West End Office Space

Office space in London’s West End is some of the most sought-after in the UK capital and internationally, with premium office buildings in the most prestigious locations frequently achieving the highest rents in the world.

There is some debate about the precise defining boundaries of the West End district. In the City of Westminster City Council’s Vision for the West End report of 2005, it stated that Covent Garden, Soho, Chinatown, Leicester Square, the shopping streets of Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street, the area encompassing Trafalgar Square, the Strand and Aldwych, and the district known as Theatreland, made up the West End area.

In Ed Glinert’s 2006 West End Chronicles, the districts described as falling within the West End were Mayfair, Soho, Covent Garden, Fitzrovia and Marylebone.

The City of Westminster is divided into Wards, and in its 2024 profile of the Ward of the West End, it was defined as covering Mayfair, Soho, Fitzrovia and Marylebone.

However, in terms of commercial real estate, it is agreed that the West End office space market is broken up into the following submarkets: Covent Garden, Fitzrovia, Marylebone, Mayfair, Soho, St James’s, and Victoria, covering smaller locales such as Hyde Park, Marble Arch, Oxford Circus, and Piccadilly.

The term West End was first used in the early 19th century to describe the fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross. It was derived from the fact that medieval London comprised two adjacent cities: the City of London in the east and the City of Westminster in the west.

Over time, the City of London became characterised as the capital’s financial centre, while the City of Westminster became associated with the leisure, shopping, and entertainment sectors and as the home of government offices, universities and embassies.

The wealthy and upper classes favoured the West End as a place of residence because it was usually upwind of the smoke and pollution drifting from the crowded City of London. It was also close to the royal seat of power at the Palace of Westminster. The West End is still home to super-prime residential property with record price tags equating to over 200 times the cost of an average London home.

During the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, its various districts were developed with palaces, expensive townhouses, fashionable shops and places of entertainment.

Today, colloquially, it is used as a metonym for London’s glamourous and glitzy assets, including its theatre district, entertainment industry, dining establishments, hotels and shopping areas.

It is one of the world’s largest central business districts, and the capital’s 18 million annual visitors are drawn to its plethora of amenities and iconic institutions.

London’s first theatre, the Theatre Royal, opened in 1663 on Drury Lane in Covent Garden. Today, the district is home to approximately 40 theatres, including the Adelphi, the Garrick, the Lyric, the Novello, and the Shaftesbury, earning the district the moniker Theatreland.

The West End is also home to iconic internationally acclaimed hotels such as the Hotel Café Royal, Claridge’s, The Ritz, the W London in Leicester Square, and The Savoy, which also offers a Michelin-starred restaurant headed by Gordon Ramsay named 1890 to honour Georges Auguste Escoffier, who was the hotel’s head chef in that year.

London is home to approximately 17,000 restaurants, and just over 70 have Michelin stars. The majority are located in the West End, including Alaine Ducasse at The Dorchester on Park Lane, The Araki on New Burlington Street in Mayfair, Ikoyi on the Strand, and Wild Honey on Pall Mall in St James’s.

The district is also home to some of the best shopping centres in the world, with offerings on Bond Street, Covent Garden, Oxford Street, Regent Street, and Savile Row, among other areas.

As with all commercial real estate assets, office space in the West End is highly sought after. Its component districts offer some of the best office space in London in various formats, ranging from brand-new prime office space buildings to elegantly remastered listed Georgian townhouses that are luxuriously furnished and fitted yet offer state-of-the-art business technologies.

The occupiers that rent office space in the West End are as diverse as the sectors that the district is famous for. It attracts businesses, including hedge funds, oil and gas companies, multinational film studios, music companies, super prime commercial real estate agents, and those in the retail sector, to name just a handful of examples.

The West End of London office market is mature and diversified, and these occupiers can choose from a wide range of office spaces to rent on a leasehold basis, ranging from prime grade A offices to second-hand spaces. As with residential real estate, office space demands a premium in the West End and prime office rents in the district stand at £140 per square foot per annum.

Yet, as with the super prime homes, records are continuously broken by occupiers seeking exceptional office space and an annual rent of £277.50 per square foot was agreed at an office on Berkeley Square in 2023 – approximately six times what one would pay for similarly specified space in other parts of Central London.

Over 60 flexible office space and workspace providers and landlords in the West End also offer increasingly popular agile alternatives to leased office space.

Also referred to as flex spaces, these alternatives include private serviced offices, managed offices and co-working spaces.

As opposed to leased space, the offices and workspaces are held on flexible short-term licences that allow for the option to extend terms.

As the contracts are flexible, occupiers can upgrade to larger spaces during their tenancies as business needs dictate. Many offices available in the West End can satisfy requirements for space for 250+ people.

The premium office and workspace operators in the West End offer luxury serviced private offices and first-class managed offices that are exquisitely furnished and fitted and equipped with state-of-the-art business technologies such as enterprise-grade secure IT, superior heating and cooling systems and the buildings are bedecked with facilities such as barista bars, lounges, quiet zones, and roof terraces.

To meet the demands of environmentally conscious businesses, most of these high-end offices are developed and managed in sustainable ways and include ESG-considered amenities such as recycling areas, cycle storage, and shower facilities.

The monthly rental fees are all-inclusive and cover rent, utilities, insurance, furnishings, cleaning, meeting room and business lounge access, and enhanced amenities such as reception, secretarial and concierge services.

A guide to monthly office desk rates in the West End can be seen below:

As well as an embarrassment of conveniences, facilities and services on the doorstep, office occupiers enjoy some of the best public transport links in the capital with an assortment of bus routes and a large number of London Underground tube stations, including the following: