Neal's Yard: The Saturday Street

The Saturday Street is our weekly series in which we unlock the stories behind the names of London's famous thoroughfares. It's compiled by London Walks guide Karen – listed by Travel + Leisure magazine as The World's Greatest Tour Guide. You can find Karen on Saturdays guiding her Old Westminster and British Museum walks. If you've got a London street query or suggestion, email Karen at the usual address
Neal’s Yard Location: WC2
Neal? Who he? There is common misconception that Neal was the name of Nicholas Saunders, the man who revitalised this part of Covent Garden in the wake of the fruit and veg market’s exodus. It is said that when people addressed him as Neal, he didn’t correct them, and the name stuck.
The yard, and the street (Neal Street) are actually both named for Thomas Neale, the original 17^th century developer of this area. His Seven Dials layout was built to exploit fourteen sides of seven streets rather than just four sides of a standard residential square.
Neal’s Yard is today famed as the health food and alt. medicine capital of London.
You may need some of those remedies after tonight’s Hidden West End – Gin City, The Seven Deadly Dials, The Slum of Slums pub walk at 7.15pm from Tottenham Court Road station (exit 3).