Regent Street is the curved mile between Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus, lined with flagship stores in matching stone facades. It is a far more comfortable street to walk than Oxford Street, it has a handful of shops worth going inside for, and almost all of the interesting eating is in the side streets rather than on the street itself.
Our guide to Oxford Street covers the busier street that crosses it at the northern end. This page deals with Regent Street on its own terms: how it was built, which shops repay the time, where to turn off, and when the street is worth seeing for reasons that have nothing to do with shopping.
Two things explain everything about it. The whole street is owned by a single landlord, The Crown Estate, which is why the shopfronts are uniform and the tenants are almost entirely large brands. And it was designed as a shopping street from the start, which no other major street in London was.
Regent Street: the basics
- Runs from
- Waterloo Place and Piccadilly Circus north to Oxford Circus and beyond
- Laid out
- From 1819, under the architect John Nash, and named after the Prince Regent
- Owner
- The Crown Estate
- Listing
- The facades are Grade II listed
- Stations
- Oxford Circus at the north end, Piccadilly Circus at the south
- Typical hours
- Around 10:00-20:00 Monday to Saturday; six hours only on Sunday for large shops
- Christmas lights
- Switched on in November each year
Why the street bends
Nash was given a job that was as much town planning as architecture: to drive a new road from the Prince Regent's house near St James's up to Regent's Park, and to use it to separate the fashionable streets of Mayfair from the poorer district of Soho. The curve at the southern end, still called the Quadrant, exists because the line had to swing east to meet Piccadilly without demolishing more of Mayfair than necessary.
What you walk past today is not Nash's work. His painted stucco terraces were pulled down and rebuilt in Portland stone in the first decades of the twentieth century, on a much larger scale, which is why the buildings look Edwardian and imperial rather than Regency. The line of the street, the width and the curve are his; the stone is not.
The Crown Estate describes it as the first purpose-built shopping street in the capital, and that is the useful way to think about it. It was conceived as a place to be seen buying things, and two hundred years later it is still doing precisely that job.
Which shops are actually worth going into
Most of the street is flagship branches of brands that have shops elsewhere. There is nothing wrong with that, but it means a visitor's time is better spent on the handful of places that are genuinely different here.
- Hamleys, at 188-196 Regent Street, is the one address on the street that is a destination in itself. Free to enter, loud, and open until 21:00 from Monday to Saturday.
- Liberty is on Great Marlborough Street, one of the side streets, and is the best building of the lot. If you go into one shop on this walk, make it that one.
- The big fashion and leather-goods flagships are worth entering only if the brand matters to you. They are larger, better stocked and better staffed than the same brands' branches at home, and several offer personalisation or made-to-order services that the smaller shops do not.
- The Apple store occupies one of the largest units on the street and is the obvious place to go if a charger, a cable or a phone has failed mid-trip.
- The beauty and fragrance flagships, several of which run free consultations, are a useful hour on a wet afternoon.
Cross the street to look at the buildings, not just the windows. The facades were designed to be read as a single composition. Stand on the outside of the curve in the Quadrant, or at the top near Oxford Circus, and look up above the shopfronts; the detail starts at first-floor level and most shoppers never see it.
The side streets, where the better half of the day is
| Turning | What is there |
|---|---|
| Heddon Street | A short pedestrian street of restaurants and bars, including a Michelin-starred Spanish restaurant |
| Great Marlborough Street | Liberty, and the way through to Carnaby Street |
| Conduit Street | Towards Bond Street, Mayfair boutiques and galleries |
| Brewer Street | South-east into Soho, delis and independent shops |
| Princes Street and Hanover Street | Quieter connections east and west near Oxford Circus |
| Glasshouse Street | Down to Piccadilly Circus, bars and the back of the Quadrant |
Heddon Street is the one to know about. It is thirty seconds off Regent Street, it has tables outside in summer, and the food is better than anything on the main street. Our guide to Michelin-starred restaurants in London covers the serious end of it.
