Regent Street

Wikipedia contributors · CC BY-SA · EN · 04/10/2026

Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George, the Prince Regent (later George IV) and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash and the owner James Burton. It runs from Waterloo Place in St James's at the southern end, through Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus, to All Souls Church. From there Langham Place and Portland Place continue the route to Regent's Park.

Burton's street layout, which was completed in 1825 and was an early example of town planning in England, replaced earlier roads including Swallow Street, and has survived despite that its buildings except All Souls Church were replaced during the late 19th century. The street is known for its flagship retail stores, including Liberty, Hamleys, Jaeger and the Apple Store. The Royal Polytechnic Institution, now the University of Westminster, has been based on Regent Street since 1838.

Route

Regent Street is approximately 0.8 miles long and begins at a junction with Charles II Street as a continuation of Waterloo Place. It runs north to Piccadilly Circus, where it turns left before curving round the Quadrant to head north again, meeting Oxford Street at Oxford Circus. It ends at a junction with Cavendish Place and Mortimer Street near the BBC Broadcasting House, with the road ahead being Langham Place, followed by Portland Place.

The southern section of the road is one-way northbound and part of the A4, a major road through West London. From Piccadilly Circus northwards, it is numbered A4201, though in common with roads inside the London congestion charging zone, the number does not appear on signs.

Nearby tube stations are Charing Cross, Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus; the lattermost being one of the busiest underground stations in London, and is where three main lines (Central, Bakerloo and Victoria) meet. Bus routes 23, 139 and 94 all serve Lower Regent Street before continuing onto Regent Street, except the 23 which turns left to serve Piccadilly after Jermyn Street.

History

Beginnings: 1811–1825

Regent Street was one of the first planned developments of London. An ordered structure of London streets, replacing the mediaeval layout, had been planned since just after the Great Fire of London (1666) when Sir Christopher Wren and John Evelyn drew plans for rebuilding the city on the classical formal model. After a lack of progress, houses were rebuilt on the old street network anyway.

In 1766, John Gwynn complained in London and Westminster Improved that there was a lack of planning throughout the West End and that it would be useful to construct a thoroughfare linking Marylebone Park (now Regent's Park) with the Prince Regent's Carlton House. John Fordyce was appointed as Surveyor-General to the First Commissioner of Woods and Forests in 1793 and concluded that there should be a suitable road in place by 1811, when the lease for Marylebone Park ran out and ownership reverted to the Crown. It was hoped the road could link Pall Mall and the Haymarket, which had declined and became downmarket. A further problem was increased congestion around Charing Cross, which would benefit from road improvements.

The street was designed by John Nash (who had been appointed to the Office of Woods and Forests in 1806 and previously served as an adviser to the Prince Regent) and by developer James Burton who owned the majority of the street. Nash proposed his own plans for the street in 1810 following the death of Fordyce, envisioning broad, architecturally distinguished thoroughfares and public spaces, and planned to construct a straight boulevard as seen in French cities, but this was not possible because of land ownership issues. Nash's final design resulted in a road situated further west than on previous plans, and Nash believed the road would run down a de facto line separating the upper middle class and landed gentry in Mayfair with the working class in Soho.

The construction of the northern section of the New Street involved demolishing most of the existing Swallow Street, which had become run down and was an ideal candidate for regeneration. The road was designed to curve east between Oxford Street and Piccadilly so that it did not meet St James's Square, and the circuses allowed visual continuity down the street. The central section, known as the Quadrant, was designed for "shops appropriated to articles of fashion and taste," and was Nash's centrepiece for the street. It was built with a colonnade of cast-iron columns, allowing commuters to walk along the street without having to face bad weather. The buildings along the Quadrant had different facades, a deliberate choice by Nash to break away from the uniform design of the previous century and a pragmatic means of using what building materials were available and what clients wanted. The road was planned to end outside Carlton House in Pall Mall, the residence of the Prince of Wales. Nash insisted that businesses on the street would be of high-quality to rival nearby Bond Street; common trades such as butchers or greengrocers were not allowed.

The design was adopted by an act of Parliament, the (53 Geo. 3. c. 121), which permitted the commissioners to borrow £600,000 for building and construction. The street was intended for commercial purposes and it was expected that most of the income would come from private capital. Nash took responsibility for design and valuation of all properties. Construction of the road required demolishing numerous properties, disrupting trade and polluting the air with dust. Existing tenants had first offer to purchase leases on the new properties. The Treasury supported the proposal because, in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, there was an urgent need for the government to create jobs. Government expenditure was low because the design relied heavily on private developers, such as Nash himself. The buildings were let on 99-year leases, as was common at the time, and income could be recouped in the form of ground rent.

James Burton

James Burton, the pre-eminent Georgian London property developer, designed and constructed 191 of the houses of Regent Street, and their joining archways. Five of the largest blocks of Regent Street were purchased by Burton in 1817. Burton's houses on Regent Street are No. 4 to No. 12; No. 17 to No. 25; No. 106 to No. 128; No. 132 to No. 154; No. 133 to No. 167; No. 171 to No. 195; and No. 295 to No. 319. These were built, together with Carlton Chambers, between 1817 and 1820. Burton also built between Leicester Street and No. 129 Swallow Street in 1820. Burton built the east side of Regent Street in 1821, and the west side of Regent Street, specifically the part between the Quadrant and Oxford Street, and its archways, in 1822. Burton built north of Old Burlington Street, and the east side of the street between Chapel Court and the entrance to the King Street Chapel SW1, in 1822. Burton also designed and built Regent Street St. James (Lower Regent Street), and Waterloo Place, St. James's, whose facades he modelled on those of the Place Vendome in Paris, between 1815 and 1816.

