From the cobbled, quaint and quirky to the elegant, sweeping and grand, from the history-drenched to the Instagram-primped, the UK has many good-looking thoroughfares.
Having considered alleys, avenues, crescents, cut-throughs, side roads, back streets and boulevards across the country, we’ve come up with 20 of the prettiest.
We’ve ignored purely residential lovelies and opted for those with something – or many things – of public interest on them such as a wonky pub, a haunted hotel, a cracking café or a few indie boutiques. All are worth a stroll. But which do you think is the fairest of them all?
1. Steep Hill
Lincoln, Lincolnshire
With a gradient of 16.12º, Lincoln’s Steep Hill isn’t quite England’s most precipitous street (Ordnance Survey rates it fourth). But it’s one of the prettiest.
This historic, twisty thoroughfare was used by the Romans to connect Lindum Colonia to the river below; remains of the fort’s upper South Gate can be seen in the brickwork at Number 44. The hill also boasts two Norman houses, one of which is now Imperial Teas, purveyors of speciality brews. Also worth the climb are Hobson’s, for pies, and the Mouse House, for local-made cheese.
Where to stay
The White Hart (01522 526222; whitehart-lincoln.co.uk) has B&B doubles from £109 per night.
2. Mermaid Street
Rye, East Sussex
In the late 19th century Mermaid Street was one of Rye’s poorest addresses, populated by labourers and infested with rats. How times change. Now, this cobbled alley of close-knit Georgian and half-timbered buildings – with cute names like The House with Two Front Doors and The House with The Seat – is Rye’s most loved.
It’s named for the street’s Mermaid Inn, which was re-built in 1420 and has cellars dating to 1156 plus several ghosts. Lamb House, an 18th-century red-brick pile where Henry James once lived, is around the corner.
Where to stay
The Mermaid Inn (01797 223065; mermaidinn.com) has B&B doubles from £190 per night.
3. Victoria Street
Edinburgh
Elegant, curvaceous Victoria Street was designed in the 1830s to open up and improve West Bow, a cramped medieval lane. It was influenced by “Old Flemish” style, named for Queen Victoria and, more recently, inspired JK Rowling’s Diagon Alley.
There’s certainly some magic to the sweeping, bright-painted shopfronts, which sell everything from Islay candles and Edinburgh Natural Skincare to whisky and tweed. Stop at the Bow Bar for a sharpener, and admire the Scots Baronial style “bartizan” turret on top of India Buildings.
Where to stay
Virgin Hotels Edinburgh (0131 526 4810; virginhotels.com/edinburgh) has B&B doubles from £200 per night.
4. High Street
Corsham, Wiltshire
Corsham’s High Street, a handsome run of Bath stone and bunting, hasn’t gone unnoticed. In 1963, architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner reckoned it had “no match in Wiltshire”. Since then, film crews have flocked in: productions such as Remains of the Day, Poldark and Rivals have been made here.
The street has many award-winning independents, from bookshops to jewellers to delis (try Woody’s for fresh salads and cheeses). In spring 2026, the team behind Bath’s Beckford Bottle Shop will open Corsham House at No 13, a wine-led bar-restaurant with rooms upstairs.
Where to stay
The Methuen Arms (01249 717060; butcombe.com) has B&B doubles from £113 per night.
5. Sergeant’s Lane
Tenby, Pembrokeshire
Pastel-pretty Tenby has quite a lot of cute streets, but Sergeant’s Lane is cutest of all. This medieval shortcut was used to tote goods up to St Julian’s Street from the harbour, and has been home, over the years, to fishermen’s cottages, warehouses and stables. Now, artists have moved in – check out robArt studio, Jimi Zen gallery and Welsh Otter’s sustainable textiles – as well as the family-run Harbwr Brewery, where ales are brewed on site and served in the super-cool taproom.
Where to stay
Holiday Cottages (01237 426781; holidaycottages.co.uk) offers Anchor Down, on the entrance to Sergeant’s Lane, from £415 for three nights, sleeping six.
6. Grey Street
Newcastle, Tyne & Wear
In 2010, BBC Radio 4 listeners named this the best street in Britain – for good reason. Designed in the 1830s with the aim of rivalling Edinburgh and Bath, Grey Street is one of the country’s most harmonious sweeps of Georgian-style architecture, descending gracefully from 41m-high Grey’s Monument towards the Tyne.
The colonnaded Theatre Royal provides drama, while grand edifices built to be banks and offices are now a mix of shops, restaurants, bars and cafes – try Blakes for a breakfast stottie (made with traditional bread) or bijou Café Mercy for cocktails.
Where to stay
The Grey Street Hotel (0191 230 6777; greystreethotel.co.uk) has doubles from £70 per night, room-only.
