Knightsbridge, home of Harrods

Knightsbridge, in the west of London, is an expensive residential area as well as home to many upmarket retail outlets, most notably Harrods. Anyone visiting London usually has a trip to Harrods somewhere near the top of their list of things to do and see - you can't go home without one of their famous green shopping bags.

Charles Henry Harrod set up a grocery store in the east end of London way back in 1834. However, in 1849 he was keen to get away from the centre of the city and wanted to have a store nearer to the forthcoming Great Exhibition being held in the west end of the city. Therefore he moved his store to Knightsbridge, where it has remained ever since.

By 1880 Harrod's son was running the business and had started to sell a wider range of goods and 100 people were proud to say they worked there. Their regular customers included some high profile names, such as Oscar Wilde, Sigmund Freud, Noel Coward and various members of the Royal family. Now the store is internationally famous and attracts VIPs from all over the world. Indeed, every year a famous person is invited by owner Mohammed Al fayed to officially open the annual Harrod's sale, which has become an event in itself with people queuing round the block to be some of the first to get inside and snap up a bargain.

Now, we all love trivial facts and figures so here are some that may surprise you.

1. The store has it's own wells, three of them to be precise, and draws around 27 million gallons a year from them.
2. The engine room generates three quarters of all the electricity used.
3. There are 40 lifts, travelling a total of 40,000 miles per year. (That's roughly London to Sydney, Australia and back. Twice!)
4. 250 telephone lines get 7000 calls a day
5. Harrod's electricians have to change 300 light bulbs every day (energy efficient ones, I assume). The outside of the store uses 11,500 light bulbs, just in case you can't find it at night.
6. From 100 staff back in 1880, today the store employs 5000 permanent staff and an extra 500 temporary ones during the busy periods.
7. The distribution centre is a wonder - 7 underground floors feeding 40 delivery vehicles, including their first ever van from 1915, still running today.
8. Back inside the shop there is the famous food hall with 18 departments. You can find 250 different cheeses or 130 types of bread and scones. Surprisingly they only sell around 100 tons of chocolate per year. That's the equivalent of about 10 large African elephants.
9. Finally, talking of elephants, the store famously sold one to someone who gave it to former US president Ronald Reagan!