Interior view of the church of St. James Piccadilly.

© The Picture Studio/Shutterstock

St James’s Piccadilly

The West End


The only church (1684) Christopher Wren built from scratch and one of a handful established on a new site (most of the other London churches are replacements for those destroyed in the Great Fire), this simple building substitutes what some might call the pompous flourishes of Wren’s most famous churches with a warm and elegant accessibility. The baptismal font portraying Adam and Eve on the shaft and the altar reredos are by Grinling Gibbons.

This is a wonderfully sociable and charitable church; it houses a counselling service, provides a night shelter for the homeless in winter (they can sleep in the pews), stages lunchtime and evening concerts, and hosts a food market (10am to 3.30pm Monday and Tuesday) and an arts and crafts fair (10am to 6pm Wednesday to Saturday) in the forecourt. Note the arresting bronze Statue of Peace in the garden. It costs £1800 per day to run this generous church. Consider leaving a donation, however small.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby The West End attractions

1. Royal Academy of Arts

0.1 MILES

Britain’s oldest society devoted to fine arts was founded in 1768 and moved here to Burlington House a century later. For its 250th birthday in 2018, the…

2. Burlington Arcade

0.12 MILES

Flanking Burlington House, which is home to the Royal Academy of Arts, is this delightful arcade, built in 1819. Today it is a shopping precinct for the…

3. Eros Statue

0.13 MILES

At the centre of Piccadilly Circus stands the famous statue (Alfred Gilbert, 1893) called Eros but actually modelled on Anteros, his twin brother. To add…

4. Piccadilly Circus

0.14 MILES

Architect John Nash had originally designed Regent St and Piccadilly in the 1820s to be the two most elegant streets in London but, restrained by city…

5. Regent Street

0.19 MILES

The handsome border dividing the trainer-clad clubbers of Soho from the Gucci-heeled hedge-fund managers of Mayfair, Regent St was designed by John Nash…

6. Royal Arcade

0.2 MILES

Running perpendicular to Burlington Arcade between Old Bond and Albermarle Sts is this more recent arcade dating from 1880.

7. Queen’s Chapel

0.26 MILES

This small chapel (1625) is where royals such as Princess Diana and the Queen Mother have lain in their coffins in the days before their funerals. The…

8. Faraday Museum

0.26 MILES

Housed for the most part in the basement of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, this low-key and neon-lit museum is a tranquil escape from the bustle…