Step back into the early planning of London’s West End, where the first purpose‑designed squares began reshaping a city still rooted in medieval streets and haphazard development. In this episode of Ye Olde Guide we explore the origins of London’s earliest squares — spaces that bridged the chaotic post‑medieval city and the more ordered, elegant Georgian era to come.
From Covent Garden onwards, we uncover how these early squares transformed the way London grew, creating distinctive pockets of organisation that still define the character of Soho, Covent Garden, and Mayfair today. These are the foundations of one of the world’s most celebrated urban landscapes.