7. Bellevue Terrace
Great Malvern, Worcestershire
The clue’s in the name: Bellevue Terrace is a beautiful row of preserved Victorian shopfronts, with a beautiful view over Grade I-listed Great Malvern Priory to the Vale of Evesham beyond.
Bookended by the Mount Pleasant Hotel, a smart Georgian pile, and the Unicorn, Malvern’s oldest pub, the terrace also features a wine bar (Faun), cafe (Little Olive’s Play Café) and patisserie – all new in 2025 – plus an antiques shop, goldsmiths, and bike store. There’s even a fashion museum that delves into the spa town’s sartorial history.
Where to stay
The Mount Pleasant Hotel (01684 561837; mountpleasanthotel.co.uk) has doubles from £105 per night, room-only.
8. Lombard Street
Petworth, West Sussex
It’s a good job Lombard Street is basically pedestrianised these days, because this neat, narrow lane of 17th- and 18th-century buildings was definitely built for carts, not cars.
It slips north off Petworth’s market square near Reader’s Good Books and runs towards the red-brick bell tower of St Mary’s church. Along the way, shop for gorgeous gifts at Little Red, homewares at Tallulah Fox, locally reared meat at the Hungry Guest Butcher and art at the Kevis Gallery.
Where to stay
A Victorian photographer’s studio above the Kevis Gallery, Petworth Penthouse (01798 215007; petworthpenthouse.com) costs from £676 for two nights, sleeping eight.
9. Pier Road
Luss, Argyll & Bute
Little Luss, on Loch Lomond’s western shore, has been a place of pilgrimage since Saint Kessog arrived in the sixth century. It’s now a conservation village, with Pier Road it’s prettiest stretch, a street of comely 19th-century cottages built to house workers at the nearby slate quarries.
One is the Village Rest, a nice spot for a cuppa. One is the General Store, where you can buy Scottish goodies like heather honey and Highland cow earrings. It’s especially lovely to stroll in spring-summer, when the gardens are a-bloom.
Where to stay
The Loch Lomond Arms (01436 860420; lochlomondarmshotel.com) has B&B doubles from £115 per night.
10. Main Street
Haworth, West Yorkshire
It’s impossible to disassociate this Pennines-tucked village from its most famous family, the Brontës. Though when they lived here in the mid-19th century, Haworth wasn’t nearly so charming – back then, it was reportedly as bad as London’s worst slums.
Cleaned up now, its cobbled Main Street is a delightful rise of millstone grit cottages, where you’ll find many a Brontë-themed business – Wuthering Arts gallery, the Writer’s Bloc cafe – and the 16th-century Black Bull Inn, where Branwell was a regular; the Brontë Parsonage (now a museum) is on neighbouring Church Street.
Where to stay
Weavers (01535 643209; weaversofhaworth.com) has B&B doubles from £90 per night.
11. Drapers Lane
Leominster, Herefordshire
You’ll be unsurprised to learn that many drapers and cloth finishers once lived on this fetching alley in Leominster’s historic centre.
It was likely laid out in the 12th century, though its buildings vary in age. No 20 – now Sassy’s fashion boutique – dates from the 1400s; Nos 9-11 – now Rossiter Books – have Tudor timbers; Nos 12-14 – Motif giftshop – have Victorian fronts on older frames. No 27 is now Drapers Lane Delicatessen, the perfect place to sit outside with a coffee and watch lane life unfold.
Where to stay
The nearby Servants’ Quarters (01568 616460; leominstertourism.com) costs from £130 per night, sleeping 4.
12. Elm Hill
Norwich, Norfolk
Elm Hill was almost demolished 100 years ago, having fallen into disrepair. But thanks to the Norwich Society, which preserves historic buildings, this quaint Tudor strip was saved, restored, and is now the city’s most complete medieval street.
Refuel at the Britons Arms (formerly a house for lay women), then browse secondhand books at Dormouse and one of Britain’s largest selections of teddies at The Bear Shop. The church of Sir Peter Hungate at the top is now an exhibition space promoting medieval art.
Where to stay
The Maid’s Head (01603 209955; maidsheadhotel.co.uk) has doubles from £122 per night, room-only.
13. Down-A-Long
Clovelly, Devon
Clovelly’s High Street is less a thoroughfare, more a precipitous plunge down the cliffs. It’s cobbled,
car-free and – on account of having long been privately owned – virtually unchanged for centuries, lined with the sort of delightful flower-festooned cottages usually reserved for jigsaws.
There’s an entry fee to get in, though if you’re walking the Coast Path, you can access the street for free. It’s a stiff stroll down to the 700-year-old quay (and even stiffer back up) – pause en route at the General Stores for an ice cream.
Where to stay
The Red Lion (01237 431237; redlion-clovelly.co.uk) has B&B doubles from £170 per night.
