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Knightsbridge, London - Guide

Knightsbridge - 6 Sights & Attractions

1. Harrods, Knightsbridge

The most famous shop in the world – with its terracotta tiled façade, olive-green awning and top-hatted doormen – Harrods never fails to impress. The store began in 1834 in London’s East End, when founder Charles Henry Harrod set up as a wholesale grocer in Stepney, with a special interest in tea. In 1849, to escape the filth of the inner city, Harrod took over a small shop in the new district of Knightsbridge on the site of the current store. In spite of a serious fire in 1883, its fortunes have boomed ever since. In recent years, under owner Mohammed Al Fayed, it has seen many new additions, including “Urban Retreat” – Europe’s largest health and beauty salon – and the Egyptian Escalator, a magnificent homage to ancient Egypt.

Harrod’s magic remains undimmed today. It features floor after floor of couture clothing by designers such as MaxMara, Joseph, Dolce & Gabanna and Moschimo. Where else can you stumble across a £1 million pair of diamond-encrusted shoes or purchase a £250,000 Madame Tussaud’s waxwork of yourself? Special events might include opera singers performing arias at the top of the Egyptian Escalator, Joan Collins signing her latest book, or Donatella Versace launching her newest fragrance in person. You can also book theatre tickets, have a facial, order sashimi or choose from 300 varieties of cheese in the amazing Food Hall. But perhaps the nicest aspect of Harrods is that the friendly staff has time for you even if they know you can’t afford the most exclusive items. And if you really enjoy the experience, you can buy one of the store’s signature teddy bears as a souvenir!

2. The Albert Hall

The Albert Hall is a monumental arts venue dedicated to Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert. The name of the hall was originally to be 'The Central Hall of Arts and Sciences' however, after the death of Prince Albert, and at Queen Victoria’s request, the name was changed to the Albert Hall. Its iconic oval design has made it one of London’s most recognised landmarks. A Grecian mosaic frieze depicting the ‘Triumph of Arts and Science’ enrobes the building and praises the achievements of the Great Exhibition of 1851. Since it’s opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the Albert Hall has hosted some of the world’s leading artists and performers.

The giant oval building was designed to accommodate 8,000 people and over the years has been used for concerts, theatre, dance and even sports. Since 1941, the BBC Promenade concerts (or BBC Proms) have been held in the hall every summer. The Last Night of the Proms has become a cultural institution and is televised live in several countries

3. Harvey Nichols

Harvey Nichols' flagship store opened in its present form on the corner of Knightsbridge and Sloane Street in the 1880s. There are a total of seven floors of fashion, beauty and home collections with the Fifth Floor dedicated to Food and Restaurants, including a sunny café that is a popular meeting spot for the grande dames of Knightsbridge. Smaller than Selfridges and less famous than Harrods, the store none the less continues to introduce lesser-known, exclusive labels that fit in with its elegant urban image, making it a manageable one-stop-shop for front-line fashion. Hot designers clamour to be sold here, and names like Narciso Rodriguez, Michael Kors and Peter Som (whose clothes have appeared in Sex and the City) all feature. The excellent shoe department includes a swanky Jimmy Choo salon.

4. Victoria and Albert Museum

The V&A began its life as a building to house a small collection of objects bought by the government from the hugely successful Great Exhibition of 1851. Its scarred brickwork (damaged by German bombs in World War II) gives it the appearance of an old war-horse, but it has done much in recent years to update its image. Some of these innovations – for instance fashion retrospectives on Gianni Versace, Coco Chanel and Ossie Clark – have been controversial amongst purists. But the museum’s collection of decorative arts from Britain, Europe and Asia remains the best in the world, and reflects centuries of achievement in ceramics, sculpture, furniture making, jewellery, metalwork, textiles and dress. It also boasts the finest collection of Italian Renaissance sculpture outside of Italy.

5. Hyde Park and the Sepentine Lake

Covering 140 hectares (350 acres) and offering a blissful respite from the commercial bustle of central London, Hyde Park is perhaps the most celebrated of all the capital’s parks. Even on summer days, when thousands of people pour into it, there’s still space and peace for everyone. The Park was first snatched from the monks of Westminster Abbey in 1536 by Henry VIII for hunting grounds. It remained private until James I allowed the upper echelons of society to frequent it. But it was Charles I who changed the nature of the park completely. He had the Ring (north of the present Serpentine boathouses) created and in 1637 opened the park to the general public. At the end of the 17th century William III made his home in Kensington Palace and a corner of Hyde Park was sectioned off to make grounds for the palace, although today the two merge.

Today the park’s attractions are numerous and varied. There’s a daily procession by the Household Cavalry, who leave their high-rise barracks near the Prince of Wales gate, and trot in full ceremonial dress to Whitehall for the Changing of the Guard. The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain already attracts more than a million visitors a year. Its design aims to reflect Diana's life, with water flowing from the highest point in two directions as it cascades, swirls and bubbles before meeting in a calm pool at the bottom. The water is constantly being refreshed and is drawn from London's water table. There are also lots of sculptures dotted around the park, the most popular being the winsome bronze statue of Peter Pan, just to the north-east of Long Water. Meanwhile Speaker’s Corner remains as a testament to the legalisation of public assembly in the park in 1872. Here you’ll often find soapbox religious mania struggling to make itself heard above a noisy mob of hecklers – an entertaining spectacle for anyone who believes that the British are naturally reserved.

The Park’s other great feature is the Serpentine Lake. Damned from the River Westbourne in 1730 at the behest of Queen Caroline, it was originally conceived as one large playground for royal yachts. In 1826 George Rennie’s prominent bridge divided the lake of the southern Serpentine from the more scenic Long Water, which winds its way towards Lancaster Gate and the Italian Gardens, a series of fountains in front of an ornate pumphouse. Visitors can enjoy the Serpentine by hiring rowing boats between March and October.

6. Science Museum

This gigantic – and free – museum makes science seem fresh and exciting for visitors of all ages. The ground floor features “Making the Modern World,” a unique, breathtaking gallery, which chronologically presents 150 of the most significant items from the Science Museum's collections from 1750 to 2000. The East Hall displays many early steam engines, plus sections devoted to gas, oil and air engines as well as alternative technologies. On this level there’s also a superb exhibit devoted to the exploration of space. The other six floors offer displays dedicated to the weather, telecommunications, the history of computing, flight, photography and cinematography and medical history. There’s also Digitopolis, which shows how digital technology is changing people’s lives and how it might affect the future. Few of the displays are dry or academic and there’s always interactive fun, from the water experiment in the basement to the hands-on Launch Pad gallery. A 3-D IMAX cinema also simulates larger than life experiences, from walking on the moon to deep-sea diving.