St Giles Circus

Coordinates: 51°30′59″N 0°07′50″W / 51.51639°N 0.13056°W / 51.51639; -0.13056

St Giles Circus seen from Centre Point prior to the start of Crossrail work

Construction of Tottenham Court Road Crossrail station

St Giles Circus is the junction of Oxford Street, New Oxford Street, Charing Cross Road and Tottenham Court Road in the St Giles district of the West End of London, near to Soho, Covent Garden, Bloomsbury and Fitzrovia. The word Circus is used although the buildings around the traffic junction are not all rounded, as with for example Oxford Circus.

In the Middle Ages, the gallows were located at St Giles Circus alongside a cage for prisoners. The area today is dominated by Centre Point Tower, located on the south east corner on New Oxford Street and Charing Cross Road. As part of the Centre Point project the developer was to have included a modern traffic roundabout and transport interchange but this part of the scheme was not delivered. The Dominion Theatre is close to the north east corner, on Tottenham Court Road just above New Oxford Street. The London Astoria theatre was on the west side. Tottenham Court Road tube station is located beneath the junction.

St Giles Circus is currently the site of construction for Crossrail, which have disrupted road flows. A new theatre to replace the Astoria is planned.^[1]

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