| Piccadilly Circus | |
|---|---|
 Piccadilly Circus in 2012 | |
 Interactive map of Piccadilly Circus | |
| Location | |
| London,United Kingdom | |
| Coordinates | 51°30′36″N0°8′4″W / 51.51000°N 0.13444°W /51.51000; -0.13444 |
| Roads at junction | Regent Street,Piccadilly,Shaftesbury Avenue,The Haymarket,Coventry Street and Glasshouse Street |
| Construction | |
| Type | Road junction |
| Opened | 1819 |
Piccadilly Circus is aroad junction and public space ofLondon'sWest End in theCity of Westminster. It was built in 1819 to connectRegent Street withPiccadilly. In this context, acircus, from the Latin word meaning "circle", is a round open space at a street junction.[1]
The Circus now connects Piccadilly, Regent Street,Shaftesbury Avenue,the Haymarket,Coventry Street (onwards toLeicester Square) and Glasshouse Street. It is close to major shopping and entertainment areas in the West End. Its status as a major traffic junction has made Piccadilly Circus a busy meeting place and a tourist attraction in its own right. The Circus is particularly known for its video display andneon signs mounted on the corner building on the northern side, as well as theShaftesbury Memorial Fountain and statue ofAnteros (which is popularly, though mistakenly, believed to be ofEros).
It is surrounded by several notable buildings, including theLondon Pavilion andCriterion Theatre. Underneath the plaza isPiccadilly Circus tube station, part of theLondon Underground system.
Piccadilly Circus connects toPiccadilly, a thoroughfare whose name first appeared in 1626 as Piccadilly Hall, named after a house belonging to one Robert Baker, a tailor famous for sellingpiccadills, or piccadillies, a term used for various kinds ofcollars. The street was known as Portugal Street in 1692 in honour ofCatherine of Braganza, thequeen consort of KingCharles II but was known as Piccadilly by 1743. Piccadilly Circus was created in 1819, at the junction withRegent Street, which was then being built under the planning ofJohn Nash on the site of a house and garden belonging to a Lady Hutton; the intersection was then known as Regent Circus South (just as Oxford Circus was known as Regent Circus North) and it did not begin to be known as Piccadilly Circus until the mid-1880s, with the rebuilding of the Regent Street Quadrant and the construction of Shaftesbury Avenue. In the same period the circus lost its circular form.[2]
The junction has been a very busy traffic interchange since construction, as it lies at the centre ofTheatreland and handles exit traffic from Piccadilly, whichCharles Dickens Jr. described in 1879: "Piccadilly, the great thoroughfare leading from the Haymarket andRegent-street westward toHyde Park-corner, is the nearest approach to theParisian boulevard of which London can boast."[3]
Piccadilly Circus tube station was opened on 10 March 1906, on theBakerloo line, and on thePiccadilly line in December of that year. In 1928, the station was extensively rebuilt to handle an increase in traffic. The junction's first electric advertisements appeared in 1908, and, from 1923, electric billboards were set up on the facade of theLondon Pavilion.[5] Electric street lamps, however, did not replace the gas ones until 1932.[6] The circus became a one-way roundabout on 19 July 1926.[7] Traffic lights were first installed on 3 August 1926.
During World War II many servicemen's clubs in the West End served American soldiers based in Britain. So many prostitutes roamed the area approaching the soldiers that they received the nickname "Piccadilly Commandos", and bothScotland Yard and theForeign Office discussed possible damage to Anglo-American relations.[8]
At the start of the 1960s, it was determined that the Circus needed to be redeveloped to allow for greater traffic flow. In 1962,Lord Holford presented a plan which would have created a "double-decker" Piccadilly Circus; the upper deck would have been an elevated pedestrian concourse linking the buildings around the perimeter of the Circus, with the lower deck being solely for traffic, most of the ground-level pedestrian areas having been removed to allow for greater vehicle flow. This concept was kept alive throughout the rest of the 1960s. A final scheme in 1972 proposed three octagonal towers (the highest 240 feet (73 m) tall) to replace the Trocadero, the Criterion and the "Monico" buildings.[9] The plans were permanently rejected bySir Keith Joseph andErnest Marples; the key reason given was that Holford's scheme only allowed for a 20% increase in traffic, and the Government required 50%.
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The Holford plan is referenced in the short-formdocumentary film "Goodbye, Piccadilly", produced by theRank Organisation in 1967 as part of theirLook at Life series when it was still seriously expected that Holford's recommendations would be acted upon. Piccadilly Circus has since escaped major redevelopment, apart from extensive ground-level pedestrianisation around its south side in the 1980s.
