5 Lovely London Mews You Shouldn’t Miss

Written by Penna a Spillo

🗺️📍Follow my SoulMap™ and discover London like a local

🚶 Category: London walks

🏡 What Are London Mews? The City’s Secret Historic Alleys

DO you know what Mews are?

I only found out by living in London.

London mews are narrow streets with low buildings arranged in two parallel rows separated by cobblestone pavement.

Once they were service roads of the former stables annexed to the aristocratic buildings of the Georgian or Victorian era, but today they have been transformed into luxurious streets with very beautiful and expensive apartments.

These streets look like small villages, most of the time surrounded by that kind of London gardens, apparently random, but actually very well settled and carefully arranged.

The facades of the houses are often surrounded by climbing roses, and it is not rare to find old-fashioned cars parked in front of the small doors.

I’ve discovered that there are many Mews in London and I’ve found the most beautiful by chance, browsing around the side streets of the main neighbourhoods.

I show you five that I discovered just like that, stepping in the alleys that I encountered along my way.

📍 1. Stanhope South: A 1970s TV Vibe in South Kensington

South Kensington is one of London’s neighbourhoods where many Mews are concentrated.

And just walking through South Kensington one evening, while I was going to dinner, I came across this perfect corner by chance, with nice light, and a green car parked in front of the door, very British.

Then I discovered that I was one of the best known Mews in the area; it is called Stanhope South and it is enchanting, a small corner of a different London, halfway between the country villages and the old TV series of the Seventies.

🏛️ 2. Queen’s Gate Place Mews: Stepping Through the Arch

It is definitely a good idea, to find adorable Mews, take a walk around Queen’s Gate, in the same South Kensington area.

Around Queen’s Gate, with the starting point in front of the Natural History Museum, there are several mews, all enchanting, that I was able to discover thanks to a very pleasant walking tour organised by Artwitt.

The first one you step in is Queen’s Gate Place Mews, which you can see here.

You come through an arch and you pop up in a small different world.

🎨 3. Elvaston Mews: Pastel Houses & Cobblestones

A little further on you will find Elvaston Mews, which you see in the picture Gallery below, even more charming, with pastel color houses and cobblestone pavement.

🖌️ 4. Reece Mews: Francis Bacon’s Historic Studio

In a few more steps, right at the end of the road, you pass through Reece Mews, where you can find Francis Bacon’s studio-house at number 7, in a beautiful brick building covered with climbing grass.

From the 1960s until his death in 1992, this was the center of Francis Bacon’s artistic activity.

Also, on the corner between Reece and Kendrick, there is this mural that I personally find very nice.

🌈 5. St Lukes Mews: Notting Hill’s Colorful Gem

Also, Notting Hill is an area where you can find many lovely Mews.

This is one of my favorites, mainly because it’s very colorful.

It’s called St Lukes Mews and it’s unmissable; in the gray days of London it is an explosion of color, and when the sun comes up, well, then it’s a real gem.

👉 If you would like to discover the neighbourhood, you can have a look at my article 5 Romantic Villages you shouldn’t miss in London