West End of London

• 1. Introduction

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  The West End of London has lent its name to stages and marquees far beyond England. In cities around the world, the term signals a standard of theatrical ambition, used the way 'Broadway' evokes New York's theatre district. The comparison is recognized internationally. Within the same district sit London's greatest concentrations of tourist attractions, shops, government buildings, and entertainment venues. The West End also carries an economic distinction that surprises many visitors: it is the largest central business district in the United Kingdom. Its commercial and office rents rank among the most expensive on earth. How this stretch of west London accumulated all of that begins not with glamour but with smoke.

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• 2. Upwind of the City

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  The Palace of Westminster anchored London's western neighborhoods as a seat of royal power for centuries before the West End had a name. Wealthy Londoners who had any choice gravitated there for reasons both political and atmospheric. Living near the Palace meant proximity to influence. Westminster also sat upwind of the smoke drifting from the crowded City of London, making it a more pleasant place to live. In 1585, during the reign of Elizabeth I, Westminster formally gained city status as the City and Liberty of Westminster. Despite that long history as a fashionable address, the term 'West End' only became commonplace in the early 19th century. The City of Westminster as a modern London borough, one of 32, was not created until 1965. That boundary enclosed Westminster's original area south of Oxford Street, later expanded north to include Marylebone and Paddington. James I would be the first to formalize a bargain between royal need and private development, one that shaped the West End's most famous corners.

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• 3. Deals, Debts, and Design

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  In 1609, James I found himself short of funds and struck a deal with the Earl of Salisbury. Salisbury gained permission to develop his land around St Martin's Lane. In return, he contributed to the royal treasury. Charles I used the same approach in 1630. Also short of money, he offered the Earl of Bedford permission to develop a former female monastery at Covent Garden in Westminster. The conditions were specific. Bedford had to pave and maintain nearby Long Acre and donate £2000 to the exchequer. The scheme also required a square and a church, both designed by Inigo Jones. Eight years later, in 1638, the builder William Newton bought land west of Lincoln's Inn. Local people objected, angry at losing their open spaces to private gain. Charles permitted the development on condition that a portion of the fields be retained. He framed the requirement as protection against those who would 'fill that small remainder of air in those parts with unnecessary and unprofitable buildings.'

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• 4. Father of the West End

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  Henry Jermyn began developing the St James's and Mayfair districts of Westminster just before the Great Fire of London struck. Those districts gave the western city a new fashionable focus. The Great Fire, when it came, caused little direct damage to the West End itself. But the destruction of housing in the City of London pushed both residents and investment outward. Jermyn's new districts were well positioned to absorb both. Holborn and St Giles told a different story from Mayfair and St James's. Those areas, closest to the City, held poorer communities throughout this period. Their clearance and redevelopment would not come until the 19th century. Jermyn earned the title Father of the West End, though the district he shaped faced a serious challenge in the following century.

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• 5. The Railway Test

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  In the 19th century, railway construction cleared large portions of central London to make room for new termini and the lines approaching them. The West End was largely spared this disruption. The four major stations that might otherwise have cut through its heart were placed at the area's edges instead. Charing Cross, Marylebone, Paddington, and Victoria all sit on the periphery. That positioning left the West End's streets and squares intact in an era when much of the surrounding city was being rebuilt. Even so, the survival of the street plan left one long-standing question unanswered: no one had formally agreed on where the West End actually ended.

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• 6. A District Without Borders

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  Westminster City Council's 2005 report, titled 'Vision for the West End,' was the first official attempt to draw a working boundary around the district. Its list covered Covent Garden, Soho, Chinatown, Leicester Square, and three major shopping corridors: Oxford Street, Regent Street, and Bond Street. Trafalgar Square, the Strand, Aldwych, and Theatreland also fell within the council's definition. The Edgware Road to the north-west and the Victoria Embankment to the south-east were treated as adjacent areas rather than fully included. Ed Glinert's 'West End Chronicles,' published in 2006, drew different lines. Glinert placed Mayfair, Soho, Covent Garden, Fitzrovia, and Marylebone inside the West End. By his reckoning, the eastern border ran near Temple, Holborn, and Bloomsbury. The northern limit was Regent's Park. The western boundary touched Paddington, Hyde Park, and Knightsbridge. To the south, his definition bordered Victoria and Westminster. Neither map is the official one. The City of Westminster contains one ward that formally carries the name 'West End.' At the 2011 Census, its population stood at 10,575. Until the London Government Act of 1963, the districts making up the West End were governed by Metropolitan boroughs, smaller administrative units that the modern structure replaced. That restructuring divided the West End between the City of Westminster and the London Borough of Camden. Oxford Street, which appears in almost every definition of the district, began as a Roman road. Shoppers who walk it today cross a route that predates the West End itself by more than a millennium.

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