Piccadilly Circus

Piccadilly Circus, busy London intersection and popular meeting place. Lying between the neighbourhoods of St. James (south) and Soho (north) in the borough of Westminster, it serves as the nexus of Coventry Street, Shaftesbury Avenue, Regent Street, and Piccadilly.

The crossroads was formed in 1819 by the crossing of Piccadilly with Regent Street, which was being laid out under the direction of John Nash. The circus lost its circular form in 1886 with the construction of Shaftesbury Avenue, which was built over former rookeries (slums) in Soho and St. Giles.

As a traffic hub and neon-lit gathering place, Piccadilly Circus attracts visitors from throughout the world, many of whom sprawl on the steps of its stone island, which is crowned by the 1893 aluminum statue of Eros (formally entitled the Angel of Christian Charity, it was built as a memorial to the 7th earl of Shaftesbury). The intersection’s first electric advertisements appeared in 1910, and from 1923 giant electric billboards were set up on the facade of the London Pavilion (then a theatre). Many of the surrounding buildings were redeveloped to house retail shops in the 1980s. The 19th-century Criterion building was restored in the early 1990s. Within easy walking distance of Piccadilly Circus are the shops of Regent Street and the theatres of the West End. The area is the location of well-known nightclubs.