1. Name

2. Geography

3. History
    Early history  Commercial district 

4. Modern day

5. Public scares
     Suspicious Item: May 20, 2018^[15]    Bomb Threat: April 27, 2012^[16]  

6. Whitfield Gardens

7. In popular culture
    Art  Music  Books  Films  Musicals 

8. References

9. External links

Tottenham Court Road (occasionally abbreviated as TCR)^[1] is a major road in the Fitzrovia district of Central London, United Kingdom, running from St Giles Circus to Euston Road. Historically a market street, it became well known for selling electronics and white goods in the 20th century.

Name

The name derives from the road's original use as a market thoroughfare from Oxford Street to the Manor of Tothele, roughly north of what is now Euston Road. It was mentioned as such in the Domesday Book.{{sfn|Weinreb|Hibbert|Keay|Keay|2008|p=922}} The area was described as Totenhale in 1184 and Totenhale Court by 1487.{{sfn|Mills|2010|p=248}}

Although the road's name has a similar root and origin to the area of Tottenham in north London, the two are not directly related.{{sfn|Mills|2010|p=248}}

Geography

Tottenham Court Road runs from St Giles Circus (the junction of Oxford Street and Charing Cross Road) north to Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden near its boundary with the City of Westminster, a distance of about three-quarters of a mile (1.2 km). It has for many years been a one-way street: all three lanes are northbound only; the corresponding southbound traffic uses the parallel Gower Street, to the east.^[2] It is generally regarded as marking the boundary between Bloomsbury to the east and Fitzrovia to the west, linking Somers Town to the north with Soho to the south.^[3] The road has historically been the boundary between the parishes of St Giles and St Pancras.^[4]

The south end of the road is close to the British Museum and to Centre Point, the West End's tallest building. There are a number of buildings belonging to University College London along the road, and University College Hospital is near the north end of the road.

The road is served by three stations on the London Underground—from south to north these are Tottenham Court Road, Goodge Street and Warren Street—and by numerous bus routes.

On 3 June 2014 Camden Council announced plans to reserve the road for buses and bicycles only, during daylight hours from Monday to Saturday. They claimed it will make the street safer and boost business ahead of the opening of a new Crossrail station in 2018. The current one-way system will be replaced with two-way traffic flows. Wider pavements, cycle lanes and safer pedestrian crossings will also be installed as part of the £26m plan.^[5]

History

Early history

The area through which the road is built is mentioned in the Domesday Book as belonging to the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral. In the time of Henry III (1216–1272), a manor house slightly north-west of what is now the corner of Tottenham Court Road and Euston Road belonged to one William de Tottenhall. In about the 15th century, the area was known variously as Totten, Totham, or Totting Hall. After changing hands several times, the manor was leased for 99 years to Queen Elizabeth, and it came to be popularly called Tottenham Court.^[6] In 1639, the land was leased to Charles I until his execution ten years later, when it was sold to Ralph Harrison. It regained Crown ownership upon the Restoration of the Monarchy, where it was given a 41-year lease to Charles II.{{sfn|Wheatley|2011|p=389}} It subsequently became the property of the Fitzroys, who built Fitzroy Square on a part of the manor estate towards the end of the 18th century.{{sfn|Weinreb|Hibbert|Keay|Keay|2008|p=922}} There was a manor house at the northwest end of the road, this subsequently became the Adam and Eve pub. This was demolished to build the Euston Tower.{{sfn|Wheatley|2011|p=389}}^[7]

Tottenham Court Road had become a place of entertainment by the mid-17th century. In 1645, three people were fined for drinking on a Sunday. A Gooseberry Fair was held sporadically throughout the century, and featured numerous booths with street entertainers.{{sfn|Wheatley|2011|p=390}}

The Horse Shoe Brewery was established in 1764 on the junction of Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street.^[8] The current Horseshoe pub was built in the 19th century.{{sfn|Weinreb|Hibbert|Keay|Keay|2008|p=922}} Whitefield's Tabernacle was built in 1756 for the Reverend George Whitefield, and subsequently became the world's largest Methodist church after it was extended in 1760. It was rebuilt in 1857 after being destroyed by fire, and again in 1888 after the building collapsed. It was bombed during World War II and rebuilt as the Memorial Chapel.{{sfn|Weinreb|Hibbert|Keay|Keay|2008|p=1018}}

