Transfer from Westminster (W1) to Gatwick Airport
If W1B and W1C are mostly known for the diversity of shops and brands that fill the areas, W1D comes with some additional features like the Soho Square or China Town. Today’s London Chinatown only started to take form in the 1950s. By 1950 there were just about 2,000 Chinese in England and with the return of the British military from the Far East, beneficial circumstances for a Chinese restaurant business to take hold appeared, helping the industry of Chinese delicacies to grow.
The business began with only a few restaurants and bakery stores somewhere in Gerrard Street but in just a couple of years their number grew to around 20. The business kept attracting investors as the rents were really cheap in the area due to the bad reputation of Soho helping London’s China Town expand to Wardour Street, Lisle Street, Shaftebury Avenue, Newport Place and Lisle Street. Today there are around 220 businesses in China Town, most of them restaurants, bakeries or coffee shops, making this area one of the most exciting places to eat in London’s W1 district.
Dating back to 1670, Soho Square is the other great place you may stumble upon when visiting the West End. It was called King’s Square in the beginning, after King Charles II which statues you can admire even today. The most important of them is located in the center of Soho Square. It was sculpted by Danish Caius Cibber. The statue has an interesting history being moved on an island until 1938 when it was returned back to its original place. The area has changed a lot since 1670 but you can still see two of the original houses that were built more than 300 years ago. Those are the houses no. 10 and 15th.
Present day Soho Square is still one of the most fashionable places where you can live in London and also guests several media organizations as 20th Century Fox, Tiger Aspect Productions or British Board of Film Classification. During summer you can take part to the numerous open-air free concerts that the Square hosts or just walk around its garden.
Originally part of Middlesex area, Soho is now just a small area in the City of Westminster. It became part of London when the city expanded and, even if it covers only 1 square mile, it is home for many great London landmarks as the Picadilly Circus, Leicester Square and Carnaby Street, becoming one of the most famous areas in the capital. It is said that there is never a dull moment in the Soho region, as night and also day life have never more interesting in the English capital.
Walking in Soho you would never think that at some point the area was just a place for grazing farmland. It’s popularity increased in 1536 when King Henry VIII transformed the region into a Royal Park for the Whitehall Palace. From that point on Soho has been the property to many Earls of Leicester until immigrants started settling in the area. Until the 19th century all important families moved out of Soho, making room for prostitutes, gamblers, small theaters and music halls.
Today, Soho is a mix of commerce, culture, industry, entertainment and residential areas but it is mostly renowned for the sex industry, being the heart for this type of commerce for the last 200 years. Henry Mayhew described the Soho area as “a notorious place of ill-fame”, as, until 1959 when the Street Offences Act was released, the region was home to more than one hundred of strip clubs. In time, the former strip clubs turned to sex shops, an industry that works as a charm even by this date.
Transfer from London Gatwick Airport to Westminster by Rail:
In order to get a transfer from London Gatwick Airport to Westminster by rail, you need to take the National Rail Service to Victoria Station in a journey that will last approximately 30 minutes. Other transport options include taking a taxi transfer from Gatwick Airport to Westminster .
Transfer from London Gatwick Airport to Westminster by Car:
In order to get from Gatwick Airport to Westminster by car, you have to take the M23 motorway followed by the A23 road. The distance between Gatwick Airport and Westminster is of 27 miles.
Transfer from London Gatwick Airport to Westminster by Taxi:
A Taxi Transfer from London Gatwick Airport to Westminster with 247 Airport Transfer will take approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes. The Gatwick Airport transfer to Westminster will cost approximately 57 GBP for a saloon car.
Image: Wikipedia
