Covent Garden London
The heart of London's West End
Some thoughts on Covent Garden over 30 years
I have to be honest and say that I remember the Market in 1970 most for its car parking provision! At that time, I was working at the Coliseum and driving a battered Imp and could arrive just as the last lorries were moving away. The prospect of a 'small 'un' was a delight for the porter who had an ability to squeeze seemingly endless cars into surprising spaces amongst the market debris. There was certainly a mix of life with the bustle of market trading surrounded by the normal everyday life.
My next memory was a few years later when I visited Bedford Chambers as a member of the then Society of West End Theatre. The market buildings seemed to be a sleeping beauty behind the hoardings. For the first time I was aware of the splendour of the central roof arches and the almost dolls house quality of the buildings along the arcades. Then, transformation! The first Christmas that the new market was open was a magical time with shopping once again an enjoyable experience in shops with individual appeal.
Life did change - the appeal of the shops brought the tourists who brought the buskers who certainly added a new dimension, alas not one I particularly appreciated, since by then I worked in an office directly overlooking this hive of activity. A more recent enjoyable memory was to pass through the Piazza after going to the theatre and catch the atmosphere of the curtain calls on the big screen of the Royal Opera's Otello. Great stuff.
Covent Garden has to be one of the great success stories of London planning - even if we got there by protest.
Rupert Rhymes, Chief Executive
Society of London Theatre/
Theatrical Management Association
(residents of Bedford Chambers 1975 to 1997)
Covent Garden Community Association Annual Report 2000-2001
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