The Circus has been targeted byIrish republican terrorists multiple times. On 24 June 1939 an explosion occurred, although no injuries were caused.[10]On 25 November 1974 a bomb injured 16 people.[11] A 2 lb bomb exploded on 6 October 1992, injuring five people.[12]
TheShaftesbury Memorial Fountain at Piccadilly Circus was erected in 1893 to commemorate the philanthropic works ofAnthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. It was removed from the Circus twice and moved from the centre once. The first time was in 1922, so thatCharles Holden's new tube station could be built directly below it. The fountain returned in 1931. During theSecond World War, the fountain was removed for the second time and replaced by advertising hoardings. It was returned again in 1948. When the Circus underwent reconstruction work in the late 1980s, the entire fountain was moved from the centre of the junction at the beginning of Shaftesbury Avenue to its present position at the southwestern corner.[13]
Piccadilly Circus is surrounded by tourist attractions, including theShaftesbury Memorial,Criterion Theatre, London Pavilion and retail stores. Nightclubs, restaurants and bars are located in the area and neighbouringSoho, including the formerChinawhite club.[14]
Piccadilly Circus was surrounded by illuminated advertising hoardings on buildings, starting in 1908 with aPerrier sign,[15] but only one building now carries them, the one in the northwestern corner between Shaftesbury Avenue and Glasshouse Street. The site is unnamed (usually referred to as "Monico" after theCafé Monico, which used to be on the site); its addresses are 44/48 Regent Street, 1/6 Sherwood Street, 17/22 Denman Street and 1/17Shaftesbury Avenue, and it has been owned by property investorLand Securities Group since the 1970s.
The earliest signs usedincandescent light bulbs; these were replaced withneon lights and with moving signs (there was a largeGuinness clock at one time). The first neon sign was for the British meat extractBovril.[5] From December 1998,digital projectors were used for the Coke sign, the square's first digital billboard,[16] while in the 2000s there was a gradual move toLED displays, which completely replaced neon lamps by 2011. The number of signs has reduced over the years as the rental costs have increased, and in January 2017 the six remaining advertising screens were switched off as part of their combination into one large ultra-high definition curvedDaktronics display, turning the signs off during renovation for the longest time since the 1940s. On 26 October 2017, the new screen was switched on for the first time.[17]
Until the 2017 refurbishment, the site had six LED advertising screens above three large retail units facing Piccadilly Circus on the north side, occupied byBoots,Gap and a mix of smaller retail, restaurant and office premises fronting the other streets. ABurger King located under the Samsung advert, which had been aWimpy Bar until 1989, closed in early 2008 and was converted into aBarclays bank.
On special occasions the lights are switched off, such as the deaths ofWinston Churchill in 1965 andDiana, Princess of Wales in 1997. On 21 June 2007, they were switched off for one hour as part of the Lights Out London campaign.[28] After thedeath of Elizabeth II, all advertising on Piccadilly Circus was replaced with an image honouring the Queen, as part of a suspension ofout-of-home advertising agreed upon by the industry.[29][30]
Other companies and brands that have had signs on the site wereBovril,Volkswagen,Max Factor,Wrigley's Spearmint,Skol,Air India andGold Flake (as Will's Gold Flake Cigarettes).[31]
Since 2020, theCultural Institute of Radical Contemporary Arts has broadcast specially commissioned two-minute artworks for the screens, broadcast at the same time each evening. In 2022 the segments were shown at 8:22 p.m.[32]
At the south-eastern side of the Circus, moved afterWorld War II from its original position in the centre, stands theShaftesbury Memorial Fountain, erected in 1892–1893 to commemorate the philanthropic works ofLord Shaftesbury, a Victorian politician,philanthropist and social reformer. The subject of the Memorial is the Greek godAnteros and was given the nameThe Angel of Christian Charity but is generally mistaken for his brotherEros.[33]
TheCriterion Theatre, a Grade II*listed building, stands on the south side of Piccadilly Circus.[34] Apart from the box office area, the entire theatre, with nearly 600 seats, is underground and is reached by descending a tiled stairway.Columns are used to support both the dress circle and the upper circle, restricting the views of some of the seats inside.
