St Martin's Courtyard

Recession, what recession? As if two gargantuan Westfields weren\’t enough, St. Martin’s Courtyard is Covent Garden\’s newest shopping destination, populated by upmarket shops, restaurants and beauty salons. In terms of fashion you\’ll find branches of Massimo Dutti, Jaeger, L.K. Bennett and COS, while there are some very appealing restaurants in the vicinity, among them Bombay Café Dishoom, Thai eatery Suda and Italian wine bar Dalla Terra. Incredibly, despite Britain\’s period of austerity and the fact that there are branches of the exact same shops on their doorstep (on Oxford Street, Regent Street and Covent Garden\’s Long Acre) business is booming. Expect more hidden courtyards filling up with retail chains over the coming years.