Tottenham Court Road was predominantly rural in nature until well into the 19th century. When Heal's was established on former farmland, the lease stipulated there must be appropriate accommodation for 40 cows. These cowsheds were destroyed in a fire in 1877.{{sfn|Weinreb|Hibbert|Keay|Keay|2008|p=922}} A 17th century farmhouse at the rear of No. 196 Tottenham Court Road was demolished in 1917.^[4]

During the period leading up to and during World War I, a shooting range called Fairyland was at No. 92 Tottenham Court Road. In 1909, Madan Lal Dhingra practised shooting here prior to his assassination of Sir William Hutt Curzon Wyllie.^[9] Other residents of India House and members of Abhinav Bharat practised shooting at the range and rehearsed assassinations they planned to carry out. Also in 1909 it was reported in a police investigation that the range was being used by two Suffragettes in a possible conspiracy to assassinate prime minister H. H. Asquith.^[10] It was also where Donald Lesbini shot Alice Eliza Storey. R v Lesbini (1914) was a case that established in British, Canadian and Australian law that, with regard to voluntary manslaughter, a reasonable man always has reasonable powers of self-control and is never intoxicated.^[11] The shooting range was owned and run by Henry Stanton Morley (1875-1916).^[9]

The Dominion Theatre opened in 1929, on the site of the old Horseshoe Brewery on Tottenham Court Road. It became a cinema in 1932, before reverting to a theatre. It has a capacity of 2,000.{{sfn|Weinreb|Hibbert|Keay|Keay|2008|p=243}}

Commercial district

Tottenham Court Road is a significant shopping street, best known for its high concentration of consumer electronics shops,{{sfn|Weinreb|Hibbert|Keay|Keay|2008|p=922}} which range from shops specialising in cables and computer components to those dealing in package computers{{clarify|date=December 2015}} and audio-video systems. Further north there are several furniture shops, including Habitat and Heal's.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Tottenham Court Road and a few of the adjoining streets became well known for stores selling World War II surplus radio and electronics equipment and all kinds of electro-mechanical and radio parts. Shops such as Proops Brothers (established in 1946) lined both sides of the road at that time.^[12] By the 1960s they were also selling Japanese transistor radios, audio mixers and other electronic gadgets. Many British-made valve stereos were offered too. Lisle Street, on the north side of Leicester Square, was another place where a large variety of electronic surplus was available.

One of the well-known stores was the furniture maker Maple & Co.

In recent years, the growth of e-commerce has reduced the importance of electronics retailing in the area. By 2015, Tottenham Court Road was catering more to fashion stores such as Primark and cafes.^[13]

Modern day

The area of Tottenham Court Road has changed throughout the years, whether it be geography, demographics or commercialism. We know that Tottenham Court Road was once a district made up of farming and made it all the way to London's hub of the sale of electronics. Today, Tottenham court road is modernizing more than ever to the growing city of London, becoming more of a business district. With many restaurants, businesses, hotels and shops, Tottenham Court Road is attempting to keep up with the growing city of London.^[14] Expected to arrive in the year 2019, the new Elizabeth line will cross rail at the Tottenham Court Road station. The arrival of this new line will cause traffic at the Tottenham Court Road station to increase by 40 percent, causing foot traffic to be heavier than the busy London Heathrow Airport.^[14]

Public scares

Suspicious Item: May 20, 2018^[15]

Police responded to reports of a "suspicious item" on Tottenham Court Road. A disposable robot was deployed to investigate the item that caused panic on the streets. The incident lasted about 1.25 hours (from 5:45pm to around 7:00pm). Residents reported that they heard an explosion take place, but The Met apparently refused to confirm or deny that a controlled explosion took place.

