St James’s Piccadilly

The only church Christopher Wren built from scratch and on a new site (most of the others were replacements for ones razed in the Great Fire), this simple building is exceedingly easy on the eye and substitutes what some might call the pompous flourishes of his most famous churches with a warm and elegant user-friendliness. The spire, although designed by Wren, was added only in 1968. This is a particularly sociable church: it houses a counselling service, stages lunchtime and evening concerts, provides shelter for an antiques market (10am to 6pm Tuesday) and an arts and crafts fair (10am to 6pm Wednesday to Sunday), has Caffé Nero attached on the side, as well as, what was the last thing…oh, yeah, teaching the word of God.