West End of London
From YourTravelGuide
The West End is one of three quadrants within central London: The City, which houses most of the financial district, the City of Westminster, which is home to Britain's government and the West End, which is considered to be the hub of London's entertainment and shopping.
Contents |
[edit] History
The West End has always been considered thee place to live by the wealthiest of London's population. Established over three centuries, the original village consisted of palaces, costly town houses, stylish shops and respected venues of entertainment.
The name West End means different things, to different people. It might refer to the area known as Theatreland, which is similar to New York's Broadway, with many stage productions and other entertainment. Or, it might refer to the shopping district near Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street. To a lesser degree, it might refer to the entire area of Central London that lies west of The City.
[edit] Culture
[edit] Get There
[edit] Get Around
[edit] Districts
Speaking on a totally broad scale, these districts within the West End, were all established by 1815.
- Bloomsbury
- Holborn
- Covent Garden
- Seven Dials
- Fitzrovia
- Westminster
- Marylebone
- Mayfair
- St James
[edit] Streets
There are some fairly famous streets in the West End:
- Oxford Street
- Regent Street
- Bond Street
- Shaftesbury Avenue
- Tottenham Court Road
- The Strand
- Piccadilly
- Kingsway
- Wardour Street
- Park Lane
[edit] Circles and Squares
Equally, if not more, famous than the streets, are the squares and circuses in the district:
- Leicester Square
- Trafalgar Square
- Berkeley Square
- Grosvenor Square
- Piccadilly Circus
- Oxford Circus
- Hyde Park Corner
- Marble Arch
- Soho Square
[edit] Major theatres
All in all, the West End is most famously known for its theatres. Star studded productions crave to be presented in one of these West End theatres:
- Adelphi
- The Dominion
- Aldwych
- Theatre Royal Drury Lane
- Apollo Victoria
- Duchess
- Arts Theatre
- Duke of York's
- Cambridge
- Fortune
- Comedy Theatre
- Garrick
- The Criterion
- Gielgud
- Theatre Royal Haymarket
- Her Majesty's
- London Coliseum
- The London Palladium
- Lyceum
- Lyric
- New Ambassador's
- New London
- Noel Coward
- Novello
- Old Vic
- Palace
- Peacoc
- Phoenix
- Piccadilly
- The Playhouse
- Prince Edward
- Prince of Wales
- Queen's
- The Royal Opera House
- The Savoy
- Shaftesbury
- St Martin's
- Trafalgar Studios
- The Vaudeville
- Victoria Palace
- Wyndham's
