Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus
There are few places more British than Piccadilly Circus. This is a road junction in London’s West End in the City of Westminster that connects Regent Street with the shopping area of Piccadilly.
This merry little square links directly to theatres on Shaftesbury Avenue, Coventry Street and Glasshouse Street. It is famous for its big neon signs as well as athel Shaftesbury memorial fountain and the statue of an archer known as Eros.
The famous electric advertisement were first mounted at this intersection in 1910. The very first one was for British beef flavouring known as Bovril. Before that the hoardings at Piccadilly were mounted on wood. The earliest electric signs were made of incandescent light bulbs. One very well-known sign was the large electric Guinness clock.
The first big digital display was put up in 1998 and it was against Coke sign. By 2000 there were no more neon lamps used in displays. The glittering signs of Piccadilly Circus were all computerized LED displays.
The company that has always advertised here is Coca-cola which has had advertising here since 1954. Other companies that have had signs up there for years include Nescafe, Foster’s, Kodak, Hyundai, BASF, MacDonalds, Samsung, Panasonic, TDK and Philip’s Electronics. Sanyo had a sign there from 1987 to 2011.
In 2002 Yoko Ono mounted an electric sign for several months that featured the quote by John Lennon: “Imagine all the people living life in peace.” It cost her about 150,000 pounds to put a sign up at this location.
The place has also been the site of an experimental film that was projected in the junction called “The Ballet of Change: Piccadilly Circus.”
Piccadilly Circus is also the center of the Theater district and is often compared to a Parisian boulevard. The famous Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain in the center of the square was erected in 1893 to commermorate the charitable works of Anthony Ashley Copper who was the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. The statue depicts the Anteros, who is the Greek God of requited love.
Piccadilly Circus was named after a famous tailor who sold piccadillies. This is another word that means “men’s collars.” Now it is home to chic bars and theatres including the Criterion Theatre and the former China white club.
Beneath this junction is the Piccadilly Circus Tube Station that is part of the London Underground system. It was opened in 1906.