Francis St, London SW1P 1DN
Grafton Arms
2 Strutton Ground, London SW1P 2HP
The Willow Walk - JD Wetherspoon
Parnell House, 25 Wilton Rd, Pimlico, London SW1V 1LW
Buckingham Arms
62 Petty France, London SW1H 9EU
White Horse & Bower
86 Horseferry Rd, London SW1P 2EE
The Barley Mow
104 Horseferry Rd, London SW1P 2EE
www.barleymowhorseferryrd.co.uk
The Victoria
1 Lower Belgrave St, London SW1W 0NR
Plumbers Arms
14 Lower Belgrave St, London SW1W 0LN
BARS
The Hamptons Bar
St. James' Court, A Taj Hotel, 54 Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6AF
The Bay and Bracket
17-19 Artillery Row, London SW1P 1RT
Flight Club Victoria
6 Sir Simon Milton Sq, London SW1E 5DJ
Greenwood
170 Victoria St, London SW1E 5LB
The Soak
Terminus Pl, London SW1W 0RP
OTHERWORLD VR | Victoria
85 Buckingham Palace Rd, London SW1W 0QJ
Blue Boar
45 Tothill St, London SW1H 9LQ
Sports Bar & Grill – Victoria
Unit 59, Victoria Station, Terminus Pl, London SW1V 1JU
The Loose Box
51 Horseferry Rd, London SW1P 2AA
St James's to Victoria - Places to Eat
There are a few places to eat along the way, with most centred around Victoria Station and near Buckingham Palace Gate. Use the food links to find your perfect spot.
Open Table London prides itself on bringing together people and the restaurants they love in the moments that matter, offering dining options, experiences, and offers.
The Fork—This is a Tripadvisor company that relies as much on its communities of users as its communities of restaurateurs. You can search by price, cuisine, rating, and special offers.
Hardens – This is probably the UK's most comprehensive independent restaurant guide, with reviews written by its members. It ranks each place by its food, services and ambience and has extensive search capabilities.
Design My Night This site is designed to help you discover and unlock secret, new and unique city experiences, from events to bars and restaurants, but it is also a site to help plan and book online. It has categories for restaurants, bars, pubs, clubs, and 'what's on'.
Afternoon tea This is an Afternoon Tea guide to help you find the 'perfect venue for afternoon tea' in London and the UK. It provides descriptions, offers, booking facilities and an extensive search option.
St James's to Victoria - Things to Do
The main attractions the London's iconic sites like Westminster Abbey and the Royal Mews, as well as several museums. There are also two theatres near Victoria Station and Cardinal Place with shops and eating places.
Churchill War Rooms
King Charles St, London SW1A 2AQ
Jewel Tower
Abingdon St, London SW1P 3JY
Westminster Abbey
20 Deans Yd, London SW1P 3PA
The Household Cavalry Museum
66 Horse Guards Ave, Whitehall, London SW1A 2AX
Thames River Boats - Westminster Pier
Westminster Pier, Victoria Embankment, London SW1A 2JH
Thames River Sightseeing
Westminster Pier, Victoria Embankment, London SW1A 2JH
www.thamesriversightseeing.com
City Cruises London Westminster Pier
Westminster Pier, London SW1A 2JH
The Guards Museum
Wellington Barracks, Birdcage Walk, London SW1E 6HQ
The Queen's Gallery
Buckingham Palace, London SW1A 1AA
The Royal Mews
Buckingham Palace Rd, London SW1W 0QH
The Other Palace
12 Palace St, London SW1E 5BJ
Victoria Palace Theatre
79 Victoria St, London SW1E 5EA
www.victoriapalacetheatre.co.uk
Apollo Victoria Theatre
17 Wilton Rd, Pimlico, London SW1V 1LG
Westminster Cathedral
