Piccadilly Circus 

Once regarded as the hub of Empire, and still one the most famous streets in the world, the phrase “It’s like Piccadilly Circus in here!” has become a byword for the hustle and bustle of human traffic. With news this week of plans to build a mosque in the basement and ground floor of the iconic Trocadero building (interesting idea, siting a place of worship in an area historically given over to hedonistic pleasures!) - , I thought it was worth penning a few words about this important landmark….

Aerial view of Piccadilly Circus

Piccadilly Circus lies at the intersection of Piccadilly, Regent St, Shaftesbury Avenue, Haymarket and Coventry Street. It was first formed in 1819 on construction of John Nash’s Regent Street (at this point it was known as Regent Circus South). It only began to be known as Piccadilly Circus in the mid-1880s when the north-east segment was demolished to form Shaftesbury Avenue, although by now the ‘circus’ had lost its circular form. The London Pavilion was built on this north-east corner. 

Piccadilly Circus in 1914

 The Trocadero complex on the corner of Shaftesbury   Avenue and Coventry Street (on the north-east side of the   Circus) opened in 1984 as an exhibition and   entertainment  space and, since 2020, a 700-room hotel  (the ‘Zedwell’). Formerly on this site stood a number of   historic buildings - the London Pavilion Theatre (a  former  popular music hall), the Royal Albion Theatre, the  Argyll Subscription Rooms (where wealthy men hired prostitutes) and the Trocadero Restaurant, originally built in 1896 for J. Lyons & Co. Although completely gutting the interior, the 1980s re-styling retained the grandeur of the Trocadero’s Baroque façade of 1885 which was seen for the first time in decades without the plethora of neon signs which had previously covered the building. 

Criterion Theatre

On the south side of the Circus lies the Criterion Building of 1873, comprising both a theatre and a

high-end restaurant. The restaurant proved very profitable within a short time, the East Room becoming popular with ladies coming to the West End to shop. It was also the setting for many afternoon tea meetings organised and held by the WSPU, the militant wing of the women’s suffrage movement. The Grade-II-listed Criterion Theatre is entirely underground (except for the box office) and in the early days fresh air had to be pumped in during performances to prevent the audience being asphyxiated by toxic fumes from the gas lights. 

Angel of Christian Charity (Eros)

Also on the south side of the Circus is the so-called Statue of Eros. The world’s first aluminium statue, it was unveiled in 1893 as a tribute to the philanthropic work of the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. The figure represents the Angel of Christian Charity but is generally known as Eros – incorrectly, as it is actually Anteros, Eros’ lesser known brother, the god of selfless love and charity. At one time, the statue stood in the centre of a traffic circle, with cars and buses speeding around him, but it now has a new position on the south-western corner of the Circus, in front of sports’ store Lillywhites. 

Piccadilly Circus ticket-hall

Grade II-listed Piccadilly Circus underground station, which opened in 1906, sits directly under Piccadilly Circus itself and is one of the only stations on the network to exist entirely underground. When it was built in 1906, a surface level ticket office existed, but the station was then revamped in the 1920s to enable it to handle passenger numbers which had increased from 1.5 to 25 million per year. Charles Holden’s iconic circular booking hall mirrors the dimensions of the Circus above ground. Other distinctive Holden features include a stylish passageway surrounding the ticket hall clad in cream travertine marble. Decorative pillars and lights are roughly equally spaced around the oval passageway, their relatively narrow form ensuring maximum space is available for passengers walking through the ticket hall. 

1949, prior to redevelopment

But Piccadilly Circus is perhaps most famous for its illuminated (later digital) screens which have been in existence since 1908. These days they only cover the north-west corner. The first sign to be illuminated was a Perrier advertisement which used incandescent lightbulbs. Neon was first used for a Bovril sign in the 1940s. Coca Cola’s advertising (the current sign has 774,144 pixels!) has been displayed here continuously since 1954. The lights have only rarely been switched off: during the Blitz, for Churchill’s funeral and when Lady Diana Spencer died. 

References: 

The London Encyclopedia ed. Ben Weinreb (2008) 

Website: https://londonist.com/2016/05/secrets-of-piccadilly-circus 

Website: https://alondoninheritance.com/under-london/hidden-london-piccadilly-circus/ 

Photo of Criterion Theatre: Ikos - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39467099