28-590: Shaftesbury Avenue is a major road in the West End of London , named after The 7th Earl of Shaftesbury . It runs north-easterly from Piccadilly Circus to New Oxford Street , crossing Charing Cross Road at Cambridge Circus . From Piccadilly Circus to Cambridge Circus, it is in the City of Westminster , and from Cambridge Circus to New Oxford Street, it is in the London Borough of Camden . Shaftesbury Avenue
56-543: A Chinese cake shop, two Chinese hair salons, a Chinese fishmonger, a Chinese newsagent, a Chinese bureau de change , and three Chinese banks. In the evening, street artists gather on the pavement outside the HQ of ICE - International Currency Exchange and Raphaels Bank (previously the home of NatWest ) at the Piccadilly Circus end of Shaftesbury Avenue, and produce portraits for the tourists. On 27 January 2023,
84-584: A central point at Charing Cross (in the City of Westminster ), which is marked by the statue of King Charles I at the junction of the Strand , Whitehall and Cockspur Street , just south of Trafalgar Square . The central area is distinguished, according to the Royal Commission , by the inclusion within its boundaries of Parliament and the Royal Palaces, the headquarters of Government,
112-539: A maintenance worker was killed after he was crushed by a telescopic urinal on the street. 51°30′43″N 0°07′55″W / 51.512°N 0.132°W / 51.512; -0.132 West End of London The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End ) is a district of Central London , London, England, west of the City of London and north of the River Thames , in which many of
140-428: A number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteristics are understood to include a high-density built environment, high land values, an elevated daytime population and a concentration of regionally, nationally and internationally significant organisations and facilities. Road distances to London are traditionally measured from
168-460: Is closely associated with this area of central London. Lying to the west of the historic Roman and medieval City of London, the West End was long favoured by the rich elite as a place of residence because it was usually upwind of the smoke drifting from the crowded City. It was close to the royal seat of power at the Palace of Westminster (now home to parliament ), and is largely contained within
196-433: Is described as "a unique cluster of vitally important activities including central government offices, headquarters and embassies, the largest concentration of London's financial and business services sector and the offices of trade, professional bodies, institutions, associations, communications, publishing, advertising and the media". For strategic planning, since 2011 there has been a Central London sub-region comprising
224-769: The Herbert Commission and the subsequent passage of the London Government Bill , three unsuccessful attempts were made to define an area that would form a central London borough . The first two were detailed in the 1959 Memorandum of Evidence of the Greater London Group of the London School of Economics . "Scheme A" envisaged a central London borough, one of 25, consisting of the City of London, Westminster, Holborn, Finsbury and
252-718: The Law Courts , the head offices of a very large number of commercial and industrial firms, as well as institutions of great influence in the intellectual life of the nation such as the British Museum , the National Gallery , the Tate Gallery , the University of London , the headquarters of the national ballet and opera, together with the headquarters of many national associations, the great professions,
280-433: The 19th century. As the West End is a term used colloquially by Londoners and is not an official geographical or municipal definition, its exact constituent parts are up for debate. Westminster City Council 's 2005 report Vision for the West End included the following areas in its definition: Covent Garden , Soho , Chinatown , Leicester Square , the shopping streets of Oxford Street , Regent Street and Bond Street ,
308-483: The 2011 Census was 10,575. The West End is laid out with many notable public squares and circuses. London Underground stations in the West End include: 51°30′48″N 0°07′43″W / 51.51333°N 0.12861°W / 51.51333; -0.12861 Central London Central London is the innermost part of London , in England , spanning the City of London and several boroughs . Over time,
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#1732772665533336-480: The City of London, the whole of Finsbury and Holborn, most of Westminster and Southwark, parts of St Pancras, St Marylebone, Paddington and a small part of Kensington. The area had an estimated population of 400,000 and occupied 8,000 acres (32 km ). During the passage of the London Government Bill an amendment was put forward to create a central borough corresponding to the definition used at
364-448: The City of Westminster (one of the 32 London boroughs ). Following initial development by Henry Jermyn, 1st Earl of St Albans in the 1660s, during the late 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, it was built as a series of palaces, expensive town houses, fashionable shops and places of entertainment. The areas closest to the City around Holborn , Seven Dials , and Covent Garden contained poorer communities that were cleared and redeveloped in
392-551: The Metropolis or in any provincial city, and the enormous office developments which have taken place recently constitute a totally new phenomenon. Starting in 2004, the London Plan defined a 'Central Activities Zone' policy area, which as of 2008 comprised the City of London, most of Westminster and the inner parts of Camden, Islington, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Southwark, Lambeth, Kensington & Chelsea and Wandsworth. It
420-507: The West End borders Temple , Holborn and Bloomsbury to the east, Regent's Park to the north, Paddington , Hyde Park and Knightsbridge to the west, and Victoria and Westminster to the south. Other definitions include Bloomsbury within the West End. One of the City of Westminster wards is called " West End ". This electoral unit includes some of the most prosperous areas of the borough, including Soho , Mayfair and parts of southern Marylebone . The population of this ward at
