Lady’s Guide to Seven Dials, London

Today I want to bring you my guide to Seven Dials, London. This part of the UK capital is in the heart of Covent Garden and has some of the best shops, restaurants, cafes, and theaters in the city.

Seven Dials, London

No matter how long I live in London I’ll always get lost in Covent Garden. The area is perhaps the most famous part of central London, and yet its lack of a grid layout means that I’m forever consulting a map to figure out where I am.

This problem becomes more acute in Seven Dials in London. It’s an area of Covent Garden that’s home to great boutiques, shops, restaurants, cafes, pubs, bars, and hotels.

At the heart of Seven Dials is a roundabout with a large sundial monument in the center. From the hub of the dial, seven streets act as spokes. They make for a pretty picture on a map, but a very disorienting place to navigate.

Exploring Seven Dials

I hadn’t spent much time in Seven Dials until I was offered a tour of the area by its PR agency. The idea of having people that knew their way around the narrow streets appealed to me, so I accepted the offer.

Over the course of an afternoon we walked all through Seven Dials, visiting everything from shoe shops to tapas bars.

Seven Dials Clothing Boutiques

We started out at Experimental Perfume Club on Monmouth Street. It’s a London-based company led by a female perfumer where you can make bespoke fragrances. It’s unique and makes for great souvenirs.

That was followed by a trip to a chic shoe store that carried every stylish brand imaginable, from Vivienne Westwood to Dries Van Noten.

Nearby was a shop with two floors of vintage-inspired women’s clothing and accessories. I fell in love with a dress as soon as I walked in, and by the end of my show-round one of my guides had already bought the same one for herself.

Seven Dials Food Shops

While I enjoyed the clothing and accessory shopping in Seven Dials, fashion is not my forte.

Like a girl slipping out of her cocktail dress and into her pajamas-with-feet, I felt far more comfortable when we moved out of fashionista territory and into foodie heaven.

This came in the form of several shops, foremost among them Neal’s Yard Dairy. The famous store sells some of the best British cheeses, and I had a chance to sample everything from Ragstone to Stawley.

I stayed for so long that other customers started giving me advice. In the end, the friendly staff behind the counter practically had to kick me out.

I also loved Pierre Herme, home of my favorite macarons. And that’s to say nothing of the Seven Dials Market, a food court and market in the heart of the area.

Tapas Bars

Thankfully there was more food to be tasted. This came in the form of tapas. We headed to a bar and restaurant called Pix on Neal Street, where the counter was packed with pintxos.

The selection, which included everything from tortilla de patatas to jamon Iberico, reminded me of my trip to San Sebastian in Spain’s Basque Country.

Seven Dials Hotel

After all the shopping and restaurants in Covent Garden, I was in need of some rest. Thankfully I was invited to stay at the Radisson Blu Edwardian, Mercer Street hotel in Seven Dials.

The hotel was located right smack on the Seven Dials roundabout, and my suite overlooked not only the monument but also theaters and restaurants.

My suite was rather feminine, with pink pillows and fuchsia accents on the drapery. It was a far cry from most hotels I’ve stayed in, which always seem to cater to the male business traveler.

In addition to the king-size bed, the room had a sitting area with a glass-top table, a bathroom with a separate tub and shower, and a room for the mini-fridge, vanity table, iron and ironing board, bathrobes, and other amenities.

Seven Dials Restaurant

As if I hadn’t already indulged at too many food shops and restaurants in Seven Dials, I was invited to have dinner at the hotel.

A friend and I enjoyed two fresh fruit cocktails called the Fig and Honey Sour and the Passion Fruit and Vanilla Mojito, then moved onto an amuse bouche of caramelized leek and feta in filo dough.

For my starter I had a salad of butternut squash and roasted red pepper with rocket, pumpkin seeds, and mint dressing. My friend had Scottish scallops on carrot puree topped with black pudding.

Those were followed by duck with spinach and pasta, and a steak with fries and bearnaise sauce. It was all washed down with a bottle of Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

For dessert we had apple tarts, which were fresh from the oven and served with vanilla ice cream. Light and flaky, they were the highlight of the meal.

After such good food, we couldn’t help but treat ourselves to a glass of dessert wine to finish off the evening.

Neal’s Yard

With all of the food and drink in my system, I needed of a bit of detox. This came in the form of Neal’s Yard Remedies.

The organic beauty products and homeopathic therapies were just what I needed to make myself feel better about regularly consuming 10,000 calories and half a bottle of wine a day.

From lotions to shampoos, the shop not only offered healthy products, but also smelled fresh, clean, and about as far from a restaurant as San Sebastian is from London.

Add to that the fantastic and colorful location of Neal’s Yard, and the shop was truly an oasis.

There are lots of other gems in Neal’s Yard, too. 26 Grains is great for breakfast, and I love the pizza at Homeslice as well.

Beauty Shops in Seven Dials

Continuing on the beauty theme, we stopped by Bare Escentuals, a California-based company that specializes in mineral makeup.

Nearby was Benefit Cosmetics, a San Francisco enterprise that I used to frequent when I lived in the city’s Marina neighborhood.

Being surrounded by makeup from my home state made me feel less intimidated than usual about beauty products, about which I know next to nothing.

At Bare Escentuals a friendly technician gave me a make-under that made me feel great, even if it was somewhat wasted on my not-so-wild dinner in Canary Wharf with my banker girlfriends that evening.

St Martin’s Courtyard

Back in Seven Dials, I continued my exploration on my own. Without a guide I managed to get lost again, but in doing so I stumbled upon several secret areas of the neighborhood.

One was St Martin’s Courtyard. Located just around the corner from the Covent Garden tube station, it was so easy to miss that I could walk past it a million times without ever noticing it was there.

The space was filled with boutiques and had a colorful cafe called Bill’s. I had tea in the funky dining room, which doubled as a shop for the cafe’s products.

Seven Dials

Finding places like St. Martin’s Courtyard made me glad I always get lost in Covent Garden. If I didn’t, I might never discover the neighborhood’s hidden gems, and they’re what make Seven Dials in London the exciting place it is.

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