Bomb Threat: April 27, 2012^[16]

Police reported to a computer equipment and office furniture building just minutes after objects were thrown from the fifth floor. It was an alleged hostage situation and the suspect was thought to have a bomb, and was allegedly seen with a flamethrower and a canister of gas. The situation was diffused by police and there were no lives lost.

Whitfield Gardens

Opposite Habitat and Heal's is a small public open space called Whitfield Gardens, built on the former site of the chapel. On the side of a house is a painting, the "Fitzrovia Mural", which is about 20 metres (over 60 feet) high and shows many people at work and at leisure. It was painted in 1980 in a style resembling that of Diego Rivera. The mural has suffered from neglect and has been daubed with graffiti. There is a proposal to restore the mural after the current{{when|date=December 2015}} works to renovate the gardens are completed.^[17][18] In 2005, 12 so-called "Our Glass" panels were erected in the gardens. Each is about five feet (1.5 m) high, with two sides showing a collage of people associated with the area, from satirical cartoonist Hogarth to the popular singer Boy George. There is a 13th panel showing an index of the people depicted.

In popular culture

Art

William Hogarth's painting The March of the Guards to Finchley is set outside the Adam and Eve at the northwest end of Tottenham Court Road.{{sfn|Wheatley|2011|p=389}}

Music

Pink Floyd played many early concerts at the UFO Club at 31 Tottenham Court Road where they were the house band.^[19] The road is referred to in the lyrics of Underworld's Born Slippy .NUXX. The Kinks reference the road in their song Denmark Street.

The Pogues mention Tottenham Court Road in the song Transmetropolitan (1984), written by Shane MacGowan.

Books

Tottenham Court Road is mentioned in many works of fiction. It is featured briefly in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling when Harry and his friends are escaping from Death Eaters; in The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins; in Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf; in Postern of Fate by Agatha Christie; in Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw and its musical adaptation, My Fair Lady; in Saturday and Atonement by Ian McEwan; in several Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; in the Saki story Reginald on Christmas Presents; several stories by John Collier; in A Room with a View by E.M. Forster; in The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd; in The Late Mr Elvesham and The Invisible Man^[20] by H. G. Wells; in The Wish House by Celia Rees; in the short story Rumpole and the Judge's Elbow from the book Rumpole's Last Case by John Mortimer; in a The Matrix-based story, Goliath, by Neil Gaiman. It features often in novels by Mark Billingham and in The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon. Sherlock Holmes once said that he purchased his Stradivarius from "a Jew broker in the Tottenham Court Road."

Films

It is mentioned briefly as the location where 'I' was allegedly arrested for 'toilet trading' in the 1986 Bruce Robinson cult-classic movie Withnail and I. Mrs. Eysnford-Hill, Freddy's mother, lives in Tottenham Court Road, according to Professor Henry Higgins (My Fair Lady). Also it is where one person becomes victim to the werewolf's rampage in An American Werewolf In London.

Musicals

In the Lerner-Loewe musical My Fair Lady, Tottenham Court Road is mentioned as the place where Eliza Doolittle sells her flowers. Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats references the area in the song Grizabella the Glamour Cat, the lyrics coming from an unpublished poem fragment by T. S. Eliot.

Tottenham Court Road station was replicated as part of the set for the Queen musical We Will Rock You, which played at the Dominion Theatre between 2002 and 2014, directly above the actual Underground station.

References

• {{cite book|title=A Dictionary of London Place-Names|first=A.D.|last=Mills|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2010|isbn=978-0-199-56678-5|ref=harv}}
• {{cite encyclopedia|last=Weinreb|first=Ben|last2=Hibbert|first2=Christopher|first3=John|last3=Keay|first4=Julia|last4=Keay|author2link=Christopher Hibbert|author1link=Ben Weinreb|author3link=John Keay|title=The London Encyclopaedia|edition=3rd |year= 2008|publisher=Pan Macmillan|isbn=978-1-405-04924-5|ref=harv }}
• {{cite book|title=London Past and Present: Its History, Associations, and Traditions|first=Henry Benjamin|last=Wheatley|origyear=1891|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-1-108-02808-0|ref=harv}}

External links

• {{commons category inline|Tottenham Court Road}}

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