Other architects

The vast majority of the street was designed by either Nash or Burton. However, a few buildings were designed by Charles Robert Cockerell, Sir John Soane, or others. By 1819, the Crown was receiving regular rent and the street was becoming established. At first, it was named New Street and became a dividing line between Soho, which had declined socially and economically, and the fashionable squares and streets of Mayfair to the west. Carlton House was demolished after completion of the works in 1829 and was replaced by Carlton House Terrace, which was designed by Nash and by Burton's son Decimus Burton. Regent Street was the first shopping area in Britain to support late night opening in 1850, when shopkeepers agreed to keep stores open until 7pm.

Rebuilding: 1895–1927

During the 19th century, Regent Street became established as the "centre of fashion". Shops expanded into multiple properties, selling imported and exotic products to appeal to niche consumers. By the end of the century, fashions had changed and the original buildings were small and old fashioned, restricting trade. The colonnade constructed by Nash was demolished in the mid-19th century for fear it might attract "doubtful characters". Other buildings were not up to modern building standards; some had been extended and were structurally suspect. As the 99-year leases came to an end, Regent Street was redeveloped between 1895 and 1927 under the control of the Office of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues (now known as the Crown Estate).

The modern Regent Street is the result of this redevelopment. No original structures survive except south of Oxford Circus for some Nash-designed sewers. The current design is an example of the Beaux Arts approach to urban design: an assembly of separate buildings on a grand scale, designed to harmonise and produce an impressive overall effect. Strict rules governed the reconstruction. Each block had to be designed with a continuous unifying street façade and finished in Portland stone. The first redevelopment was Regent House, just south of Oxford Circus. The stylistic tone for the rebuilding was set by Sir Reginald Blomfield's Quadrant.

The architect Norman Shaw, then aged 73, was brought in to draw up proposals for the Circus and the Quadrant after early plans were considered unsatisfactory. His scheme was approved in principle but subject to indecision and dispute, both on property acquisition and retailers' demand for bigger display windows. Shaw's design for the Piccadilly Hotel was completed in 1908 with modifications, while the Quadrant was rebuilt by Blomfield, adapting Shaw's designs. The work started in 1923 and was completed by 1928. Significantly, no accommodation was built above any of the retail properties, contributing to the demise of the West End as a place of residence. A limited number of architects were responsible for the redesigned street, including Sir John James Burnet, Arthur Joseph Davis and Henry Tanner.

The Work was delayed by World War I and not finished until 1927. Its completion was marked by King George V and Queen Mary driving in state along its length. The only remaining Nash building is All Souls Church and all the buildings on the street are at least Grade II listed. All the properties are in the Regent Street Conservation Area.

Meanwhile, the Bakerloo line of the London Underground was built running under the street for part of its course from 1902 until 1906, when it was opened on 10 March that year. The line's entrance at Oxford Circus tube station, near Argyll Street, was designed by Leslie W. Green using glazed terracotta as a facing material.

Crown Estate redevelopment

By the 1970s, Regent Street had started to decline because of under-investment and competition from neighbouring areas such as Oxford Street or shopping centres away from Central London. In 2002, the Crown Estate, which owns most of Regent Street on behalf of the monarch, started a major redevelopment programme. In 2013 the Estate sold a quarter of the 270000 sqft Regent Street Quadrant 3 building to the Norwegian Oil Fund, while later that year, Hackett London bought the lease for the Ferrari store on Regent Street for £4m. Smaller shops have been replaced by larger units; the street is now the flagship location of several major brands, including Apple and Banana Republic.

The largest part of the plan was the reconstruction of the Quadrant close to Piccadilly Circus, which was completed in 2011. It offers 200000 sqft of office space spanning over seven floors. Two Art Deco-designed restaurants have also been restored, and the development includes a small number of apartments.

The Crown Estate moved its own headquarters from Carlton House Terrace to Regent Street in 2006.

Properties

Retail

The department store Dickins and Jones was established at No. 54 Oxford Street as Dickins and Smith before moving to Nos. 232–234 Regent Street in 1835. It was renamed to Dickins and Jones in the 1890s after John Pritchard Jones became a business partner, and by the turn of the 20th century employed over 200 people. It became part of the Harrods group in 1914, and expanded to cover Nos. 224–244 in 1922, in a new building designed by Sir Henry Tanner. In 1959, House of Fraser took over the store by buying the Harrods group. In 2005, House of Fraser announced that the store would close the following year, after it had been making a loss for several years and not kept up with more fashion-conscious department stores elsewhere. The building has been redeveloped with small shop units on the lower floors and flats and offices above.

The Liberty department store is based at Nos. 210–220. It was founded by entrepreneur Arthur Lasenby Liberty, who had been inspired by the 1862 International Exhibition and wanted to open an oriental warehouse. He opened his first shop, East India House in 1875 at No. 218a, selling silk garments and various oriental goods. The shop expanded into other properties on Regent Street in the 1880s, separated by a jeweller's shop which was bridged by a double staircase called the "Camel's Back". Liberty later took over all of Nos. 140–150 Regent Street. In 1925, this complex was replaced by two new buildings, and a mock tudor building (built by architects Edwin T. Hall and his son Edwin S. Hall, constructed from the timbers of two ships, HMS Impregnable, and HMS Hindustan on neighbouring Great Marlborough Street connected by a footbridge over Kingly Street, which separates the properties.

Source and attribution

Adapted from “Regent Street” by English Wikipedia contributors. Main paragraphs and sections are retained; tables, reference markers and technical markup are omitted. This is an encyclopedic adaptation, not a personal review. Original revision and contributor history ↗. Text is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗. Check current visitor access, tickets and transport with the relevant operator.