Warren Mews, Fitzrovia: A Sunny January Morning in a London Mews

Have you ever had a London street almost to yourself on a freezing January morning?

Warren Mews was mine for a while. It was one of those January days that are bitterly cold and completely blue. The sun was low, the setts still had a thin haze of frost on them, and the only sounds were birds and traffic somewhere behind the houses.

It is a short cobbled cul-de-sac in Fitzrovia, two minutes from Warren Street station. Here is what I found that morning, and what the mews actually is.

Where Is Warren Mews?

Off the south side of Warren Street, between Conway Street and Fitzroy Street, in the London Borough of Camden. You go in through a gap in the terrace. It is part of the Fitzroy Square Conservation Area, and the postcode starts W1T 6.

What Was Warren Mews Built For?

Horses and work. Mews were the service lanes behind grand houses, with stables and coach houses. Warren Mews was developed for the houses around it after 1801.

For more than a century it held stables and furniture-trade workshops. Maple & Co., the furniture store, used it. In 1897 there were cabinet makers, bookbinders and a forge here, and Louis Koch Ltd had workshops from 1920.

The street is named after Anne Warren, the wife of Charles FitzRoy, 1st Baron Southampton, whose family developed this corner of London.

Is Warren Mews Georgian?

Not really, though it sits in a Georgian neighbourhood. Warren Street itself is late eighteenth century. The mews buildings are plainer, two and three storeys of brick.

Nos 1–2 are a pair of nineteenth-century yellow-brick warehouses, with the pulley brackets still on the front. The east side was rebuilt as housing in the late 1980s.

Underfoot are granite setts, which everyone calls cobbles. That morning they held frost wherever the sun hadn't reached.

Why Is Warren Mews So Pretty?

Because of what the people who live here grow. Window boxes, climbing plants, olive trees and shrubs in pots, a palm by a painted window. The gallerist Rebecca Hossack, who lives at the entrance, led the greening, and the mews has opened for the National Garden Scheme.

Even in January it was green. A red front door between two pots.

And a pink bicycle with a wicker basket, parked under a palm by a painted window.

Can You Walk Into Warren Mews?

Yes, you can walk in. But it is where people live and work, and there are only about ten properties. Go quietly and don't sit on the doorsteps for photos.

What Is There to See Near Warren Mews?

J. Evans Dairy, at 35 Conway Street on the corner of Warren Street, is a Grade II listed Welsh dairy shopfront from about 1916. Blue Art Nouveau tiles, and a marble counter inside.

Fitzroy Square is two minutes away, laid out in the 1790s to a design by the Adam brothers. George Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf both lived at number 29, at different times. The Wellcome Collection on Euston Road is free, and its Reading Room is worth an hour.

For a bookish walk from here, Senate House Library is about fifteen minutes east and the British Library is along Euston Road. Daunt Books on Marylebone High Street is about fifteen minutes west.

Visiting Warren Mews: Practical Notes

📍 Where: Warren Mews, off the south side of Warren Street, Fitzrovia, London W1T 6.

⏰ Opening: A street, so there are no hours. People live and work here.

🎫 Admission: Free.

🚇 Getting there: Warren Street station (Northern and Victoria lines) is two minutes' walk. Great Portland Street is about eight.

☕ Food: Warren Street and Charlotte Street have plenty of cafés.

⏳ How long: Ten minutes in the mews, or an hour with Fitzroy Square and the dairy.

📷 Best time: A clear winter morning, when the low sun comes over the rooftops.

🗺️ Nearby: J. Evans Dairy, Fitzroy Square, the Wellcome Collection and the Fitzrovia Mural on Tottenham Court Road.

♿ Access: The mews is paved with granite setts, which are uneven.

Do you have a favourite London mews? Which one should I see on a cold January morning?

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All photos were taken by Ina/WithinLondon, unless stated otherwise.