Nighttime at Piccadilly Circus, the shining neon heart of London

Piccadilly Circus at night

When the sun goes down, the neon heart of London comes alive.

Alex Q. Arbuckle

1928-1973

Credit: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

In 1819, the Piccadilly Circus junction was constructed to link the major thoroughfare of Piccadilly with the newly built Regent Street in London’s West End. A nexus linking shopping, theaters and entertainment, it was soon a high-traffic destination.The circular shape from which the circus derives its name was lost with the construction of Shaftesbury Avenue in 1886. Traffic continued to grow with the opening of the Piccadilly Circus tube station in 1906.Two years later, the first electrically illuminated sign appeared in the circus: an ad for Perrier. The signs multiplied, with neon, incandescent and moving advertisements soon festooning the buildings around the circus.As rents increased and advertising became more costly, the number of glowing signs diminished. Today, the signage has been reduced to a handful of video screens on the facade of one building.