Victoria St, London SW1P 1LT
www.westminstercathedral.org.uk
Curzon Victoria
58 Victoria St, London SW1E 6QW
Cardinal Place
Victoria St, London SW1E 5JD
St James's to Victoria - Breakfast Venues
Cellarium Cafe & Terrace
Westminster Abbey, Dean's Yard, The Sanctuary, London SW1P 3P
Old Queen Street Café
6 Old Queen St, London SW1H 9HP
Wash House Café
34 Great Smith St, London SW1P 3BU
https://www.theabbeycentre.org.uk/cafe/
Wesley's Café
Central Hall Westminster, Storey's Gate, London SW1H 9NH
https://www.c-h-w.com/wesleys-cafe/
Cafe Fresco
11A Tothill St, London SW1H 9LJ
Pret A Manger
49 Tothill St, London SW1H 9LQ
Pret A Manger
92 Buckingham Palace Rd, London SW1W 0SS
Pret a Manger
Victoria Station, Unit 36B Wilton Rd, London SW1V 1JU
Caffe Grana
Unit 7, 8, 55 Broadway, London SW1H 0BB
Crumpets
82 Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6PD
Royal Artisan Bakery
84-86 Petty France, London SW1H 9EA
https://quartergroup.co.uk/royal-artisan-bakery/
Café Rouge
115 Buckingham Palace Rd, London SW1W 9SJ
Chez Antoinette Victoria
22 Palmer St, London SW1H 0PH
Bonne Bouche Victoria
6 Strutton Ground, London SW1P 2HP
https://bonnebouchepatisserie.co.uk
The Ivy Victoria
66 Victoria St, London SW1E 6SQ
https://ivycollection.com/restaurants/the-ivy-victoria/?utm_source=LocalGoogle&utm_medium=Organic
Pure
131 Victoria St, London SW1E 6RD
https://www.pure.co.uk/shops/victoria-street/
Coco di Mama - Italian To Go – Victoria
139 Victoria St, London SW1E 6RD
https://www.cocodimama.co.uk/menu/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=GMB
Rail House Victoria
8 Sir Simon Milton Square, London SW1E 5DJ
Bill's Victoria Restaurant
6 Cathedral Walk, Cardinal Walk, London SW1E 5JL
https://bills-website.co.uk/restaurants/victoria/?utm_source=LocalGoogle&utm_medium=Organic
Iris & June
1 Howick Pl, London SW1P 1WG
http://www.irisandjune.com/irisandjune-1-1
Timmy Green (Australian)
11 Sir Simon Milton Sq, London SW1E 5DJ – Located in Novo Building
https://www.daisygreenfood.com/new-locations
Giraffe
120 Wilton Rd, Pimlico, London SW1V 1JZ
https://www.giraffe.net/menus/sample-menu
Victoria Café
11 Terminus Pl, London SW1V 1JR
Pimlico Fresh
86-87 Wilton Rd, Pimlico, London SW1V 1DN
Entrée Buckingham
28 Buckingham Place Gate SW1W 0RE
PHOTO GALLERY
This gallery provides a descriptive and visual reference to many sights along this route. Double-click to see the image in full size.
HISTORY & INTERESTING FACTS
Around the Houses of Parliament
Bridge Street
This was completed in 1750, to connect the newly built Westminster Bridge to the House of Parliament. It was built on the site of the Woolstaple, which was one of the 10 official wool markets established by Edward I. Sir Charles Barry, who architected the Houses of Parliament, was born on this street.
On 9 December 1868, the first non-electric gas-lit traffic lights were installed outside the Houses of Parliament to control the traffic on Bridge Street, Great George Street, and Parliament Street. The design combined three semaphore arms with red and green gas lamps for night-time use on a pillar operated by a police constable’. Although it was said to be successful at controlling traffic, its operational life was brief. It exploded on 2 January 1869 because of a leak in one of the gas lines underneath the pavement and injured the policeman who was operating it.
Houses of Parliament.
