In this guide
At a glance
- Vibe
- Quietly residential above, and one of London's best eating districts at street level
- Time needed
- An evening, or half a day with lunch
- Best day
- Any evening; quieter than Soho at weekends
- Travel zone
- 1
- Walkability
- 5/5
- Typical spend
- ££
Best for
Nearest stations
- Goodge StreetNorthern
- Tottenham Court RoadElizabeth lineCentralNorthern
- Warren StreetNorthernVictoria
- Great Portland StreetCircleHammersmith & CityMetropolitan
Fitzrovia has no famous sight, no market and no reason to appear on a first-time itinerary. It is also, street for street, the best place to eat in central London.
The area is a rough square between Oxford Street and Euston Road, walked through constantly by people going somewhere else. Look up and it is Georgian terraces and the BT Tower. Look at street level on Charlotte Street or Goodge Street and it is thirty years of restaurant history stacked side by side.
Fitzrovia has its own share of the commemorative plaques marking where notable people lived or worked - see them on our interactive map.
Why visit — and who should skip it
Come here if you want dinner. Fitzrovia holds more good restaurants across more cuisines than any comparable patch of central London, and unlike Soho you can usually get a table.
Skip it if you are on a three-day trip and want sights. There is no headline attraction here. Walk through it on your way between Oxford Street and the British Museum, note where you would like to eat, and come back in the evening.
Top sights and activities
- Charlotte Street — The restaurant street, and the reason most people come. Pavement tables in summer, and a run of dining rooms that goes back decades.
- The BT Tower — London’s tallest building from 1964 to 1980, and still the thing you navigate by. Closed to the public; sold in 2024 with plans to become a hotel.
- Fitzroy Square — A Georgian square with Robert Adam frontages on two sides, pedestrianised and almost always empty. Virginia Woolf and George Bernard Shaw both lived on it.
- The Fitzroy Tavern — The pub that gave the area its name. George Orwell and Dylan Thomas drank here in its bohemian heyday.
- The Fitzrovia Chapel — The last surviving fragment of the Middlesex Hospital, which was demolished around it. A plain brick exterior on Pearson Square hides a ceiling of gold mosaic. Free, no booking, but open only about three days a week.
Nothing on the plain brick exterior gives this away. Photo: The wub, CC BY-SA 4.0. 6. All Saints, Margaret Street — A Victorian Gothic church by William Butterfield, and one of the most intensely decorated interiors in London. Small, free, and easy to walk straight past. 7. Goodge Street — The other eating street, and the more casual of the two. 8. The Wellcome Collection — Technically on the Bloomsbury edge at Euston Road, free, and genuinely strange. Worth the ten-minute walk.
Key streets and micro-districts
Charlotte Street
Charlotte Street in the evening. The pavement widens here specifically to take the tables.
The spine, and the densest restaurant street in this part of London — running most of its length, with pavement seating in summer that turns the whole road into an outdoor dining room.
The Charlotte Street Hotel sits at the southern end. The street’s character is mid-priced and independent rather than either cheap or grand, which is unusual this close to Oxford Street.
Book for the evening. It fills from about 7pm and the outside tables in summer go first and are rarely bookable — those are first come, first served.
Goodge Street
Running east to west across the middle of Fitzrovia, and the lunch street rather than the dinner one — counters, cafés, sandwich places and takeaway, serving the offices around it.
That makes it busy and good value between noon and 2pm, and noticeably quiet in the evening when Charlotte Street one block west is full.
Goodge Street station is on the Northern line, and this is the natural way in and out of the area on foot.
Fitzroy Square and the north
The BT Tower from street level. It is the landmark you navigate Fitzrovia by, and you cannot go up it.
Quiet Georgian streets between the square and Euston Road, almost entirely residential. Fitzroy Square itself is one of the finest in London — Robert Adam designed the east and south sides in Portland stone, and the central garden is private.
The blue plaques around it are unusually thick on the ground: Virginia Woolf, George Bernard Shaw and Ford Madox Brown all lived on the square.
A five-minute detour and free. The square is pedestrianised, so it is one of the few genuinely quiet places to stand within a few minutes of Oxford Street.
Rathbone Place and Newman Street
Colville Place, a pedestrian lane of 1760s houses running between Charlotte Street and Whitfield Street.
The southern edge, running down to Oxford Street, and increasingly where the newer openings land — the rents are lower than Soho a few streets south, and the crossover crowd is the same.
It is a working stretch rather than a pretty one: offices, hotels and a run of restaurants that changes faster than the rest of Fitzrovia.
Tottenham Court Road station is at the bottom, which makes this the fastest approach from the Elizabeth line.
Great Titchfield Street
The western side, running towards Great Portland Street, and the coffee end of the neighbourhood — including Kaffeine, one of the shops that brought antipodean coffee culture to London.
Small independent shops fill the rest, and the rag-trade wholesalers that once occupied the whole street still hold some of it.
