South Molton Street, Mayfair, London

Favourite shopping street for the rich and famous, South Molton Street runs from Oxford Street to Brook Street just near Bond Street tube station.

In 1728, King Charles I needed money as he'd just got rid of parliament and his route to increase taxes. One of the things he did was to lease out some fields by the Tyburn River a mile or so into the countryside from London, called Conduit Mead.

Houses were built and roads were created including Bond Street, Brook Street and South Molton Street.

The deal on the leases is that they were 'perpetually renewable' which means that lease holders still only pay the original rent to the City of London. In 1925, 'perpetually renewable' was redefined in law as 2,000 years, so in the year 3728, the rents are going to go up astronomically!

Poet William Blake lived in a flat at No.17 South Molton Street. One of his poems was "And did those feet in ancient time, Walk upon England's mountains green: And was the holy Lamb of God, On England's pleasant pastures seen!" Later Sir Hubert Parry put it to music and called it Jerusalem.