When King Henry VIII moved to Whitehall Palace after his Palace of Westminster burnt down in 1512, he gave Westminster Hall to Parliament, and the Houses of Parliament were born. The original Houses of Parliament was destroyed by fire in 1834, caused by the ill-advised burning of two large cartloads of wooden tally sticks (a form of medieval tax receipt). It was rebuilt to its current design by Sir Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin and finally completed in 1868.
Westminster Abbey
Benedictine monks first came to this site in the middle of the 10th century and established a tradition of daily worship that continues today.
Westminster Abbey, also known as The Collegiate Church of St Peter, has been the coronation church since 1066 and is the final resting place of seventeen monarchs. The present building, begun by Henry III in 1245, is one of the most important Gothic buildings in the country.
Westminster Hall
The Westminster Central Hall is a multi-purpose building – a Methodist church, a conference and exhibition centre, an art gallery, an office building, a café and a tourist attraction. The Great Hall seats up to 2,352 people. It was erected to mark the centenary of John Wesley’s death. It was built on an old entertainment complex in 1911, which consisted of the Royal Aquarium, a Music Hall and the Imperial Theatre.
Great George Street
Great George Street, leading from Parliament Square to Birdcage Walk, was originally laid out in 1684 and became occupied by several small roads and yards housing inns and tenements. In the 1750s, these were demolished, and Great George Street was laid out with "houses only as are fit for the habitation of persons of fortune and distinction". Part of the street was demolished in 1806 and is now part of Parliament Square. Between 1898 and 1915, the entire north side of the street was demolished to construct the Government Offices on Great George Street. The street houses the headquarters of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, whose building includes the only surviving. Today, it includes the headquarters of HM Revenue and Customs, HM Treasury, and the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport.
The United Kingdom government's Treasury Department is responsible for developing and executing the British government’s public finance and economic policies. The Treasury maintains the Combined Online Information System (COINS), which contains a detailed analysis of departmental spending under thousands of category headings. Sir John Soane built the original building, but later, Sir Charles Barry altered it to provide a new façade.
The Institution of Civil Engineers' headquarters is at One Great George Street, a historic Grade II-listed conference, event, and wedding venue in the centre of Westminster. It offers 21 function rooms, including the stunning Great Hall for up to 400 people and two fully equipped lecture theatres.
Around St James’s - Westminster
Buildings around St James Park Station
St James’s Park Station building is incorporated into 55 Broadway, formerly the headquarters of Transport for London. It has entrances at the junction of 55 Broadway and Petty France and on Palmer Street. The station was opened in 1868 by the District Railway (now the District Line). In May 2020, it was announced that Blue Orchid Hotels, a subsidiary of Integrity International, would convert the structure into a luxury hotel.
The other imposing building in Petty France, is the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), headed by the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor. Its stated priorities are to reduce re-offending and protect the public, provide access to justice, increase confidence in the justice system, and uphold people's civil liberties. The Secretary of State is the minister responsible to Parliament for the judiciary, the court system, prisons, and probation in England and Wales.
The street is called Petty France. The name generally refers to the settlement of Huguenot refugees in the area in the 17th century.
The Conrad London St. James began here in 2014. It has 256 guest rooms and suites, 7 meeting rooms and a restaurant. This stately structure, with its 19th-century façade, was once a war-time residence of lobbyists and civil servants. The building was renovated and opened its doors as London's first Conrad hotel. Nowadays the stylish interior features original art installations and a contemporary design.
Buckingham Gate
This stretches from Victoria Street to Buckingham Palace and dates from around 1700. It used to be home to some of the aristocracy, such as the Duchy of Cornwall. The evangelical Westminster Chapel by Petty France was built in 1841, but this one dates from 1865. It has several hotels, such as St James’s Court, the Guardsman and Taj 51.
The street called Petty France is generally thought to refer to the settlement of Huguenot refugees in the area in the 17th century. It backs onto Wellington Barracks at its northern end and has the South Korean Embassy and the Albert pub to its south.