Weekday hours. Much of this street is closed at weekends, which is exactly when visitors tend to arrive — come on a weekday morning.
Where to eat and drink
The point of Fitzrovia. This is a small selection — see the full restaurant list for more.
| Spot | Style | Price | Why go |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kitchen Table | Tasting menu | ££££ | Two Michelin stars at a horseshoe counter; no menu given out in advance |
| Chishuru | West African | ££££ | Michelin-starred West African cooking on a fixed menu |
| Akoko | West African | ££££ | Michelin star; Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal over a grill and clay oven |
| Roka | Robatayaki | ££££ | The robata grill in the middle of the room; open since 2003 |
| Hakkasan | Cantonese | ££££ | The Hanway Place basement that made high-end Chinese food fashionable |
| Berners Tavern | Modern British | ££££ | A vast Edwardian ballroom hung floor to ceiling with pictures |
| Sushi Atelier | Sushi counter | £££ | The best-value serious omakase in central London |
| Khao So-i | Northern Thai | £££ | Built around the coconut curry noodle it is named after |
| Cometa | Mexican seafood | £££ | Tostadas, ceviche and aguachile rather than a meat-led menu |
| Motorino | London-Italian | £££ | Luke Ahearne and Stevie Parle; the distinction in the name is the point |
| Rovi | Vegetable-led | £££ | The Ottolenghi group’s fermentation-and-fire room |
| Salt Yard | Spanish-Italian tapas | £££ | Courgette flowers with goat’s cheese and honey; one of the originals |
| Meraki | Modern Greek | £££ | From the Roka and Zuma group, at that group’s volume |
| Plaza Khao Gaeng | Thai curry shop | ££ | Curries over rice from a counter display, inside Arcade |
| Circolo Popolare | Sicilian | ££ | Thousands of bottles on the walls; book weeks out |
| The Life Goddess | Greek deli | ££ | You can buy the cheese you just ate |
| PaStation | Fresh pasta | £ | Made in front of you, eaten standing up |
| Shree Krishna Vada Pav | Mumbai street food | £ | Vada pav for the price of a coffee |
| Kaffeine | Coffee | £ | Australian-run, and the food counter is as good as the espresso |
| The Attendant | Coffee | £ | Inside a restored Victorian public lavatory; the urinals are the counter |
Circolo Popolare on Rathbone Place. The room is the reason it books weeks out.
Seventeen different cuisines sit within a ten-minute walk here — West African, Thai, Japanese, Mexican, Greek, Spanish, Chinese, Italian, Indian, Turkish, French and more. No other central district comes close to that range in the same space.
See all 36 places to eat and drink in Fitzrovia
Map of Fitzrovia
Open the map41 places: 33 places to eat · 3 things to do · 2 hidden spots · 3 places to stay
The map loads when you open this section.
Eat & drinkThings to doHidden LondonStay
Things to do in Fitzrovia
Beyond eating and drinking. Free things are listed first.Links marked ad are affiliate links. If you book through one we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never affects what goes on this list.
All Saints, Margaret Street
FreeWilliam Butterfield's 1859 church, where every surface is patterned tile, marble or paint - the loudest interior in London, thirty seconds off Oxford Street.
Free and usually open in the day. Almost nobody goes in despite the location, which is most of the pleasure of it.
Fitzroy Square
FreeRobert Adam frontages on two sides, fully pedestrianised, and almost always empty - Virginia Woolf and George Bernard Shaw both lived on it, at the same address.
The paved square is free and open; the central garden itself is private. Five minutes from Oxford Street and silent.
The Fitzrovia Chapel
FreeThe last surviving fragment of the Middlesex Hospital, demolished around it. A plain brick exterior hides a ceiling of gold mosaic finished in 1929 by the architect's son.
Free, no booking, donation box only. Generally open Monday to Wednesday 11am-5pm plus one Sunday a month - so the two days most visitors are free are the two it is likely shut. Check the What's On page.
The Cartoon Museum
Three hundred years of British cartooning from Hogarth and Gillray to Beano originals, with drawing tables out so children can have a go.
Open TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY AND SATURDAY only, 10.30am to 5.30pm - shut Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays, which is an odd enough pattern to check before walking over.
Hidden Fitzrovia
Free, self-guided and easy to walk past without knowing it's there.
Coleridge's Fitzrovia Home
Blue plaqueSamuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834), poet
One of several London addresses for Coleridge, who wrote The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan - a quieter corner of Fitzrovia's literary map.
A private residential building - viewable from the street only.
Virginia Woolf's Fitzroy Square Home
Blue plaqueVirginia Woolf (1882–1941), writer, publisher and literary critic
Woolf lived here 1907-1911, in the Bloomsbury Group's earliest years before the name Bloomsbury attached itself to the circle. She has a second plaque in Richmond from her later years.
A private residential building - viewable from the street only. See also the Richmond plaque at Hogarth House.
