Piccadilly leads from the West End to the west of town and is one of London's older roads. The eastern half was originally called Portugal Street and grew significantly in importance when Green Park was created, closing a previous road connection. The modern name comes from a tailor named Robert Baker who made his fortune in the 17th century selling a fashionable frilled collar called a piccadil, then spent that fortune on a big mansion on the outskirts of town nicknamed Pickadilly Hall. The street subsequently grew up posh and proper, ensuring that the final yellow on the Monopoly Board is both heritage-packed and very famous.
Indeed there's so much along Piccadilly that you could easily write a entire month of blogposts about it, which is exactly what I did in August 2004 so I'm not keen to churn through the whole lot again. What I will do, however, is cut and paste a few snippets from 2004 and take a look at what's changed over the last 20 years, starting here with this vinyl-based anachronism.
Piccadilly: "The street is numbered from Piccadilly Circus down to Hyde Park Corner and back again, from 1 (Tower Records) to 149 (Apsley House) on the north side and back from 150 (The Ritz) to 230 (Virgin Megastore) on the south." Now: 230 Piccadilly is now a Hard Rock Cafe. 1 Piccadilly remains empty.
Piccadilly Circus: "After Shaftesbury Avenue was built in 1886, tenants of the new buildings realised they could sell advertising space on their façades and so the area became famous for its illuminated advertising boards. It's a far cry from the first ad for Bovril (comprising just 600 light bulbs) to the mesmerising electronic displays to be found here today." Now: A dazzling digital display has curved across the top of Boots since 2017, occasionally entirely Coca-Cola based, occasionally segmentally luxurious.
The Criterion(224 Piccadilly): "Apart from the box office the whole of the Criterion Theatre lies underground, and the stage is currently home to the Reduced Shakespeare Company." Now: The current theatrical offering is I Wish You Well: The Gwyneth Paltrow Ski-Trial Musical, and I would argue tastes have gone downhill somewhat since 2004.
The first Lyons teashop(213 Piccadilly): "The fast food revolution started right here in 1894, when good service and fine quality ensured Joseph Lyons' teashops were an instant hit. 213 Piccadilly is now a dull boring British Airways travel shop." Now: Was consolidated into a modern development, the St James's Gateway Scheme, in 2013. Now occupied by Barbour International, the greenjacket floggers. Nothing of the original building remains.
Simpson of Piccadilly(203 Piccadilly): "Built in 1936 this six storey store sold traditional clothing for ladies and gentlemen with reverential customer service. Waterstones the booksellers moved in five years ago opening the largest book store in Europe - well worth a browse but somehow not quite the same as having your inside leg checked." Now: Still Waterstones, and although they've restructured the ground floor still very recognisable to a 2004 browser.
St James's Church(197 Piccadilly): "One of the few churches outside the City to be designed by Sir Christopher Wren. A couple of years ago I saw Dame Judy Dench buying her charity Christmas cards here. Respect." Now: A great place to hide in the event of a furious cloudburst, although smells somewhat of incense. The lunchtime food market in the churchyard sells global streetfood that millennial palates weren't yet ready for.
BAFTA(195 Piccadilly): "You'd never guess from outside that the 19th century facade houses two preview theatres at second floor level, one of which is big enough to seat 213 people. Members and their guests only thank you." Now: I finally got insidein 2015 when they held a hush-hush open weekend... up two marble staircases, past multiple replica bronze masks and into the boardroom where photographs of Bagpuss and newsreader Jon Snow adorned the walls. I doubt they're still there.
Hatchards(187 Piccadilly): "The oldest surviving booksellers in London, founded in 1797 and with customers including Disraeli, Oscar Wilde, Lord Byron and me. Visiting is reminiscent of being inside a rambling old house, with six floors of little rooms curling round a central staircase." Now: Unchanging. Still more than happy to sell you a hardback for the shelves in your study. Jeffrey Archer dropped by for a chat last week and left a pile of signed copies.
Fortnum & Mason(181 Piccadilly): "The ground floor of this grand retail outlet is full of exclusive foodstuffs, none of them in any way essential, all traditionally packaged (or at least that's what the tourists think), with the store's trademark duck-egg bluey-green prevalent throughout." Now: Has already nudged into Christmasmode because brandy biscuits and cognac butter won't go off. Hampers start from £100 and Advent Calendars peak at £390. Still employs a fawning footman to hold the side door open.
