Piccadilly+Circus

By Jack Lohman Piccadilly Circus was built in 1819 with the aim of connecting Regent Street and Piccadilly Street, which was famous for its ample shopping opportunities. The circus (“circus” meaning “circle”) is an open area situated at the junction of these streets. It is very popular, not only for the shopping, but also for the Shaftesbury Memorial and the impressive display of neon lights and video displays. Because of its central location, Piccadilly Circus and the junction on which it lies are both very busy in terms of human and vehicular traffic. To cope with the increasing amount of pedestrians, cars, busses, and so on, it was decided that Piccadilly Circus would need to be expanded. These expansion discussions were held during the early 1960’s. However, there were several disputes, which meant that Piccadilly Circus remained relatively unchanged in terms of its size and structure or layout.