St George's, Hanover Square, London, Visitor Guide & Things to Do Nearby

St George's, Hanover Square is an early 18th-century parish church in Mayfair, London, famous as the place where fashionable society came to marry. Its columned portico and its long list of society weddings have made it one of the best-known churches in the West End.

The story behind it

The church was built in the early 1700s, in the years when Mayfair was growing into one of London's smartest districts. From the start it served the well-to-do residents of the new streets and squares around it. Weddings here became a social fixture, and many real marriages, and several fictional ones in Victorian novels, are set at its altar.

Scandal was never far away. The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and Harriet Westbrook were married here, but Shelley later left Harriet for another woman, a story that kept London talking. Among its other famous parishioners was the composer George Frideric Handel, who lived close by and is remembered as a regular worshipper at St George's, even in his last years when he was old, ill and blind. The church also saw the weddings of Theodore Roosevelt in 1886 and of the novelist George Eliot in 1880.

What to look for

• The deep portico at the front, with its tall Corinthian columns, which gives the church a grand, almost temple-like face on the street.
• The tall tower and steeple above the portico, which rise over the surrounding Mayfair rooftops.
• The way the church sits among townhouses, galleries and shops, a reminder that it was built for the families who lived in these streets.
• If you can see inside, the large organ and the ordered, classical interior, a fitting setting for a parish linked with Handel.

Tips for your visit

• Allow 10 to 15 minutes for the exterior and the portico. Add more if the church is open and you want to look inside.
• Access to the interior varies with services, weddings and concerts, so check current opening hours before you go.
• Morning light and quieter weekday streets make it easier to photograph the front without crowds.
• It is close to Bond Street, Regent Street and Handel's former home on Brook Street, so it pairs well with a wider walk around Mayfair.

See it on a quest

Scandal & Glamour: The Mayfair Scoop brings you to St George's on foot as one stop on a longer route through Mayfair. The app tells you about the church as you arrive, including the weddings and gossip tied to it, and sets a puzzle in what is in front of you. It suits a place built on society stories. One ticket covers the whole group, and you can start whenever you like, with no guide and no set departure time.