Queen’s Road has been Central’s main street since the 1840s, when, prior to land reclamation, it was on the waterfront. Running south from it, just west of HSBC, Ice House Street was named after a building that once stored blocks of imported ice for use in the colony’s early hospitals; following it uphill brings you onto Lower Albert Road, where the early-twentieth-century Old Dairy Farm Building, in brown-and-cream brick, today houses the Fringe Club and the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, a retreat for journalists, diplomats and lawyers.

Running west, Queen’s Road and parallel Des Voeux Road (with its tramway) take in some of the territory’s most exclusive shops and malls. These include The Landmark shopping complex, on the corner of Pedder Street and Des Voeux Road, which boasts a fountain in its huge atrium and is a key hub in the pedestrian walkway system that links all Central’s major buildings.

Whether you follow Queen’s Road or Des Voeux Road west from here, look out for the parallel alleys which run between the two, Li Yuen Street East and Li Yuen Street West; both are packed tight with stalls selling women’s clothes, silkwear, children’s clothes, fabrics, imitation handbags and accessories.

Southwest of these alleys, over Queen’s Road, Pottinger Street’s steps are similarly clogged with stalls selling ribbons, flowers, locks and other minor items. In contrast, nearby on Queen’s Road is Lane Crawford, one of the city’s top - and most staid - department stores.

Just west of Central Market, at 99 Queen’s Road Central, is The Centre, designed by architect Denis Lau, and by night one of the most eye-catching features of the island’s skyline. The building’s horizontal bars of light change colour constantly and perform a dancing light show nightly at 9pm: the best place to view the spectacle is from the Peak or from the Kowloon waterfront.