Eros abides at the very centre of Piccadilly Circus; the area is also home to theatres, neon lights, major shops, hotels and much more. The name circus is from the Latin for circle which is exactly what Piccadilly Circus is! An Aladdin's Cave.
Piccadilly Circus is a circular open space with five streets leading from it and it's thought to be the busiest traffic circle in the world. The word
Piccadilly came from an old English word for a frilled collar produced by a tailor around 1620 a "piccadil".
Piccadilly Circus is possibly the most visited site in
London and is a centre of activity from morning to night. It is considered the
London equivalent of
Times Square.
The areas of
Soho and
Trafalgar Square are not too far to walk from
Piccadilly. The trendy stores of
Carnaby Street are also nearby. Travelling by tube to the region is very easy as the underground tube station is beneath the actual circus. (These are the
Piccadilly and
Bakerloo lines).
Piccadilly Circus is a major tourist attraction, people love
Eros, the statue of love, but they also come to see other sights such as the neon lights and
The Shaftsbury Memorial Fountain, as well as the
Criterion Theatre a grade II listed building. Major Hotels in the vicinity include the very cool and artistic
Radisson Edwardian MayFair, the iconic
Waldorf Hilton and the friendly
Le Meridien Piccadilly.
Piccadilly Street is the location of
Fortnum & Mason, the really luxurious and prestigious shop that will provide the visitor with a hamper to die for; the
Royal Academy,
The Ritz Hotel and
Hatchards book shop, where many famous authors choose to do their only
London signing at
Hatchards, which is why they always have such a large range of signed editions.
Locations near
Piccadilly Circus which are accessible to the visitor and may give them a different perspective of
London would be to the east
Walthamstow with its market said to be the longest if not the largest open market in
Europe, to the west is the multi-cultural
Shepherds Bush, to the north is
Islington and
Highgate Cemetery, crammed full of gravestones, tombs, catacombs, monuments and mounds dating from Victorian times to the present day, and to the south there is
Wimbledon, home to the World famous
Wimbledon Tennis. Nearer to
Piccadilly of course is
Regent's Park,
Oxford Street and
Trafalgar Square.
