*London’s “Mews Streets+Houses”-Pt6 – “Wimpole Mews” – London W1

The first cab off the London Shoes rank for 2026 – on the face of it, is just a straight forward simple topic from the popular Shoes theme of London’s Mews Streets & Houses.

However……in typical Shoes fashion, not all is as it may seem – because lurking in the background shadows of this particular subject matter……is a dark historic past, involving an incident that almost brought down a Government and potentially threatened Britain’s entire security defence mechanism!!!

So – the first London Shoes blog of 2026 is all about the history of :-

“Wimpole Mews” – London W1

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‘Wimpole Mews’ is a street located in the Marylebone district of London – just a stones throw from the impressive BT Tower / Regents Park and Great Portland Street tube stations.

As with most of London’s unique little ‘Mews’ streets – Wimpole Mews was constructed in the early 1800’s and started life as a small purposely built back-street, for the purpose of housing the coachmen and servant staff working for the owners of the grand mansion type houses in surrounding streets like Wimpole Street / Cavendish Square / Portland Place etc. The ground floor of these mews houses usually consisted of large stables where horses and carriages would be parked up – and then cramped living quarters upstairs, where the coachman and staff in service, would reside.

As the decades passed, and the motor car replaced horse-power – the unique cobbled streets housing these mews properties were no long as essential to the wealthy home owners of the nearby posh houses, and as a result a lot of the mews houses fell into serious disrepair – in fact, some of the old ‘social’ maps of the late 1800’s show many of London’s mews streets as designated as slum areas.

However – post WW2 and especially by the time of the late 1950’s early 1960’s – these little mews streets and their houses started to become quite fashionable – as London’s ‘beautiful’ people started to buy them up and do them up – making them become very desirable, and in-demand properties.

In 1962 – no.17 Wimpole Mews was occupied by one ‘Stephen Ward’ (1912-1963) an artist and an osteopath.

Stephen Ward was what is termed a socialite and he used to host big parties at his 17 Wimpole Mews property- where celebs and politicians would all mingle.

Stephen Ward befriended 2 young models/showgirls – ‘Christine Keeler’ and ‘Mandy Rice Davies’ – and they would often attend the parties that Ward would throw at his Wimpole Mews ‘pad’.

In fact, it wasn’t long before Christine Keeler moved in to 17 Wimpole Mews when Stephen Ward rented one of his room to her .

Ward would introduce Keeler and Rice-Davies to many a Wimpole Mews partygoers – and the 2 women soon became quite well known in London celeb circles.

One acquaintance Stephen Ward introduced Christine Keeler was ‘John Profumo’ the UK Conservative  Government’s ‘Secretary of State for War’.

It wasnt long before Keeler and Profumo began an affair. However,  Stephen Ward had also introduced Christine Keeler to a ‘Captain Yevgenny Ivanov’ – a top Soviet naval attache’ – which meant that Keeler was ‘seeing’ the British Secretary of State For War’ and a top Russian naval Captain at the same time……quite a dodgy situation to be in, during the dangerous Cold War times.

In 1962 – a Caribbean born jazz music and night club promoter ‘Johnny Edgecombe’  a former lover of Christine Keeler – got wind of the fact that she was ‘seeing’ other men (inc Profumo and Ivanov ) and wasn’t too happy  – and armed with a semi-automatic pistol, he took it upon himself to turn up at no.17 Wimpole Mews, knowing that Keeler was living there, and attempted to blow the front door locks off to gain entry.  Edgecombe fired 5 shots from his gun, into the door…..however, the doors locks stayed intact, and he had to quickly do a runner.

The Police turned up at 17 Wimpole Mews a little later, and Edgecombe was arrested later that same evening. It is the the fall-out of that arrest and all the questioning that went with it – that unraveled the relationships between Keeler and Profumo and Ivanov – a story that subsequently became ‘massive’ news.

Christine Keeler’s non-appearance at the Old Bailey trial that followed – prompted the press to run the full story about her involvement with Profumo and Ivanov and the potential threat to England’s national security – it was front page news across the globe and Profumo eventually resigned – but the Government had been well and truly rocked.

In 1963 Stephen Ward was charged with living off of vice immoral earnings.

He was given bail and was sent for trial at the Old Bailey.

At the trial Christine Keeler appeared in the dock, giving evidence for the prosecution – not in defence of Ward.

On the 30th July 1963 – the Judge gave his summing up of the case -and  his delivery was not at all complimentary towards Stephen Ward.

That evening – prior to sentencing the next morning – at a friends flat in Chelsea, Stephen Ward took an overdose of sleeping pills. He was found, and rushed to hospital.

The next day at the Old Bailey, the Judge completed his summary and the jury found Ward guilty (in his absence) on the charges of living off the earnings of prostitution, but acquitted him of several other charges. Sentencing was postponed until such time Stephen Ward was deemed fit to appear. However – he died on 3rd August – just 4 days later having never regained consciousness.

It is said that the Government were instrumental in Ward being sent for trial – as a way of getting back at him for the embarrassment and trouble he caused because of the Profumo affair – a sort of ‘political revenge‘.  The media and even Ward himself, felt he was being thrown under a bus and being made a scapegoat – and its fair to say that the British public clearly had a lot of sympathy for him.

The damage caused to the Government as a result of the Profumo scandal, led to a massive public distrust of Conservative politicians – a distrust that led to the eventual downfall of the Government a year later.

Christine Keeler died in 2017 aged 75 / John Profumo died in 2006 aged 91 / Yevgenny Ivanov died in 2004 aged 68 / Mandy Rice-Davies died in 2014 aged 70

17 Wimpole Mews  – as it is today (2025)

So – there you have it – the 1st Shoes blog of 2026…….Wimpole Mews’ – once a typical mews street of small terraced houses where horses/carriages/coachmen/servant staff that worked for the owners of the posh mansions of places like Wigmore Street, all lived. Today, the mews houses in Wimpole Mews sell for an average of £2.5M  upwards.

Hope you enjoyed this little story and its accompanying photos.

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See below is the entire gallery of photos & images that accompany this ‘Wimpole Mews’ blog article