Soho

What makes it special

At Soho Square, look past the symmetrical lawns to the small half-timbered black and white hut at the centre, and to the statue of Charles II in the garden. Two of the houses on the square, numbers 10 and 15, are original to it.

Walk close to the statue, carved in 1681, to see how badly the stone has worn, above all around the king's face and right arm.

Berwick Street is still a working market of fruit, vegetable and flower stalls. The same corner holds central London's largest concentration of independent record shops.

The whole district is a protected conservation area, with 219 buildings on the national heritage list, so look up above the shopfronts as you walk.

Visiting

From Oxford Circus, walk into Carnaby Street and find Kingly Court, the three-storey courtyard of restaurants and bars tucked behind it, which opens from 10am, or from noon on Sundays. Then walk on to Berwick Street for the market stalls.

Soho Square opens daily from 8am. Walk round the lawns, the hut and the statue for as long as you like, and sit on the grass if the weather allows.

Come back after dark for the second half of the walk, when the pubs and bars take over the same streets.

Tips

Walk Carnaby Street after 11am, when it closes to traffic; before then it is an ordinary road.

Getting home late, take a licensed taxi rather than an unlicensed car offered on the street, and do not get into a pedicab, whose driver sets the fare at the end of the ride.