Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

, the

territorial police force A territorial police force is a police service that is responsible for an area defined by sub-national boundaries, distinguished from other police services which deal with the entire country or a type of crime. In countries organized as federations, ...

responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

, the square mile that forms London's historic and primary financial centre. Its name derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which also had an entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became the public entrance, and over time "Scotland Yard" has come to be used not only as the name of the headquarters building, but also as a metonym for both the Metropolitan Police Service itself and police officers, especially detectives, who serve in it. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote in 1964 that, just as Wall Street gave its name to New York's financial district, Scotland Yard became the name for police activity in London. The force moved from Great Scotland Yard in 1890, to a newly completed building on the

Victoria Embankment Victoria Embankment is part of the Thames Embankment, a road and river-walk along the north bank of the River Thames in London. It runs from the Palace of Westminster to Blackfriars Bridge in the City of London, and acts as a major thoroughfar ...

, and the name "New Scotland Yard" was adopted for the new headquarters. An adjacent building was completed in 1906. A third building was added in 1940. In 1967, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) consolidated its headquarters from the three-building complex to a tall, newly constructed building on Broadway in nearby Victoria. In summer 2013, it was announced that the force would move to Westminster's

Curtis Green Building New Scotland Yard, formerly known as the Curtis Green Building and before that as Whitehall Police Station, is a building in Westminster, London. Since November 2016, it has been the Scotland Yard headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service ...

, which was once again renamed "New Scotland Yard." In November 2016, MPS moved to its present headquarters, which continues to bear the name "New Scotland Yard," the fourth location to do so.

History

The Metropolitan Police Service is responsible for law enforcement within Greater London, excluding the square mile of the

, which is covered by the

City of London Police The City of London Police is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the City of London, including the Middle and Inner Temples. The force responsible for law enforcement within the remainder of the London region, o ...

, and the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...

and National Rail networks, which are the responsibility of the British Transport Police.

4 Whitehall Place

The Metropolitan Police was formed by Robert Peel with the implementation of the Metropolitan Police Act, passed by Parliament in 1829. Peel, with the help of Eugène-François Vidocq, selected the original site on Whitehall Place for the new police headquarters. The first two commissioners,

Charles Rowan Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Charles Rowan (''circa'' 1782 – 8 May 1852) was an officer in the British Army, serving in the Peninsular War and Waterloo and the joint first Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, head of the London Metropolit ...

and Richard Mayne, along with various police officers and staff, occupied the building. Previously a private house, 4 Whitehall Place () backed onto a street called Great Scotland Yard. This building was acquired by

hypermarket A hypermarket (sometimes called a hyperstore, supercentre or superstore) is a big-box store combining a supermarket and a department store. The result is an expansive retail facility carrying a wide range of products under one roof, includin ...

s operator

Lulu Group International LuLu Group International is an Indian Emirati-based multinational conglomerate company that operates a chain of hypermarkets and retail companies, headquartered in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It was founded in 2000 by M. A. Yusuff Ali from ...

in 2015 and redeveloped into a luxury hotel, operated by Hyatt, which opened in December 2019.

Victoria Embankment

By 1887, the Metropolitan Police headquarters had expanded from 4 Whitehall Place into several neighbouring addresses, including 3, 5, 21 and 22 Whitehall Place; 8 and 9 Great Scotland Yard, and several stables. Eventually, the service outgrew its original site, and new headquarters designed by architect

Richard Norman Shaw Richard Norman Shaw RA (7 May 1831 – 17 November 1912), also known as Norman Shaw, was a British architect who worked from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings. He is considered to be among the ...

were built () on the Victoria Embankment, overlooking the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

, south of what is now the Ministry of Defence's headquarters. In 1888, during the construction of the new building, workers discovered the dismembered torso of a female; the case, known as the '

Whitehall Mystery The Whitehall Mystery is an unsolved murder that took place in London in 1888. The dismembered remains of a woman were discovered at three sites in the centre of the city, including the construction site of Scotland Yard, the police headquarter ...

', was never solved. In 1890, police headquarters moved to the new location, which was named New Scotland Yard. By this time, the Metropolitan Police had grown from its initial 1,000 officers to about 13,000 and needed more administrative staff and a bigger headquarters. Further increases in the size and responsibilities of the force required even more administrators and space. Therefore, new buildings were constructed and completed in 1906 and 1940, so that New Scotland Yard became a three-building complex. (). The first two buildings are now a Grade I listed structure known as the Norman Shaw Buildings. The original building at 4 Whitehall Place still has a rear entrance on Great Scotland Yard. Stables for some of the mounted branch are still located at 7 Great Scotland Yard, across the street from the first headquarters.

10 Broadway

The headquarters of the Metropolitan Police were moved to 8-10 Broadway in 1967, in a new building constructed on a site that also bordered onto Victoria Street. In 2008, the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) bought the freehold of 10 Broadway for around £120 million. 10 Broadway was sold to the Abu Dhabi Financial Group in December 2014 for £370 million, and redevelopment plans for a six-building, mixed-use development were approved in February 2016. Ownership was officially passed from the MPA to the Abu Dhabi Financial Group when the relocation was completed on 31 October 2016; the building began demolition later that year.

Current location

In May 2013 the Metropolitan Police confirmed that the New Scotland Yard building on Broadway would be sold and the force's headquarters would be moved back to the

on the Victoria Embankment. A competition was announced for architects to redesign the building prior to the Metropolitan Police moving to it in 2015. This building previously housed the Territorial Policing headquarters and is adjacent to the original New Scotland Yard (Norman Shaw North Building). New Scotland Yard sign 3

In December 2015 construction work on the exterior of the Curtis Green building was completed. On 31 October 2016, the Metropolitan Police staff left the building at 10 Broadway and moved to their new headquarters. The new New Scotland Yard building was to have been opened by Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states durin ...

on 23 March 2017, but that same day it was announced that the Royal opening would be postponed, due to the preceding day's terrorist attack at Westminster.The words "New Scotland Yard" (in tall letters) can be seen in a photograph of the front of the building, atop the glass entrance at the base of the facade. The opening was re-arranged for 13 July 2017. Like all three of its predecessors it houses the Met's

Crime Museum The Crime Museum is a collection of criminal memorabilia kept at New Scotland Yard, headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service in London, England. Known as the Black Museum until the early 21st century, the museum came into existence at S ...

(formerly known as the Black Museum), founded in 1874, a collection of criminal memorabilia not open to the public.

Popular culture

Scotland Yard has appeared in books, films, television etc. since the Victorian era when it featured in the Jack the Ripper cases and the stories of

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

. In Monty Python's 1969 sketch "

The Funniest Joke in the World "The Funniest Joke in the World" (also "Joke Warfare" and "Killer Joke") is a Monty Python comedy sketch revolving around a joke that is so funny that anyone who reads or hears it promptly dies from laughter. Ernest Scribbler ( Michael Palin ...

", Graham Chapman plays a Scotland Yard inspector who leaves the house with the joke in hand before dying from laughter.

Notes

External links

Metropolitan Police Branches
*Blumberg, Jess

Smithsonian.com, 28 September 2007. * * {{coord, 51, 30, 10, N, 0, 7, 27, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title 1829 establishments in England Police headquarters