Charing Cross Rd
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Charing Cross Road is a street in
central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning the City of London and several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local gove ...
running immediately north of
St Martin-in-the-Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. Dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, there has been a church on the site since at least the medieval pe ...
to
St Giles Circus St Giles Circus is a road junction in the St Giles district of the West End of London at the eastern end of Oxford Street, where it connects with New Oxford Street, Charing Cross Road and Tottenham Court Road, which it is more often referred t ...
(the intersection with
Oxford Street Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running between Marble Arch and Tottenham Court Road via Oxford Circus. It marks the notional boundary between the areas of Fitzrovia and Marylebone to t ...
), which then merges into
Tottenham Court Road Tottenham Court Road (occasionally abbreviated as TCR) is a major road in Central London, almost entirely within the London Borough of Camden. The road runs from Euston Road in the north to St Giles Circus in the south; Tottenham Court Road tu ...
. It leads from the north in the direction of
Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has been the notional "centre of London" and became the point from which distances from London are measured. ...
at the south side of
Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster in Central London. It was established in the early-19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. Its name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, the Royal Navy, ...
. It connects via St Martin's Place and the motorised east side of the square.


History

Charing Cross road was originally two narrow streets in the West End, Crown Street and Castle Street. The development of
Regent Street Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George IV of the United Kingdom, George, the Prince Regent (later George IV) and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash (architect), J ...
(parallel to the west) in the mid-18th century coincided with not only the building up of great fields west of the area but also
Westminster Bridge Westminster Bridge is a road-and-foot-traffic bridge crossing over the River Thames in London, linking Westminster on the west side and Lambeth on the east side. The bridge is painted predominantly green, the same colour as the leather seats ...
which was built as central London and the wider estuary's second bridge after more than a century of pressure, in 1750. These pressures therefore congested the north–south axis of the inner West End almost as much as the relieved London Bridge area. Specifically a major increase in traffic occurred around
Piccadilly Circus Piccadilly Circus is a road junction and public space of London's West End of London, West End in the City of Westminster. It was built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with Piccadilly. In this context, a ''List of road junctions in the Unite ...
,
Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has been the notional "centre of London" and became the point from which distances from London are measured. ...
and Oxford Street, much of it destined from/to
Tottenham Court Road Tottenham Court Road (occasionally abbreviated as TCR) is a major road in Central London, almost entirely within the London Borough of Camden. The road runs from Euston Road in the north to St Giles Circus in the south; Tottenham Court Road tu ...
,
Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...
and nearby routes to all northerly directions. Charing Cross Road was therefore developed, in conjunction with
Shaftesbury Avenue Shaftesbury Avenue is a major road in the West End of London, named after The 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. It runs north-easterly from Piccadilly Circus to New Oxford Street, crossing Charing Cross Road at Cambridge Circus. From Piccadill ...
, by the
Metropolitan Board of Works The Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) was the upper tier of local government for London between 1856 and 1889, primarily responsible for upgrading infrastructure. It also had a parks and open spaces committee which set aside and opened up severa ...
under an 1877 Act of Parliament. The Act's total costs, including demolition and rebuilding of many rows of buildings across London was £778,238. The two streets and others such as the
Thames Embankment The Thames Embankment was built as part of the London Main Drainage (1859-1875) by the Metropolitan Board of Works, a pioneering Victorian civil engineering project which housed intercept sewers, roads and underground railways and embanked the ...
,
Northumberland Avenue Northumberland Avenue is a street in the City of Westminster, Central London, running from Trafalgar Square in the west to the Thames Embankment in the east. The road was built on the site of Northumberland House, the London home of the House ...
and the Kingsway-
Aldwych Aldwych (pronounced ) is a street and the name of the List of areas of London, area immediately surrounding it, in the City of Westminster, part of Greater London, and is part of the West End of London, West End West End Theatre, Theatreland. T ...
superstructure were built to improve traffic flow through central London. The scheme abolished some of the worst slums in London which delayed progress in construction while the inhabitants were rehoused.


