Piccadilly Circus History

The name 'Piccadilly' appeared in 1626 with the Piccadilly Hall which belonged to Robert Baker, a tailor famous for selling various kinds of collars called piccadills or piccadilies. The street of the Piccadilly Hall was known as Portugal Street in 1692 in honour of Caterine of Braganza and known as Piccadilly since 1743.

The Piccadilly Circus was created in 1819 at the junction of the Regent Street and Piccadilly street. In 1879 Charles Dickens, Jr (son of Charles Dickens) described the Piccadilly Circus such as :"Piccadilly, the great thoroughfare leading from the Haymarket and Regent Street westward to Hyde Park corner, is the nearest approach to the Parisian boulevard of which London can be boast."

The Piccadilly Circus offers the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain which was built in 1893 to commemorate the philanthropic works of Anthony Ashley Cooper. It was removed during the Second World War and returned in 1948. Later, the entire fountain was moved from the centre of the junction at the beginning of Shaftesbury Avenue to its present position at the south-western corner. The statue of fountain was the first in the world casted in aluminium and is set on a bronze fountain which now carries illuminated advertising hoardings that surrounded Piccadilly Circus from the early 1900s.

The statue is truly believed to depict the God of sensual love - Eros but was intended to be an image of his twin brother Anteros. The sculptor of statue Alfred Gilbert described Anteros as portraying reflective and mature love as opposed to Eros or Cupid, the frivolous tyrant. When the memorial was unveiled, there were numerous complaints: some felt it was sited in a vulgar part of the town and other felt that it was too sensual as memorial. Some of the objections were to rename the statue as The Angel of Christian Charity. But the name never became known so the original name came back.

London visitors can hear the famous phrase in UK "it's like the Piccadilly Circus" that is used to describe a situation or a place which is extremely busy with people. Many artists and musicians have been inspired by Piccadilly Circus.

If you have any questions contact Piccadilly Hotel London.