Escorts in Mount Street, W1K: who is close, and how soon
Where do you eat on Mount Street when the evening is meant to be about the company rather than the room? The street answers in more ways than its length suggests: tables on the pavement under the terracotta in fine weather, a Victorian pub on the South Audley Street corner, a public garden behind the shops for a sandwich at midday, and, on the far side of Curzon Street, the lanes of Shepherd Market with their small dining rooms. For Mount Street escorts the nearest names live elsewhere in Mayfair, three of them, since nobody on the board gives the street itself as home, so the office works to its usual central figure, an hour or so counted from the moment it confirms and more in the evening rush, sends her exact time as she sets off, and lists the four hour dinner date on the rates beside every other length.
On the ground
Mount Street in practice
Landmarks on the arrival slip
By postcode, never by nameW1K 2AL, W1K 2HP, W1K 1QA, W1J 5EB, W1K 7TN.
Nearest stations
Walking timeBond Street, 7 minutes. Green Park, 7 minutes. Hyde Park Corner, 9 minutes.
Getting there
W1KTravel is included across Zones 1 and 2, and counted from the moment the hour is set rather than from when she leaves.
On the board
Nearest prints to Mount Street
Who works here
On the board in Mount Street
The eight prints above are a first shortlist for Mount Street tonight. Any of the twenty eight on the who is free page can be asked for by name instead.
Note 02
A street built with its ground floors open
Mount Street takes its name from Oliver's Mount, an earthwork thrown up on this ground in the Civil War as part of the defences of London. What stands now is later. In the 1880s and 1890s the Grosvenor estate rebuilt most of the street in pink terracotta and red brick, with shops and dining rooms on the ground floor and flats above, and it has kept that arrangement ever since.
That is why eating here feels like part of the street rather than a trip indoors. The windows are low, the doors open straight onto the pavement, and the kitchens sit under people's homes. From Park Lane at one end to Berkeley Square at the other, the whole run is short enough to read in a single stroll before choosing where to sit.
Note 03
Shellfish and the pavement tables
The best known table on Mount Street belongs to a long-established seafood restaurant, with an oyster counter inside and tables set out along the pavement when the weather allows. It stands for the older Mayfair idea of dining out: fish and shellfish, a glass of something cold, and a room that expects to be looked at as much as eaten in.
Smaller rooms and a café or two fill other ground floors along the street, and they change with their tenants more often than the terracotta does. The honest advice is to look at what is open on the evening rather than trust a list, because on a street this short the choice takes a minute to see.
Note 04
The pub on the South Audley Street corner
Where Mount Street crosses South Audley Street stands a Victorian pub, built as part of the same terracotta rebuild and still the least formal place to eat or drink on the street. It is the answer for a guest who wants a pint and a plate rather than a tasting menu.
South Audley Street itself runs north from that corner towards Grosvenor Square, lined with the same kind of ground floor shops, and it is the street to walk when the plan is a drink first and a table later. Farm Street, just south, has an old pub of its own tucked among the houses.
Note 05
Lunch in Mount Street Gardens
Behind the shops on the south side lies Mount Street Gardens, a public garden laid out in the late nineteenth century on what had been a burial ground. Tall plane trees, lawns and rows of benches make it the most pleasant free table in W1K, and at midday it fills with people eating from paper bags bought on the surrounding streets.
The Jesuit Church of the Immaculate Conception backs onto the garden from Farm Street, and with houses on the other sides the garden feels enclosed and quiet. It suits an unhurried lunch or a coffee before an afternoon booking, and it is somewhere to sit and talk rather than somewhere to be seen.
Note 06
Shepherd Market for something smaller
On the far side of Curzon Street lies Shepherd Market, built in the eighteenth century by Edward Shepherd on the ground where the spring fair that named Mayfair used to be held. It is a knot of narrow lanes and a small square, with pubs whose drinkers stand out on the paving in warm weather and a run of small restaurants of several cuisines.
It is the opposite of the terracotta street: plainer, noisier, more crowded at the pub doors, and friendlier for it. A dinner that starts on Mount Street and ends with a drink in Shepherd Market covers both faces of this corner of Mayfair in one evening.
Note 07
Shaping an evening around the table
For escorts in Mount Street the order is simple: reserve the table first, then write to the office with the time, the length and your hotel or address. A booking is fixed around the hour you give, and the evening begins where you are staying and walks to dinner from there. Tell the office the kind of room you have booked, the seafood counter or the pub corner, and she dresses for that room.
For neighbouring ground, Grosvenor Square lies up South Audley Street and Berkeley Square closes the street at its eastern end.
From The Roundup
Two notes worth reading for Mount Street
Asked most often
Mount Street, asked and answered
Is there anywhere on Mount Street to eat outdoors?
Where near Mount Street feels less formal than a dining room?
Can we take a sandwich into Mount Street Gardens?
Is Shepherd Market worth the walk for dinner?
Should the table be reserved before I write to the office?
One zone either way
Next along from Mount Street
Last strip
Say a name and an hour
Write in with a length, a time and the zone you are staying in, and a name from the board comes back with a window attached. That is the whole of the arrangement.