Where to stay
Central, quiet at night, and usually better value than Soho for the same walk.
- Charlotte Street and Percy Street — Boutique hotels in the middle of the restaurants.
- Great Portland Street — Larger hotels on the western edge, close to Regent’s Park.
- Tottenham Court Road — Cheaper and better connected, with the Elizabeth line.
Cheapest first. Prices are a typical starting rate per night, not a quote.Links marked ad are affiliate links. If you book through one we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never affects what goes on this list.
The Grafton Arms
££Rooms above a pubEleven boutique rooms over a Fitzrovia pub with a roof terrace and a pan-Asian kitchen - a proper London pub downstairs and somewhere decent to sleep upstairs.
A pub building, so no lift and some noise from below at weekends. Minutes from Charlotte Street and Warren Street.
Sanderson London
£££HotelAccessible roomsA Philippe Starck interior of soft curtains and surrealist touches around an eighty-foot Long Bar, on Berners Street a few minutes from Charlotte Street.
The Long Bar draws a non-resident crowd in the evening, which is part of the appeal or a reason to book elsewhere depending on preference.
Charlotte Street Hotel
££££BoutiqueAccessible roomsFifty-two boho-chic rooms with a private screening room and a walk-in position on Charlotte Street itself, the densest restaurant run in central London.
The screening room can be booked privately, which is an unusual amenity to have on the doorstep of a dinner reservation rather than across town.
Make a day of it
Combine Fitzrovia with
Walking times are from the centre of Fitzrovia. Each of these works as an afternoon once you have finished here.
Soho
8 min walkSouth across Oxford Street. Louder, later, and busier.
Bloomsbury
8 min walkEast for the British Museum and the garden squares.
Marylebone
12 min walkWest across Great Portland Street for the village end of the West End.
King's Cross
20 min walkNorth up Tottenham Court Road for Coal Drops Yard and the British Library.
Suggested two-hour walking route
- Start: Goodge Street station. South down Charlotte Street.
- Charlotte Street: The full run, past the restaurants, to the Charlotte Street Hotel.
- Percy Street and Rathbone Place: East towards Tottenham Court Road.
- The Fitzrovia Chapel: West along Mortimer Street to Pearson Square for the gold ceiling. Three days a week only — check before you build the walk around it.
- All Saints, Margaret Street: South for the Butterfield interior.
- Fitzroy Square: North for the Georgian frontages and the quiet.
- The Fitzroy Tavern: Back down Charlotte Street for a drink where the name came from.
- Finish: Dinner anywhere in the table above.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Walking through it without stopping. Most visitors cross Fitzrovia between Oxford Street and the British Museum without noticing they are in it.
- Trying Soho first on a Friday. Fitzrovia is eight minutes north and you will get a table.
- Assuming you can go up the BT Tower. You cannot, and have not been able to since 1980.
- Only looking at Charlotte Street. Goodge Street, Rathbone Place and Great Titchfield Street all have as much on them.
- Booking nothing. The best rooms here — Kitchen Table, Chishuru, Akoko — need weeks or months, not an evening.
- Missing All Saints. It is thirty seconds off Oxford Street and almost nobody goes in.
- Turning up at the Fitzrovia Chapel on a weekend. It is generally open Monday to Wednesday plus one Sunday a month, so the two days most visitors have free are the two it is most likely to be shut. Check the What’s On page first.
Common questions
Where exactly is Fitzrovia?
The rough square bounded by Oxford Street to the south, Tottenham Court Road to the east, Euston Road to the north and Great Portland Street to the west. If you are walking between Oxford Circus and the British Museum, you are going through it.
Why is it called Fitzrovia?
After the Fitzroy Tavern on Charlotte Street, which was the centre of a bohemian drinking scene in the 1930s and 40s. The name is relatively modern — it was coined for the crowd who drank there rather than the other way round.
Is Fitzrovia worth visiting if I only have a few days?
Not as a sight, but very much as somewhere to eat. There is no single landmark that will pull you here, and that is rather the point — it is where you go for dinner when Soho is full. If you are staying in central London you will pass through it anyway.
Is it better than Soho for eating?
For a sit-down dinner, often yes. Soho has more bars and more energy; Fitzrovia has a higher hit rate per street and you can get a table. Charlotte Street and Goodge Street between them hold an unusual concentration of good restaurants across a lot of different cuisines.
Can you go up the BT Tower?
No. The revolving restaurant closed to the public in 1980 and the tower has been closed to visitors ever since. It was sold in 2024 with plans to convert it into a hotel, so that may change — but at the time of writing you can only look at it.
Is Fitzrovia a good place to stay?
Yes, and it is often better value than Soho or Covent Garden for the same walking distance. It is central, quiet at night on the residential streets, and every restaurant in this guide is within ten minutes. The trade-off is that there is little to actually see.
.jpg){kind=link}