Church of the Annunciation

The lowdown

Minutes from the shopping crush of Oxford Street and Marble Arch, on quiet Bryanston Street, stands a church most Londoners have never noticed. The Church of the Annunciation hides behind a deliberately plain brick wall, then opens inside into a tall, narrow, richly worked Gothic interior that feels far bigger than the building should allow.

It was completed in 1914 to a design by Sir Walter Tapper, in the lavish Anglo-Catholic tradition, all soaring stone arches, gilding and deep quiet. It is free to step into, and because so few people know it is there you will often have the place entirely to yourself, a still pocket of calm in one of the busiest corners of the West End.