This short Roberts London film, first published on 1 July 2018, records a compact summer evening across two very different parts of central London. It begins among the converging streets of Seven Dials, stops for a drink at The Crown, moves into Neal’s Yard for a slice from Homeslice and finishes with Friday-night drinks in Shepherd Market.

Rather than attempting to be a complete Covent Garden guide, the film preserves the rhythm of an ordinary London evening: meeting at a pub, walking a few streets for food and then crossing the West End for one final drink. Its value now lies in the detail—the crowds, shopfronts, streets and restaurants as they appeared in summer 2018.

A summer evening in Seven Dials

The journey begins at Seven Dials, just west of Covent Garden’s piazza. The neighbourhood takes its name from the streets that radiate from the central sundial column. Thomas Neale laid out the distinctive plan during the early 1690s, creating the triangular plots and converging routes that still give the area its intimate character.

In the 2018 film, the junction is dressed for summer and busy with pedestrians, traffic and people gathering outside the surrounding businesses. Barry’s route is informal, shaped by where the evening leads rather than by a list of attractions.

A pint at The Crown

The first stop is The Crown, a familiar corner pub close to the centre of Seven Dials. On a warm evening, much of the pub’s atmosphere moves outside as drinkers gather along the pavement. The film captures that recognisable West End scene before the theatres and restaurants reach their busiest point.

This is not presented as a formal pub review. It is simply the starting point for the evening and part of the social geography of Seven Dials: a place to meet before continuing through Covent Garden.

Walking into Neal’s Yard

From The Crown, the route continues through the surrounding streets towards Neal’s Yard. The small passage opens unexpectedly into a colourful courtyard enclosed by shops, cafés and restaurants. Although only a short distance from the main Covent Garden routes, it has a noticeably different scale and atmosphere.

By 2018, Neal’s Yard was already one of the most photographed corners of Covent Garden. The film records it as a working evening destination rather than an empty architectural view, with tables occupied, people moving through the courtyard and customers collecting food.

Homeslice pizza in Neal’s Yard

Homeslice began with a mobile wood-fired oven in 2011 before establishing its first permanent restaurant in Neal’s Yard in 2013. Five years later, the open counter, large pizzas and compact courtyard setting were central to the experience recorded here.

Barry chooses a slice rather than sitting down for a full meal. The camera looks across the counter towards the ovens and pizzas before returning outside. It is a brief stop, but it gives the film its strongest food record and captures Homeslice during an established period in the restaurant’s early London growth.

Friday-night drinks in Shepherd Market

The film then cuts west from Covent Garden to Shepherd Market in Mayfair. Developed by Edward Shepherd during the 1730s and 1740s, the enclave occupies ground historically associated with the annual May fair that gave the wider district its name. Its narrow streets, pubs and small businesses create a village-like contrast with the grander Mayfair streets around it.

Friday-night drinks provide the closing scene. After Seven Dials, The Crown and Homeslice, the table in Shepherd Market brings the evening to a quiet conclusion. The journey is modest, but that is precisely what makes it useful as an archive: it records how several familiar London places connected naturally within a single summer evening.

Seen again through Roberts London’s archive, the film is less a list of recommendations than a small documentary journey from Covent Garden to Mayfair—pub, pizza and Friday drinks preserved as London looked in July 2018.