Conference City Sites: West End
The City of Westminster—the western borough of London, England in which the International Communication Association will hold its 63rd annual conference this June—is, as discussed in the December Newsletter, the true seat of government for the United Kingdom. But there’s another side to Westminster that cannot be overlooked: It is also, to a great extent, the nation’s cultural capital. They’re not unrelated; kings and queens must be amused, after all, hence the need for the entertainment districts that have developed there since the 17th century. Today those districts continue to thrive, collectively known to the world as London’s West End.
Indeed, the West End was developed directly in response to the presence of Court nearby. It began in the 1600s to be partitioned into palaces for the royals and estates for the nobility; their concentration in the area made it a natural place for high-end and fashionable tailors, artisans, and merchants to set up shop. Theater and opera companies located there for the same reason—to attract noble patronage. In the late 18th century, the West End lost favor with the landed gentry; by that time, however, the merchants and entertainers had become well entrenched there, and their communities continued to grow.
West End is often presented as synonymous with London’s Theater District, in the same way that “Broadway” is synonymous with New York’s. At the same time, though, it can also be used to describe the shopping districts, office spaces, and overall aggregation of neighborhoods and sections that lie directly west of the City of London. We will examine three of the most popular and bustling of those sections: Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, and Covent Garden.
Piccadilly Circus is a public space—one might say “public square,” were it not for its semicircular shape. (That’s what the name “Circus” refers to.) It’s formed by a six-way street intersection: Piccadilly to the southwest, Glasshouse Street to the northwest, Shaftesbury Avenue to the north, Coventry Street and the Haymarket to the east, and Regent Street to the south and west. Piccadilly Circus is famous for its brightly lit outdoor advertising; though it’s often assumed that such signs are everywhere in the Circus, a la New York’s Times Square, in fact they are restricted to a single building at the corner of Shaftesbury and Glasshouse, though bright enough to fill the Circus from any angle.
Piccadilly Circus is among the busiest traffic interchanges in London (and indeed Europe), and the plaza itself is distinguished by a large fountain and monument to the 19th century statesman Lord Shaftesbury. It is topped by a statue of Anteros, the Greek god of requited love, which has become an icon of London. The Circus is more important, however, as an access point to the major entertainment and tourist corridors of London. On Piccadilly Circus itself stands the Criterion Theatre, an 1874 venue at which a comedic version of the famous spy story The 39 Steps has been running since 2006. But Shaftesbury Avenue, running north from the intersection, is the nerve center of the theater district, containing the Apollo, Gielgud, Lyric, Palace, Queen’s, and Shaftesbury Theaters as well as two cinemas; in addition, the Prince of Wales Theatre is located on nearby Coventry Street, and Theatre Royal and Her Majesty’s Theatre on the Haymarket. A number of restaurants and shopping centers are also nearby, with the legendary sports store Lillywhite’s sitting opposite the Shaftesbury monument on Piccadilly Circus.
Coventry Street connects Piccadilly Circus with the other major public plaza of West End, Leicester Square (pronounced “Lester Square”). Built as the gardens of the Earl of Leicester, whose house stood on the north side of the square in the 1630s, the square itself is a smallish public garden adorned with trees, lawns, and a statue of William Shakespeare. It is surrounded on all sides by eateries, shops, casinos…and cinemas.
Leicester Square is London’s cinema center. Until 2011, the walk around the square contained tiles with handprints of famous British film actors and luminaries. The Odeon Leicester Square, which occupies most of the eastern side, is the largest movie theater in the United Kingdom with more than 1600 seats for a single screen. It is the site of most of the high-profile movie premieres for the UK film industry, including all of the installments in the Harry Potter and James Bond franchises. There are also seven major cinemas nearby—historically Leicester Square was home to the city’s greatest movie palaces, including the 1884 Empire Theatre of Varieties (which still stands on the north side of the square, with a famous neon sign on its marquee). The London Film Festival is also held in Leicester Square every year.
East of Leicester Square, indeed the eastern edge of the West End, is the area known as Covent Garden. Around the year 1200, it was used as farmland for Westminster Abbey, becoming known as “the Abbey and Convent Garden” until Henry VIII seized it in his break from the Catholic Church. It was first developed in the 17th century as a residential area, with an open air fruit-and-vegetable market at its heart; by the 18th century, however, it had deteriorated into a red light district. Parliament combated the problems by expanding the market, bringing less disreputable people back to the area and turning the Covent Garden Market into its defining landmark.
That enlarged market—as rebuilt in 1830—still exists, though the fruit-and-vegetable vendors have moved a few miles away to the New Covent Market. The old market, a building complex that dates to 1830, is now a shopping center occupied by pubs, cafes, boutiques and other stores—a busy marketplace in the most modern, Western sense. The square surrounding the market is Covent Garden Square, the center of the district. It was the first public square in London, built in 1630 in the style of Italian piazzas with townhouses on two sides, one open side (since developed), and the market in the center. The fourth (western) side is occupied by St. Paul’s Church, the first structure built along the square and the parish church for Covent Garden. It is known as “Actor’s Church” for its association with the nearby theatrical community.
In Covent Garden, that theatrical community is best expressed in the Royal Opera House—which is generally referred to as “Covent Garden.” That’s because the building was originally the Covent Garden Theatre Royal when it was first built in 1732, leading to 160 years of productions “at Covent Garden” before it became the Royal Opera House in 1892. Even in its earlier incarnation, though, it hosted opera—in fact, it was the home of Georg Frederic Handel’s opera company, and held the premiere of his famous masterpiece Alexander’s Feast in 1736. Today it functions as the base of the Royal Ballet company as well as The Royal Opera. During the ICA Conference, the historic venue will be presenting a production of Puccini’s legendary opera Tosca.
These are just the highlights of many things to see and do in London’s West End, an easy taxi or Underground ride, or even walk, from the site of the ICA Conference. The city’s vibrant entertainment district offers nearly unlimited possibilities.