Old Street is a 1-mile (1.6 km)street in inner north-east CentralLondon, England that runs west to east fromGoswell Road inClerkenwell, in theLondon Borough of Islington, viaSt Luke's andOld Street Roundabout, to the crossroads where it meetsShoreditch High Street (south),Kingsland Road (north) andHackney Road (east) inShoreditch in theLondon Borough of Hackney.
It hasLondon Underground stationOld Street on theNorthern line which has other platforms forNational Rail'sNorthern City Line.
Its west half is insideLondon's congestion charging zone. The street's middle (from Old Street Station to Great Eastern Street) follows the zone's eastern boundary, while the street's eastern end falls entirely outside the zone.
Old Street was recorded asEaldestrate in about 1200, andle Oldestrete in 1373. As befits its name there are some suggestions that the road is of ancient origin. It lies on the route of an old Roman or possibly pre-Roman track connectingSilchester andColchester, skirting round the walls ofLondinium, today the areas known as theCity of London.
The western part was widened between 1872 and 1877, but it narrows east of Coronet Street; there survive, at No.s. 340-342 on the south side of the street and No.s. 323 and 325-329 on the north side, some domestic buildings from the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, though somewhat battered and altered in function. At the east end of Old Street there is a notable deviation of the line of the street as it joins the old Roman Road north toYork. This deviation is visible on old maps but unexplained, and is today fronted byShoreditch Town Hall and the former Shoreditch Magistrates Court (now a hotel). Together withSt Leonard's, Shoreditch at the east end of Old Street, this was the civic hub of the formerMetropolitan Borough of Shoreditch.
The eastern half of the road is on theLondon Inner Ring Road and forms part of the boundary of theLondon congestion charge zone. Old Street and the surrounding areas ofHoxton Square and Great Eastern Street host a thriving night life. The street and its adjacent areas have attracted IT and tech companies, both established and start-ups, and Old Street Roundabout, located at the junction withCity Road, has been dubbedSilicon Roundabout.[2]Old Street station is located under the roundabout. With the increase in passenger numbers using the station, in 2014Transport for London announced that it was to offerpop-up retail space there as part of a drive to increase its revenue.[3]
Old Street has become favoured for notable graffiti artists such asBanksy[4] andJef Aérosol.[5][6]Banksy has featured several pieces on "Shoreditch Bridge".[7] In March 2024,Transport for London ordered the removal of an "Israel–Gaza peace mural" painted on its building oppositeOld Street station in London. The mural, created by the charityCircle of Toys, depicted an Israeli girl and a Palestinian girl holding each other’s flags, symbolising peace and unity between the two peoples amid the backdrop of theOctober 7 attacks. Sixteen days after its unveiling, the mural was defaced with a pro-Palestinian message painted in red. To prevent further "antisocial behaviour", TfL ordered its removal, stating that the artwork had not been authorised, and urged the charity to explore alternative locations.[8]
Old Street is served greatly by bus routes:
Briefly:
In theCharles Dickens novelBleak House the lawyer's clerk Mr Guppy lunches in Old Street with Richard Carstone on 'lobster and lettuce, without the slugs this time'.
51°31′36″N0°04′57″W / 51.52653°N 0.08246°W /51.52653; -0.08246