Shaftesbury Avenue

It´s like Broadway, but British... and better!

Named after the Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury, Shaftesbury Avenue was designed in the late 19th century to ease and improve traffic flow in the West End and runs from Piccadilly Circus to New Oxford Street intersecting Charing Cross Road at Cambridge Circus.

This avenue has been bursting at the theatrical seams for decades! The Apollo, Lyric, Queens and Gielgud theatres are all on the northern side of Shaftesbury Avenue between Charing Cross Road and Piccadilly Circus. The Queen´s Theatre (now home to the infamous Les Miserables) and the Gielgud are twin theatres, built adjacent to each other in 1906. Gielgud has kept its original design, but after being damaged by a German bomb in 1940, the exterior of the Queen´s Theatre is now modernised, although the interior remains as beautifully Edwardian as the day it was built. The Apollo Theatre was the first West End theatre of the Edwardian era, opening a month after the death of Queen Victoria in February 1901. The oldest surviving theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue is The Lyric. It looks it too - although of course very charming!

The north-eastern end of Shaftesbury Avenue is home to the Shaftesbury Theatre. Originally opening as the Princes Theatre, it was sold to EMI Record Company in 1962 and re-opened as the Shaftesbury Theatre in 1963. Ten years later the roof began crumble, subsequently closing down the then running production of Hair. This incident brought on the threat of being shut down but after a successful Equity protest, the building is now on the Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. West Side Story saw the raise of the red curtain again a year later.

The most recognisable of the theatres is The Palace Theatre, located at Cambridge Circus. The Palace, opening in 1891 as The Royal English Opera House, was home to two of the longest-running productions in recent years; Jesus Christ Superstar and Les Miserables which ran for 18 years before the production moved to the Queen´s Theatre. Building commenced in 1888 and the first stone laid can still be spotted to the right of the entrance.

Generally showing big productions, West End ticket prices can be a little high, however if you buy tickets on the day you want to go, they will often be a lot cheaper. The view may not be fantastic but the ambiance is the same. Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and Tottenham Court Road Underground stations will all get you to where you need to be.

Hollywood headliners have been lured by the West End for years, preferring the stages of London to New York's Broadway. The London beat is the dream of many actors - the next challenge for an uninspired silver screen superstar, the next step for an Australian soap actor! Yes, there are a lot of musicals and pantomimes but there are also many great plays and the acting is always, well mostly, outstanding!

Shaftesbury Avenue has so much diversity, so much history, so much to chose from and is so much fun!