Wellington Barracks
Wellington Barracks was designed by the two-man team of Sir Francis Smith and Philip Hardwick in the 1830s. The site, conveniently located near Buckingham Palace, is today used by the five regiments of the Queen's Household Division to protect the Royal Palaces. The Coldstream, Grenadier, Irish, Scots, and Welsh Guards are based here. It also contains the Guards Chapel and Guards Museum. The Albert pub was built in 1862, and its name is attributed to Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert. The Albert survived The Blitz during World War II, with the Victorian features remaining virtually untouched. The ornate ceilings, hand-etched frosted glass windows and iron balconies are all original features.
Around Victoria Station
Victoria Street
Victoria Street was a government improvement, planned in the 1830s, opened in 1851 and fully developed by the 1890s. Like many new 19th-century streets, one motive for Victoria Street was to get rid of a notorious slum - the Devil's Acre - west of Westminster Abbey. As usual, the slum was not eliminated, merely displaced. This wide Victoria Street also functioned as a 'sanitary improvement’ and a real estate speculation, raising the street several feet above its marshy surroundings. The luxury Westminster Palace Hotel was built by Westminster Abbey in 1860, The Old Army and Navy store was built in 1864, and the Artillery Mansions in 1895. Today, the street is lined with government buildings, offices, shops, and restaurants. Westminster Cathedral, the mother church of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, is at the end of the street towards Victoria Station—opposite Cardinal Place, a £200m development of retail and office space.
Westminster Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral is the mother church of the Catholic Church in England and Wales and is towards the Victoria Station end of the street. The cathedral is relatively ‘modern’ in historical terms, and the building only began to be built in 1895. It was completed just eight years later, in 1903, and its unique architecture reflects the influences of ancient Christian churches.
Westminster Cathedral is the 50th largest church in the world in terms of interior area (5,017m²) and can seat up to 3,000 people. It was designed by John Francis Bentley in a neo-Byzantine style and is, accordingly, almost entirely made of brick, without steel reinforcements.
Cardinal Place
Cardinal Place, opposite the cathedral, is a retail and office development. The site consists of three buildings covering over a million square feet on Victoria Street next door to Portland House. It was designed by EPR Architects and built by Sir Robert McAlpine.
Little Ben
Little Ben is the cast iron miniature clock tower situated at the intersection of Vauxhall Bridge Road and Victoria Street. It was manufactured by Gillett & Johnston of Croydon and was erected in 1892 and later restored and re-erected in 1981.
There is a rhyming couplet, ‘Apology for Summer Time’ signed "J.W.R." affixed to the body of the clock:
‘My hands you may retard or may advance
my heart beats true for England as for France.’
The couplet refers to the plan that the clock be permanently on Daylight Saving Time, which would make the time correct for France during the winter months and correct for the UK during the summer. However, this policy was either changed or never implemented since it is on GMT in winter and BST in summer, like all other clocks in Great Britain.
Victoria Station
Victoria Station is actually two 19th-century railway stations (created in 1861) combined into one unit. The eastern portion was built for the London, Chatham and Dover Railway, and the western side was created for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. The two railways were partially merged in 1899, and the station was remodelled over the next decade. In 1921, the structure was under the control of Southern Railway, and the partition between the two halves was opened. At the front is the Grosvenor Hotel Victoria, which was built in 1861 to usher in the Golden Age of travel. It was developed by a wealthy building contractor, Sir John Kelk, whose firm had built Victoria Station and its railway bridge. A design plan for the hotel was exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition for 1860, and The Grosvenor first opened to guests in 1862 – just one year after the completion of London’s Victoria Station.
VIRTUAL TOUR OF THE AREA
Click on the picture below to go on a 360 virtual tour of the shopping areas and look around.
Use the route to explore this location by looking around in 360, taking in the sights and sounds, listening to an audio recording about the area and going on a virtual tour.
Browse the gallery to find out what you can see along the way.
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