THE AREA TO THE EAST of Charing Cross Station was originally the site of York House, owned by George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. The land was sold for development in the 1670s, on the condition that all the streets were named after him.
And so there’s a George Street, a Villiers Street, a Duke Street and a Buckingham Street… and Of Alley. The name was changed to York Place by some tiresome Westminster Council bureaucrat, but the original name is retained as an afterthought.
