The first position on the list of the oldest streets in London is Piccadilly. Between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the East, Piccadilly is a street in the City of Westminster district of London, south of Mayfair. It is part of the A4 motorway which links Hammersmith, Earl’s Court, Heathrow Airport and the M4 motorway in the west to central London. The eastern half lies south of St James’s, and the western part is only developed on the northern side. One of the biggest and straightest streets in the heart of London, Piccadilly is just under a mile long. IN 1663, Catherine of Braganza, Charles II’s wife, inspired the renaming of Piccadilly to Portugal Street. After an earlier road from Charing Cross to Hyde Park Corner was blocked off to make way for the development of Green Park in 1668, its importance to traffic increased.
Since the Middle Ages, exclusively Piccadilly has been a significant London thoroughfare further west. Robert Baker, a local tailor and landowner who lived in Piccadilly Hall and made his fortune selling piccadills (large lace collars popular in the 17th century), gave the area its name.
The Rothschild family, nobles and even Count Dracula from Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel have all lived on this long, wide street over the years. Dickens readings and Tchaikovsky concerts were held in St James’s Hall, which was destroyed in 1905. The Royal Academy of Arts, the Ritz hotel and Fortnum & Mason, all founded in 1705 and 1906 respectively, still serve as links. to an illustrious past.
Location: between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east