14. Main Street
Tobermory, Isle of Mull
Streets don’t come much more colourful than Tobermory’s main drag: its vivid houses hug the harbour like a giant box of crayons.
Tobermory Chocolate (painted an appropriately cocoa-y hue) is here – stop for handmade truffles and bars. Further along are the Hebridean Whale Centre, where you can learn about local cetaceans, and the wee Mull Museum, crammed with island history. The brightest buildings are at the street’s far end, including the daffodil-yellow Mishnish: this dark, cosy, fire-warmed pub has been serving since 1869.
Where to stay
The waterfront Tobermory Hotel (01688 302091; thetobermoryhotel.com) has B&B doubles from £190 per night.
15. Church Street
Ludlow, Shropshire
It’s a tough call in Ludlow – there’s plenty of pretty options here. But Church Street just clinches it. This medieval lane leading off the market square is a narrow higgle-piggle of timbered, sandstone and Georgian facades, with a smattering of independents.
At one end is the photogenic Harp Lane Deli, whose owners have just opened a new café, shop and wine bar further down at No. 3. Beyond that is the venerable Mousetrap cheese shop and, if you pop down the crooked passage behind, the Rose & Crown, Ludlow’s oldest pub.
Where to stay
The Townhouse (01584 877143; townhouseludlow.co.uk) has doubles from £110 per night, room-only.
16. Commercial Court
Belfast
Tucked into the city’s historic Cathedral Quarter, Commercial Court is an old thoroughfare turned Instagram hit. This narrow cobbled entry (what the locals call an “alley”), once home to potters and newspapermen, is now be-decked with street art, including Sheila the neon elephant, commemorating the animal a local zookeeper kept in his home during the Blitz.
The Duke of York pub has been a popular drinking-hole here for 200 years (though the current establishment was rebuilt after a bombing in the 1970s) and is crammed with old photos and Belfast memorabilia.
Where to stay
The nearby Merchant Hotel (028 9023 4888; themerchanthotel.com) has doubles from £199 per night, room-only.
17. Eastgate Street
Chester, Cheshire
Eastgate Street was one of the four original routes through the Roman fortress of Deva Victrix. Almost 2,000 years later, it’s modern Chester’s most majestic avenue, bookended by an 18th-century sandstone arch crowned by the elegant Queen Victoria clock and the Chester Cross where, in summer months, Chester’s town crier makes a midday proclamation.
Wander Eastgate to see some of Chester’s Rows, two-tiered, timber-framed galleried walkways – both genuine medieval and Victorian reconstruction – filled with independents. It’s here you’ll find the Boot Inn (established 1643), reputedly Chester’s oldest pub.
Where to stay
The Chester Grosvenor (01244 324024; chestergrosvenor.com) has B&B doubles from £150 per night.
18. Catherine Hill
Frome, Somerset
Gird your loins: cobbled Catherine Hill is breathtakingly handsome but breath-stealingly steep. Luckily, it’s lined with excuses to pause for rest: Frome is a town of interesting independents, and many are here.
Find books at Sherlock & Pages, pottery at Ground, 50s fashion at Deadly is the Female, tea and coffee at Moo and Two; for sustenance, veer down to the former chapel on Whittox Lane, now Rye Bakery. Try to visit on the first Sunday of the month (March-December) when Frome Independent Market takes over town.
Where to stay
Dating to 1311, the Archangel (01373 456111; butcombe.com) has B&B doubles from £99 per night.
19. Quay Parade
Aberaeron, Ceredigion
Quay Parade is like a seaside sweetie box, each Georgian townhouse along this winsome waterfront painted a different, vibrant shade. It’s looking all the more inviting now, since flood defence works concluded in 2025: you can now continue beyond the end of the parade, past lovely Driftwood Designs gift shop, and onto the new breakwater that pokes out into Cardigan Bay.
Break up your stroll with a local Da Mhile G&T at the iconic Harbourmaster Hotel or with a scoop of honey ice cream from the Hive.
Where to stay
The Harbourmaster (01545 570755; harbour-master.com) has B&B doubles from £145 per night.
20. Trinity Street
Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
Cambridge’s original medieval high street, resplendent Trinity Street offers the city’s most complete historic thoroughfare. Anchored by Trinity and Gonville & Caius, it’s a tight-pressed, gently curving run of old colleges, chapels, town houses and shopfronts, with even narrower lanes shooting off it – do take a wander down bunting-hung Rose Crescent or college-squeezed Trinity Lane too.
There are obvious highlights, including Great St Mary’s Church (now home to a lovely cafe) but also look out for details such as the wall-mounted Richardson candle street lamps.
Where to stay
The Gonville (01223 366611; gonvillehotel.co.uk) has B&B doubles from £150 per night.