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Once famous for its riverside mansions, and later its music halls, the Strand - the main road connecting Westminster to the City - is a shadow of its former self. Nowadays, it's best known for the young homeless who shelter in the shop doorways at night.

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One such doorway, at no. 440, belongs to what was once London's largest private bank, Coutts & Co ( www.coutts.com), whose customers include the Queen herself. Founded in 1692 by the Scottish goldsmith, John Campbell, a mock-up of whose original premises stands behind a screen in the bank's current concrete and marble atrium. Today's male employees still sport anachronistic tail-coated suits, but the horse-drawn carriage which used to convey royal correspondence was taken out of service in 1993.

Some way further east on the opposite side of the Strand, the blind side street of Savoy Court - the only street in the country where the traffic drives on the right - leads to The Savoy , London's grandest hotel, built in 1889 on the site of the medieval Savoy Palace. César Ritz was the original manager, Guccio Gucci started out as a dishwasher here, and the list of illustrious guests is endless: Monet painted the Thames from one of the south-facing rooms, Sarah Bernhardt nearly died here, and Strauss the Younger arrived with his own orchestra.