The Strand and the Embankment, Westminster, London, 2002. In the centre of this aerial photograph is Shell-Mex House, part of which was once the Cecil Hotel, the largest hotel in Europe when it opened on 1886. Today the Strand has three theatres: the Savoy, the Adelphi and the Vaudeville. In the 1890s it contained more theatres than other street in London. The street has housed many public houses and coffee shops since the 17th century and has attracted a wide range of people over the years from writers and actors, to pickpockets and prostitutes.