Turn east instead and you are in Carnaby Street and the lanes behind it within two minutes, which is where the independent shops are. Turn west from the southern half and you are in Mayfair and St James's.
Walking the street from one end to the other
The full length takes about fifteen minutes at a normal pace. Starting at the Piccadilly Circus end and walking north is the better direction, because the Quadrant curve reveals the street gradually and because you finish near Oxford Circus, which has more Tube lines.
The pavements are wide but the street carries traffic, including a great many buses. Routes along it are a useful way to cover the distance if the weather turns; see our guide to using London buses. The crossing at Oxford Circus is the diagonal one, where pedestrians cross in every direction at once, and it is worth a moment's attention if you have not used one before.
At the southern end, Regent Street runs into Piccadilly Circus, with Fortnum & Mason a few minutes west along Piccadilly and the shirtmakers of Savile Row and Jermyn Street immediately behind it.
The street as an event space
The Crown Estate programmes Regent Street as much as it lets it. Through the year the street hosts a food festival, a fashion and design month in September, and the best-known Christmas lights in London, switched on in November and left up until early January. It is also where London's Chinese New Year celebrations spill north from Chinatown; see our guide to Chinese New Year in London.
Occasionally the street is closed to traffic for a Sunday event, which turns it into the best promenade in central London for a few hours. These are announced on the estate's own events calendar rather than far in advance, so check it if you are in town.
December on Regent Street is spectacular and almost unwalkable. From late November the pavements between Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus fill up from mid-afternoon, and on Saturdays the crowd moves at a shuffle. Come on a weekday evening for the lights, and do your actual shopping at another time of year. Our guides to Christmas shopping and holiday closures have the dates.
Money, hours and expectations
Prices on Regent Street are recommended retail, not negotiated, and there are no bargains. Everything includes 20% VAT, which visitors cannot reclaim on the way home; see our page on what replaced tax-free shopping. If price is the point of the trip, the outlet centres are the honest alternative, and our guide to outlet shopping within reach of London compares them.
Sunday hours are short, because English law allows a shop of this size six continuous trading hours between 10:00 and 18:00. Most of the street therefore opens at noon on Sundays. The smaller shops in Soho, a street away, are not bound by that rule.
Frequently asked questions
Is Regent Street better than Oxford Street for shopping?
It is more comfortable and more attractive, with wider pavements, fewer crowds and a consistent set of flagship stores. Oxford Street has more choice and more department stores. Most visitors walk both, since they meet at Oxford Circus, and use Regent Street for browsing rather than for finding a bargain.
Who owns Regent Street?
The Crown Estate owns the whole street and manages it as a single property, which is why the shopfronts are uniform, the tenants are mostly large brands and the street can be programmed with festivals and lighting schemes. The facades are Grade II listed.
Is Regent Street the original Georgian street?
Only in plan. John Nash laid it out from 1819 and gave it its width and its curve, but his stucco terraces were demolished and replaced with much larger Portland stone buildings in the early twentieth century. What survives of the Regency scheme is the line of the street itself.
What time do Regent Street shops open on Sunday?
Most large shops open at noon and close at 18:00, because the law limits them to six continuous hours of Sunday trading between 10:00 and 18:00. Hours are longer on Thursdays and throughout the weeks before Christmas. Check individual stores before making a special trip.
When are the Regent Street Christmas lights switched on?
In November, with the exact date announced by The Crown Estate each autumn, and the lights stay up into early January. The switch-on evening itself draws very large crowds and closes the street. A quiet weekday evening later in the month gives you the same view with room to walk.
Sources
- The Crown Estate - The history of Regent Street (checked September 2026)
- The Crown Estate - Regent Street today: shops, side streets and events (checked September 2026)
- The Crown Estate - Hamleys, 188-196 Regent Street (checked September 2026)
- legislation.gov.uk - Sunday Trading Act 1994, Schedule 1 (checked September 2026)
- GOV.UK - Tax-free shopping (checked September 2026)