Property Description

Browning Mews is a cobbled cul-de-sac, approached through an entrance under a building on New Cavendish Street, Westminster. The small Mews contains only 5 properties, which are used for residential purposes. The Mews runs south-north, similar to Wimpole Mews, another original/ surviving Mews found a few streets away.

Between 1940 and 1941, the Aggregate Night Time Bomb Census records a high explosive bomb falling onto Weymouth Street, just north of the Mews. When the London Poverty Maps were first published, the area was recorded as having a mixture of comfortable living conditions and poorer households.

Browning Mews is situated to the west of the Harley Street Conservation Area in Westminster. First designated in 1968, the area is now dominated by terraced houses of different periods and different levels of social status. It retains a substantial medical presence, whilst offices predominate to the eastern edges.

Modern granite setts help to maintain the character of this well preserved Mews. The two-storey, plain brickwork properties have Butterfly Gable roofs and intact garages.

Everchanging Nature

The Mews originally served 52-56 Wimpole Street as stable accommodation. Properties have consistent detailing with timber carriage doors to ground floor and the buildings are largely unaltered. Paul McCartney is noted using no. 10 Browning Mews as an escape route from fans clamouring outside 57 Wimpole Street. Very few planning applications have been made for properties in the Mews before 2003, only minor changes to garage doors and the change of purpose to residential. Conservation Area controls now apply to any new development in the Mews.