Tottenham Court Road

Tottenham Court Road is a road in Central London, England, running from St Giles' Circus (the junction of Oxford Street and Charing Cross Road) north to Euston Road, near the border of the City of Westminster and the London Borough of Camden. The road is one-way; all three lanes are northbound only.

The south end of the road is very close to the British Museum and Centre Point, the West End's tallest building. The road is served by three stations on the London Underground - from south to north these are:
Tottenham Court Road, Goodge Street and Warren Street.

History

The area across which the road is built is described in the "Domesday Book" as belonging to the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral. In the time of Henry III (1216 – 1272) a manorhouse situated slightly to the north-west of the corner of Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street belonged to one William de Tottenhall. In about the fifteenth century, the area was known variously as Totten, Totham, or Totting Hall. After changing hands several times, the manor was leased for ninety-nine years to Queen Elizabeth, when it came popularly to be called Tottenham Court. In the next century it appears to have become the property of the Fitzroys, who erected Fitzroy Square upon a part of the manor estate towards the end of the Eighteenth century. [ [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45208 Tottenham Court Road] in "Old and New London: Volume 4" (1878), pp. 467-480, from British History Online]

Commercial district

Tottenham Court Road is a significant shopping street, best known for its high concentration of consumer electronics shops, which range from shops specialising in cables and computer components, to shops dealing in package computers and audio-video systems. Further north there are many furniture shops including Habitat and Heals. The road gained notoriety in 2001 when the first branch in Central London of the Spearmint Rhino chain of lap-dancing clubs opened.

In the 1950s and 1960s Tottenham Court Road and a few of the adjoining streets became a mecca for World War II surplus radio and electronics equipment. Shops such as Proops Brothers and "Z & I Aero Services" lined both sides of the road in those days and thousands of British youngsters traveled there to buy amplifiers, radios and electronic components. There were many stores there selling all kinds of electro mechanical and radio parts. By the 1960s they were also selling a myriad of Japanese transistor radios audio mixers and such. Many British-made valve stereos were offered too.

Opposite Habitat and Heals is an open public space called Whitefield Gardens. On the side of a house is a painting, the "Fitzrovia Mural" over 60 feet high, showing many people at work and at leisure. It was painted in 1980 in a style resembling that of Diego Rivera. In 2005 12 so-called "Our Glass" panels were erected in the gardens. Each is about 5 feet high, with two sides showing a collage of people associated with the area, from satirical cartoonist Hogarth to singer Boy George. There is 13th panel showing an index to the people. Each panel has a title, for example "1. Whitfield Gardens and the Reverend Whitefield", "2. The Soul Catchers", "3. Hub of the Anti-Slavery campaign"... up to "12. Our Glasses Public Art Club Land".

In Popular Culture

*(The) Pink Floyd played many early concerts at the UFO Club 31 Tottenham Court Road in the 1960s.

*The road is featured briefly in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling as well as "Mrs. Dalloway" by Virginia Woolf, "Pygmalion" by George Bernard Shaw, "Saturday" by Ian McEwan, and in several "Sherlock Holmes" stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

*It is mentioned briefly as the location where 'I' was allegedly arrested for 'toilet trading' in the 1986 Bruce Robinson cult-classic movie "Withnail and I".

*It is also featured briefly in the 2008 crime film, "The Bank Job".

References