448-468: The West End is the main commercial and entertainment centre of the city. It is the largest central business district in the United Kingdom. It is one of the most expensive locations in the world in which to rent commercial and office space. Medieval London comprised two adjacent cities – the City of London in the east, and the City of Westminster in the west. Over time they came to form
476-544: The area encompassing Trafalgar Square , the Strand and Aldwych , and the district known as Theatreland . The Edgware Road to the north-west and the Victoria Embankment to the south-east were also covered by the document but were treated as "adjacent areas" to the West End. According to Ed Glinert's West End Chronicles (2006) the districts falling within the West End are Mayfair , Soho , Covent Garden , Fitzrovia and Marylebone . By this definition,
504-527: The boroughs of Camden , Islington , Kensington and Chelsea , Lambeth , Southwark , Westminster and the City of London . From 2004 to 2008, the London Plan included a sub-region called Central London comprising Camden, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, Southwark, Wandsworth and Westminster. It had a 2001 population of 1,525,000. The sub-region was replaced in 2008 with a new structure which amalgamated inner and outer boroughs together. This
532-469: The centre of modern London, although each kept its own distinct character and its separate legal identity (for example, the City of London has its own police force and is a distinct county ). The City of London became a centre for the banking, financial, legal and professional sectors, while Westminster became associated with the leisure, shopping, commerce, and entertainment sectors, the government, and home to universities and embassies . The modern West End
560-465: The city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings and entertainment venues, including West End theatres , are concentrated. The term was first used in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross . The West End covers parts of the boroughs of Westminster and Camden . While the City of London is the main financial district in London,
588-507: The inner parts of St Marylebone, St Pancras, Chelsea, Southwark and Lambeth. The boundary deviated from existing lines to include all central London railway stations , the Tower of London and the museums, such that it included small parts of Kensington, Shoreditch, Stepney and Bermondsey. It had an estimated population of 350,000 and occupied 7,000 acres (28 km ). "Scheme B" delineated central London, as one of 7 boroughs, including most of
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#1732772665533616-480: The neighbourhood makeup shortly after Shaftesbury Avenue opened. The avenue is generally considered the heart of London's West End theatre district , with the Lyric , Apollo , Gielgud and Sondheim theatres clustered together on the west side of the road between Piccadilly Circus and Charing Cross Road. At the intersection of Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road there is also the large Palace Theatre . Finally,
644-600: The north-eastern end of the road has another large theatre, the Shaftesbury Theatre . Also on Shaftesbury Avenue is the former Saville Theatre , which became a cinema in 1970. It was first known as ABC1 and ABC2 but, since 2001, it has been the Odeon Covent Garden. Another cinema, the Soho Curzon , is located about halfway along the street. Between 1899 and 1902, no. 67 Shaftesbury Avenue
672-610: The southern edge of the Soho gay village . Overlapping the gay village boundary, the still-shorter part of the street from Wardour Street to Greek Street marks the interface between gay Soho and London's Chinatown . The number of Chinese businesses on the street has been on the increase. On the ground level in August 2007, there were two traditional Chinese medicine practices, five Chinese restaurants, three Chinese supermarkets, three Chinese travel agents, two Chinese mobile phone outlets,
700-485: The trade unions, the trade associations, social service societies, as well as shopping centres and centres of entertainment which attract people from the whole of Greater London and farther afield. In many other respects the central area differs from areas farther out in London. The rateable value of the central area is exceptionally high. Its day population is very much larger than its night population. Its traffic problems reach an intensity not encountered anywhere else in
728-413: Was altered in 2011 when a new Central London sub-region was created, now including the City of London and excluding Wandsworth. The 1901 Census defined Central London as the City of London and the metropolitan boroughs (subdivisions that existed from 1900 to 1965) of Bermondsey , Bethnal Green , Finsbury , Holborn , Shoreditch , Southwark , Stepney , St Marylebone and Westminster . During
756-482: Was built between 1877 and 1886 by the architect George Vulliamy and the engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette , to provide a north–south traffic artery through the crowded districts of St. Giles and Soho . It was also part of a slum clearance measure, to push impoverished workers out of the city centre. Although the street's construction was stalled by legislation requiring rehousing some of these displaced residents, overcrowding persisted. Charles Booth's Poverty Map shows
784-570: Was the location of the Bartitsu School of Arms and Physical Culture, which is the first commercial Asian martial arts training school in the Western world. Shaftesbury Avenue marks the boundary of three discrete West End areas. The subsection of the road from Piccadily Circus to Cambridge Circus marks the southern border of Soho. Of that subsection a slightly shorter stretch thereof, from Great Windmill Street to Cambridge Circus, denotes
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