PICCADILLY CIRCUS, Introduction

Hi, I'm Ed, your personal guide. Together with MyWoWo, I'd like to welcome you to one of the wonders of the world.

Today I'll accompany you through Piccadilly Circus, the shopping mecca of London!

It seems that an English tailor who made a particular embroidered collar called "pickadil" gave the neighbourhood where you now stand its name. It is made up of a long road and a famous roundabout. Theatres, private clubs, refined residences, and elegant shops make this area one of London's most exclusive neighbourhoods, although its various names refer to very different historical origins: Haymarket was where fodder was sold for the stables, and Mayfair was where the annual cattle fair was held.

Today, the commercial artery of Piccadilly, which runs from Piccadilly Circus to Hyde Park, is one of the pulsating hearts of "swinging London", a public transport hub and shopping area, but this was once the extreme western outskirts of London. Around the 1600s the suburbs, which were often linked to aristocratic palaces, began to become chic residential neighbourhoods and soon took on a general Neoclassical appearance....