Bookshops

Charing Cross Road is renowned for its specialist and second-hand
bookshop Bookselling is the commercial trading of books, which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, book people, bookmen, or bookwomen. History The foundi ...
s. The section from Leicester Square Underground station to Cambridge Circus is home to specialist bookshops, and more general second-hand and antiquarian shops such as
Quinto Bookshop Quinto may refer to: People * Quinto (name), list of people with the name Places *Quinto (Ponce), a barrio in Puerto Rico *Quinto, Aragon, a municipality in the province of Zaragoza, Spain *Quinto, Ticino, a municipality in Switzerland *In Italy: ...
, Henry Pordes and Any Amount of Books. Zwemmer's Bookshop, an arts bookshop founded in 1922, was present at 79 Charing Cross Road until 2002.Jane Carlin
"Anton Zwemmer: London's Bookseller and Publisher for the Arts"
in: Book Club of Washington Journal, Fall 2012, Vol. 12, No. 2. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
Smaller second-hand and specialist antiquarian bookshops can be found on the adjoining
Cecil Court Cecil Court is a pedestrian street with Victorian era, Victorian shop-frontages in Westminster, England, linking Charing Cross Road and St Martin's Lane. Since the 1930s, it has been known as the new Booksellers' Row. Early background One of the ...
. The northern section between Cambridge Circus and Oxford Street includes more generalist bookshops such as the venerable
Foyles Foyles, a trading name of Waterstones Booksellers Limited (formerly W & G Foyle Ltd.), is a bookseller with a chain of seven stores in England. It is best known for its flagship store in Charing Cross Road, London. Foyles was once listed in ...
. A long-standing correspondence between
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
-based author
Helene Hanff Helene Hanff (April 15, 1916April 9, 1997) was an American writer born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is best known as the author of the book ''84, Charing Cross Road'', which became the basis for a stage play, television play, and 84 Charin ...
and the staff of a bookshop on the street, Marks & Co., was the inspiration for the book ''
84, Charing Cross Road ''84, Charing Cross Road'' is a 1970 book by Helene Hanff. It is an epistolary memoir composed of letters from the twenty-year correspondence between the author and Frank Doel, chief buyer for Marks & Co antiquarian booksellers, located at t ...
'' (1970). The book was made into a 1987 film starring
Anne Bancroft Anne Bancroft (born Anna Maria Louisa Italiano; September 17, 1931 – June 6, 2005) was an American actress. Respected for her acting prowess and versatility, Bancroft received an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, tw ...
and
Anthony Hopkins Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor. Considered one of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actors, he is known for List of Anthony Hopkins performances, his performances on the screen and stage. Hopkins ha ...
and also into a play and a
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
radio drama. the building is a restaurant at street level, entered around the corner in Cambridge Circus, but its upper levels of the building remain as originally constructed. A brass plaque on the stone pilaster facing Charing Cross Road commemorates the former bookshop and Hanff's book.


Features

The
London Astoria The London Astoria was a music venue at 157 Charing Cross Road, in London, England, that operated from 1976 to 2009. Originally a warehouse during the 1920s, the building became a cinema and ballroom. It was converted for use as a theatre in t ...
music venue was located here before its demolition in 2009, as is one of the sites of St Martin's Arts College, opening in 1939. To the northeast of Charing Cross Road are the music shops on
Denmark Street Denmark Street is a street on the edge of London's West End running from Charing Cross Road to St Giles High Street. It is near St Giles in the Fields Church and Tottenham Court Road station. The street was developed in the late 17th centu ...
(known as Britain's
Tin Pan Alley Tin Pan Alley was a collection of History of music publishing, music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the American popular music, popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Originally ...
). A number of theatres are on or near Charing Cross Road, such as the Phoenix Theatre (which has its entrance on the adjoining Phoenix Street), the
Garrick Theatre The Garrick Theatre is a West End theatre, located in Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster, named after the stage actor David Garrick. It opened in 1889 with ''The Profligate'', a play by Arthur Wing Pinero, and another Pinero play, ...
and
Wyndham's Theatre Wyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by actor/manager Charles Wyndham (the other is the Criterion Theatre). Located on Charing Cross Road in the City of Westminster, it was designed c. 1898 by W. G. R. Sprague, the arch ...
. Beneath the grille in the traffic island between Charing Cross Road's junction with
Old Compton Street Old Compton Street is a road that runs east–west through Soho in the West End of London, named after Henry Compton (bishop), Henry Compton who raised funds for St Anne's Church, Soho, St Anne's Church in 1686. The area, particularly this str ...
, in the middle of the road, a road sign reading Little Compton Street can be seen, which was a historic name for the eastern end of Old Compton Street beyond its junction with Greek Street. On the east side of the road's southern end, at the joining of St Martins Lane, is a statue of
Edith Cavell Edith Louisa Cavell ( ; 4 December 1865 – 12 October 1915) was a British nurse. She is celebrated for treating wounded soldiers from both sides without discrimination during the First World War and for helping some 200 Allied soldiers escape ...
. Towards the north end is the Phoenix Garden, an environmental garden run by local residents.


In popular culture

In the ''
Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...
'' books, the Leaky Cauldron pub is located on Charing Cross Road. Author J.K. Rowling chose this road because "it is famous for its bookshops, both modern and antiquarian. This is why I wanted it to be the place where those in the know go to enter a different world."


References

;Citations * ;Sources


Further reading

* ''Book Lovers' London'', by Lesley Reader, Metro Publications, paperback, 2nd edition, 2002, ; 3rd edition, 2005,


External links


List of Charing Cross Road bookshops by Evelyn C. Leeper
*
The Book Browser's Guide: Britain's Secondhand and Antiquarian Bookshops
'
Charing Cross Road blog
{{Coord, 51, 30, 42, N, 0, 07, 42, W, display=title, region:GB_type:landmark_source:cswiki Streets in the London Borough of Camden Bookstore neighbourhoods Bookshops in London