Piccadilly Circus

Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus in 2012
Location
London, United Kingdom
Coordinates	51°30′36″N 0°8′4″W / 51.51000°N 0.13444°W / 51.51000; -0.13444
Roads at junction	Regent Street, Piccadilly, Shaftesbury Avenue, The Haymarket, Coventry Street and Glasshouse Street
Construction
Type	Road junction
Opened	1819

Piccadilly Circus is a road junction and public space of London's West End in the City of Westminster. It was built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with Piccadilly. In this context, a circus, from the Latin word meaning "circle", is a round open space at a street junction.^[1]

The Circus now connects Piccadilly, Regent Street, Shaftesbury Avenue, the Haymarket, Coventry Street (onwards to Leicester Square) and Glasshouse Street. It is close to major shopping and entertainment areas in the West End. Its status as a major traffic junction has made Piccadilly Circus a busy meeting place and a tourist attraction in its own right. The Circus is particularly known for its video display and neon signs mounted on the corner building on the northern side, as well as the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain and statue of Anteros (which is popularly, though mistakenly, believed to be of Eros).

It is surrounded by several notable buildings, including the London Pavilion and Criterion Theatre. Underneath the plaza is Piccadilly Circus Underground station, part of the London Underground system.