Overview

Named after Sir Thomas Bond, the financial controller of the Queen's Household at the court of King Charles I in the 17th century, the Bond Street area was swampy, uninhabited and near a plague pit - an unsavory area where highwaymen preyed on passers-by and noblemen fought duels. By the 1850s, however, Bond Street had undergone something of a renaissance and become a place lined with fashionable shops, where members of high society would stroll the streets. And it has remained so, although tourists and shop-a-holics are its main visitors now. Nonetheless, Bond Street still has many traders who display the Royal Warrant and maintain a tradition of individual service, with many leading fashion houses where made-to-measure garments can be purchased. For lovers of art, high fashion and elegant clothes, jewelery and leather goods, there is no equal to Bond Street. Acquisitions and changes have enhanced its reputation further over the years with key fashion houses ! - such as Donna Karan, Calvin Klein and Louis Vuitton - opening shops.