Regent Street
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This article is about the Regent Street in London. For other Regent Streets see Regent Street (disambiguation).
Regent Street is a major shopping street and thoroughfare in London's West End. Named after the Prince Regent (later George IV), it was built by John Nash as a ceremonial route from the Regent's residence at Carlton House in St James's to Regent's Park. Starting as Lower Regent's Street at its intersection with Charles II Street and Waterloo Place, it runs north to Piccadilly Circus then becomes Regent Street by turning westward, and curves around in a quarter-circle until it is heading north once more. It then continues past Oxford Circus becoming Upper Regent's Street and ends at its intersection with Langham Place, Cavendish Place and Mortimer Street.
Other notable stores include the department stores Liberty and D.H.Evans. There is a yearly Regent Street Festival.
On 6 July 2004, half a million people crowded into Regent Street and the surrounding streets to watch a parade of Formula 1 cars. The success of this event has lead to speculation regarding the possibility of a London Grand Prix.
As well as shops, there is a large amount of office accommodation on the upper floors of the buildings.
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History
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Regent Street was named after the Prince Regent (later George IV) and formed part of the 1811 town plan prepared by John Nash to develop a ceremonial route from the Regent's residence at Carlton House in St James's to the newly developed Regent's Park. The street still belongs to the Crown Estate. All of Nash's buildings were replaced with larger ones in a neo-baroque style in the early 20th century.
Neighbourhood and attractions
Starting as Lower Regent's Street at its intersection with Charles II Street and Waterloo Place, Regent Street runs north to Piccadilly Circus then becomes Regent Street by turning westward, and curves around in a quarter-circle until it is heading north once more. Regent Street continues past Oxford Circus becoming Upper Regent's Street and ends at its intersection with Langham Place, Cavendish Place and Mortimer Street.
Regent Street
Apple retail store
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The Apple retail store opened on Regent Street at 10am on 20 November 2004. This represented the first such store in Europe, and only the third outside the United States (the other two are in Japan).
Austin Reed
Austin Reed's £12.3 million world-class flagship store is located at 103-113 Regent Street. The store has a vast atrium as the central point, housing state-of-the-art glass lifts allowing viewing across all floors. The lower ground floor sells womenswear and also houses Equilibrium, the refurbished 1920’s Art Deco Barber Shop, offering a full range of hair face and body treatments for both men and women.
Hamleys
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Hamleys toy shop can be found 100 yards south of Oxford Circus on the east side of the road. Until the 1990s it was the world's largest toy store, with six floors devoted to playthings. The ground floor is always decked out with a variety of soft toys, from small puppets to life-sized giraffes.
Dickins and Jones
In June 2005 owner House of Fraser announced that the department store Dickins and Jones, which traces its origins to 1803, and has been located in Regent Street since 1835, will close in January 2006. The store was said to have been making losses for several years and to have failed to keep up with more fashion conscious rivals such as its neighbour Liberty. The building is to be redeveloped with small shop units on the lower floors and flats and offices above. [1] (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1657791,00.html)
Crown Estate redevelopment
Since the turn of the millennium the Crown Estate has embarked on a major redevelopment programme in Regent Street and some of its side streets. This involves replacing some of the smaller shops with larger units. More importantly from a commercial point of view, many of the early 20th century offices, which typically for that era have many corridors and small individual offices, are being replaced with the open plan accommodation which is now required by tenants. This is being done by completing stripping out the interiors and rebuilding behind a retained facade.
The Crown Estate will be moving its own headquarters from Carlton House Terrace to Regent Street. As of May 2005 the reconstruction of one block is complete and two more are in progress. The largest element of the plan is the reconstruction of the Quadrant at the southern end of the street close to Piccadilly Circus. In addition to shops and offices, a five star hotel and a small number of flats will be created here.
Nearest tube stations