London - Victoria Belgravia and Pimlico Travel Guides | London | Sub Regions | London - Victoria Belgravia and Pimlico

The grandeur of Belgravia’s Eaton Square continues the line of Chelsea’s King’s Road up to the back door of Buckingham Palace, crossed before it gets there by the Belgrave Road striding up through Pimlico from the river to end in some style at Belgrave Square. Both seem to be doing their best to bypass and ignore the chaotic junction of Victoria and Grosvenor Gardens. Instead, one of central London’s most bustling travel hubs has to make do with the lacklustre Vauxhall Bridge Road for company and is left to find its own short and unassuming way to Westminster down Victoria Street. Little-loved Victoria hardly inspires much loyalty in Londoners – certainly there was never any chance that the local Catholic cathedral would take its name – but everyone knows it’s there. In fact the scrum round the train and coach stations does much to enliven the almost deserted splendour of Belgravia – the poshest address in town – and Pimlico, its proper little neighbour. Meanwhile, down by the river on Millbank, the heavy classical portico of Tate Britain belies the energy and imagination within, thanks to its collection of contemporary and British art.

Sights

T 020-7798 9055. 0645-1900 Mon-Fri, 0800-1900 Sat, 0800-2000 Sun. Audio guide. Campanile Thu-Sun in winter, daily in summer 0900-1700. Adult £2, child £1. Sun services 0800, 0900, solemn sung mass, 1030, 1200, 1730 and 1900. Mon-Fri sung mass 1730, Sat sung mass 1030, vigil mass 1800. Buses 11, 24 and 211. M Victoria.

A vast edifice of stripy red brick and grey stone in a Byzantine style, Westminster Cathedral was begun in 1895 but the echoing interior is still being decorated bit by bit, eventually to be lined throughout with the extremely expensive marble and mosaic that the architect JF Bentley envisaged. Currently it reaches about a third of the way up the columns marching down the widest nave in England.

The cathedral’s most famous decorations are on the walls, the elegant stone reliefs by Eric Gill depicting the 14 Stations of the Cross. Gill also carved the statues of Saints Thomas More and John Fisher in the St George’s Chapel.

As station pubs go, the Weatherspoons in Victoria Station isn’t too bad, but for places with a lot more character and within walking distance the best destination is Belgravia.

T 020-7887 8000, information line T 020-7887 8008, http://www.tate.org 1000-1750 daily. Free. Special exhibitions adult £8, £5 concessions. Audio guide, guided tours, gallery talks, lectures and events. Café 1030-1730 daily. Tate Restaurant 1200-1500 Mon-Sat, 1200-1600 Sun. M Pimlico.

The home of the national collection of British and modern art may have dramatically expanded into Tate Modern on Bankside, but this is only the latest and most impressive of a series of expansions – not least in Liverpool and Cornwall – since the Tate Gallery opened here in 1897. On this site, the Lindbury galleries recently opened here to great acclaim, providing even more space for British art down the centuries, as well as providing more room for the country’s contemporary art scene, one of its key events being the award and exhibition of the Turner Prize each December.

Tate Britain also remains the best place in the country to admire the work of arguably its greatest artist, JMW Turner, in the Clore Gallery to the right of the Millbank entrance. Straight ahead from the front entrance are the information desks beneath the Rotunda, and directly beyond these the Duveen sculpture galleries, monumental meditative spaces for large works.

Travel Guides | London | Sub Regions | London - Victoria Belgravia and Pimlico
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