The Royal Academy(Burlington House): "The whole of Piccadilly used to be lined by palatial houses such as this but Burlington House is the only reminder of just how grand this street used to be. Really really grand." Now: The latest exhibition is a retrospective of the colourfully cartoonish works of Sir Michael Craig-Martin RA (also to be seen, more cheaply, on the walls of Woolwich Arsenal DLR).
French Railways House(178 Piccadilly): "Voulez-vous acheter un billet pour le voyage de train en France? Visite ici. Le bâtiment a été conçu par Erno Goldfinger, l'architecte célèbre avec un bureau dans Piccadilly." Now: Irrelevant in this digital age. Recently demolished and due to be replaced by a pastiche office block Erno would have spat at.
The Ritz(150 Piccadilly): The capital's most exclusive hotel, so the management would have you believe, towers over Piccadilly like a giant ocean liner. Take your pick from the Ritz Hotel, the Ritz Restaurant or the Ritz Club, and please don't forget to wear a tie (ladies, this probably doesn't apply to you). Now: Afternoon tea now costs £76, up from £32 in 2004, and will be rising to £79 in January. You do get six types of sandwich for that, including cucumber with cream cheese, dill and mint on granary bread, and egg mayonnaise with chopped shallots and watercress on brioche roll.
Green Park: "You couldn't fault this open space under the Trades Descriptions Act - it's green and it is indeed a park. Includes fine avenues of lime and plane trees plus a couple of fountains and a lot of deckchairs, but otherwise the park is pretty featureless." Now: Also famously flowerless, apart from the daffodils in spring and a carpet of bouquets should the monarch snuff it. Easier to reach since the tube station went step-free for the Olympics.
The In And Out Club(94 Piccadilly): Nicknamed the 'In and Out Club' because of the large black letters painted on the gate posts to help direct incoming traffic. Members moved out five years ago and the building was subsequently snapped up by an Arab buyer with plans to transform it into a 100-room hotel. Now: Astonishingly the building is still smothered under scaffolding (because conservation work is slow and painstaking). The planned hotel now has two extra rooms, plus seven super-prime private residences.
The Japanese Embassy(101 Piccadilly): "The only embassy on Piccadilly and home to His Excellency Mr Masaki Orita, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. You can also pop inside to view the Japanese art exhibited in the foyer gallery or make enquiries at the Japan Information and Cultural Centre." Now: Popping in now requires photo ID. Cultural activities moved to Japan House in Kensington in 2018. Mr Hayashi Hajime is the current AE&P.
The Hard Rock Cafe(134 Piccadilly): "The very first Hard Rock Cafe opened here in Piccadilly in 1971 when Americans Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton opened up a glorified burger restaurant in an old car showroom close to Hyde Park Corner, slowly covering the walls with rock'n'roll ephemera." Now: Tourists flock, Londoners keep well away. Eric Clapton's red guitar remains on show. Foodstuffs on offer include Moving Mountains® Burgers, One Night In Bangkok Spicy Shrimp, Apple Cobbler and the Lionel Messi children's menu.
The InterContinental hotel(145 Piccadilly): "145 Piccadilly was bought by Albert and Liz Windsor in 1927. You probably know them better as King George VI and the Queen Mother, but at the time they were merely second in line to the throne and completely ignorant of their later destiny. Elizabeth II's first home is now the InterContinental Hotel, a particularly ugly 70s block which would look more at home in some eastern European capital." Now: I see now that the hotel was designed by Frederick Gibberd who planned Harlow New Town so I hate it less. All rooms are advertised as showcasing "quintessential London views" even if they only face the service yard, not Hyde Park.
Apsley House(149 Piccadilly): "This grand house was once the first to be encountered after the tollbooth at Knightsbridge and so earned the alternative address "No. 1 London". Wellington bought it after returning victorious from his military campaigns in France, seeking a London base from which to launch a glittering political career." Now: English Heritage still run the place but ticket prices have increased from £4.50 to £11.30. Out front Hyde Park Corner is just as chaotic but less exhaust-choked.
