Mayfair - Definition and Overview

Mayfair is an area in the City of Westminster London, named after the fortnight-long May Fair that took place there from 1686 until it was banned in that location in 1764. Prior to 1686, the May Fair was held in the Haymarket, and after 1764, it moved to Fair Field in Bow.

The area was owned by the Grosvenor family and much of the land is still part of the Grosvenor estate. It was developed during the late seventeenth century.

Mayfair is roughly bordered by Hyde Park to the west, Oxford Street to the north, Green Park to the south and Regent Street to the east. Buildings in Mayfair include the United States embassy on Grosvenor Square near the Roosevelt Memorial, the Royal Academy of Arts, Grosvenor House and the Dorchester Hotels.

Mayfair is the most expensive property on a British Monopoly set.

Nearest places:

• Soho
• Charing Cross
• Bloomsbury
• Holborn
• Marylebone

Nearest tube stations:

• Bond Street tube station
• Green Park tube station
• Hyde Park Corner tube station
• Marble Arch tube station
• St. James's Park tube station
• Victoria tube station

Nearest railway station:

• Victoria station

See also

• A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square
• Mount Street Gardens

External links

• BBC News story: Reviving the Mayfair May Fair (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1959418.stm)
• The mayhem that marred May Day (http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/templates/news/detail.cfm?newsid=434)

Mayfair is also

• a British soft porn magazine.

• a suburb in Hastings, New Zealand.

• a neighborhood in Washington, DC.

• an annual folk festival in the town of Great Torrington, north Devon.

• an annual arts festival in Allentown, Pennsylvania.