The theatre was designed byThomas Verity and opened as a theatre on 21 March 1874, although original plans were for it to become a concert hall. Actor and theatre proprietorCharles Wyndham became the manager of the Criterion in 1875, and under him it became one of the leading light comedy houses in London.[35] In 1883, it was forced to close to improve ventilation and to replace gaslights with electric lights and was reopened the following year. The theatre closed in 1989 and was extensively renovated, reopening in October 1992. Recent productions at the Criterion includeThe 39 Steps, a parody play adapted from the1935 film byAlfred Hitchcock, with the play running for nine years at the venue from 2006 to 2015.[36]
On the north-eastern side of Piccadilly Circus, on the corner between Shaftesbury Avenue and Coventry Street, is theLondon Pavilion. The first building bearing the name was built in 1859 and was amusic hall. In 1885, Shaftesbury Avenue was built through the former site of the Pavilion, and a new London Pavilion was constructed, which also served as a music hall. In 1923, electric billboards were erected on the side of the building.[37]
In 1934, the building underwent significant structural alteration and was converted into acinema.[37] In October 1962 it premieredDr. No, the firstJames Bond film, and in July 1964 was the venue for the premiere ofA Hard Day's Night, the musical comedy film starringthe Beatles.[38] In 1986, the building was rebuilt, preserving the 1885 façade, and converted into ashopping arcade. In 2000, the building was connected to the neighbouringTrocadero Centre, and signage on the building was altered in 2003 to read "London Trocadero". Thebasement of the building connects with the Underground station.
The formerSwan & Edgar department store on the west side of the circus betweenPiccadilly andRegent Street was built in 1928–29 to a design byReginald Blomfield.[39] Since the closure of the department store in the early 1980s, the building has been successively the flagship London store of music chainsTower Records,Virgin Megastore andZavvi.
Lillywhites is a major retailer ofsporting goods located on the corner of the circus and Lower Regent Street, next to the Shaftesbury fountain. It moved to its present site in 1925. Lillywhites is popular with tourists, and they regularly offer sale items, including international football jerseys up to 90% off. NearbyFortnum & Mason is often considered to be part of the Piccadilly Circus shopping area and is known for its expansive food hall.[40]
Dominating the north side of the circus, on the corner of Glasshouse Street, is the County Fire Office building, with a statue ofBritannia on the roof. The original building was designed byJohn Nash as the extreme southern end of his Regent Street Quadrant. Its dramatic façade was clearly influenced byInigo Jones's old Somerset House. Although Robert Abraham was the County Fire Insurance Company's architect, it was probably Nash who was instrumental in choosing the design.[41] In 1924 the old County Fire Office was demolished and replaced with a similar but much coarser building designed byReginald Blomfield, but retaining the statue of Britannia.[42] During theLondon Blitz it was the only building in the Circus to be damaged, with a few window panes blown out.[43] The building is Grade II listed.[44]
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Piccadilly Circus tube station on theLondon Underground is located directly beneath Piccadilly Circus itself, with entrances at every corner. It is one of the few stations which have no associated buildings above ground and is fully underground. The below ground concourse andsubway entrances are Grade IIlisted.[45]
The station is served by theBakerloo andPiccadilly lines.
The Circus' status as a high-profile public space has made it the destination for numerous political demonstrations, including theFebruary 15, 2003 anti-war protest[46] and the "Carnival Against Capitalism" protest against the39th G8 summit in 2013.[47]
The phraseit's like Piccadilly Circus is commonly used in the UK to refer to a place or situation which is extremely busy with people. It has been said that a person who stays long enough at Piccadilly Circus will eventually bump into everyone they know. Probably because of this connection, during World War II, "Piccadilly Circus" was the code name given to the Allies'D-Day invasion fleet's assembly location in the English Channel.[48]
Piccadilly Circus has inspired artists and musicians.Piccadilly Circus (1912) is the name and subject of a painting by British artistCharles Ginner, part of theTate Britain collection. SculptorPaul McCarthy also has a 320-page two-volume edition of video stills by the name ofPiccadilly Circus. In the lyrics of their song "Mother Goose", on theAqualung album from 1971, the rock bandJethro Tull tells "And a foreign student said to me: 'was it really true there were elephants, lions too, in Picadilly Circus?'".Bob Marley mentioned Piccadilly Circus in his song "Kinky Reggae", on theCatch a Fire album from 1973.[49]
L. S. Lowry's paintingPiccadilly Circus, London (1960), part of LordCharles Forte's collection for almost three decades,[50] sold for £5,641,250 when auctioned for the first time atChristie's 20th Century British & Irish Art sale on 16 November 2011.[51] Contemporary British painterCarl Randall's painting 'Piccadilly Circus' (2017) is a large monochrome canvas depicting the area at night with crowds, the making of which involved painting over 70 portraits from life.[52][53][54]
. . .the ten-mile (16 km) circle in the Channel nicknamed Piccadilly Circus, where the troop convoys would meet . . .
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