St Giles Circus

St Giles Circus is a busy road junction in the West End of London where Oxford Street meets New Oxford Street, Charing Cross Road and Tottenham Court Road. It sits near Soho, Covent Garden, Bloomsbury and Fitzrovia. The junction takes its name from the nearby church of St Giles-in-the-Fields. From the Middle Ages until the fifteenth century gallows stood here alongside a cage for prisoners and a cattle pound. The area was cleared in the mid-19th century when New Oxford Street was built. Tottenham Court Road Underground station opened in 1900 with platforms under Oxford Street west of the circus. The Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway joined in 1908, adding an entrance on the south-east side. The ticket hall was moved underground in the 1920s beneath the circus. The junction became known as St Giles Circus in 1921. Centre Point Tower dominates the south-east corner, built between 1963 and 1966 and now Grade II listed. The Dominion Theatre stands close by on Tottenham Court Road. The London Astoria theatre once occupied the south-west side, replaced in 2022 by @sohoplace, the first new West End theatre in fifty years. An auditorium and gallery are planned for the south-east corner.