Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a huge piazza or open area in London, between the West End and the City of London. It is north of The Strand and east of Trafalgar Square. Once it was a huge fruit, vegetable and flower market with many taverns, theatres, coffee-houses, prostitutes and brothels.
Now it is a huge commercial area and "tourist trap". The former market has been redeveloped, keeping its glass roof and cast iron spans. The area is hugely popular with visitors to London, and has a number of remarkable buildings nearby.
The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, is the main theatre for ballet and opera in London. It has several rehearsal rooms with full-size stages, a large costume department and restaurants.
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is nearby. It has been purchased and restored by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Bow Street is also nearby; it is a boundary road to Covent Garden. This was the road where the original police force of London, the Bow Sreet Runners, was formed in the 1740s. The Bow Street Magistrate's Court was one of the most famous criminal courts in London until it was closed in 2006. It is going to be a boutique hotel.
Covent Garden Media
Covent Garden on the "Woodcut" map of the 1560s, with surrounding wall marked in green
The Earl of Bedford was given Covent Garden in 1552.
Plan of Covent Garden in 1690
Charles Fowler's 1830 neo-classical building restored as a retail market
OpenStreetMap of the area
Neal's Yard Dairy, a well-known cheese shop
Covent Garden Market Hall in 2011
Edward Barry's 1858 façade of the Royal Opera House
Balthazar Nebot's 1737 painting of the square before the 1830 market hall was constructed
