Cambridge Circus

Cambridge Circus is the road junction where Shaftesbury Avenue crosses Charing Cross Road on the eastern edge of Soho, with Earlham, West, Romilly and Moor Streets also meeting at the point. It marks the boundary between Soho and theatreland to the south and east.

The circus was created under the Metropolitan Street Improvements Act of 1877, part of the Metropolitan Board of Works' programme of new roads through the West End. The scheme, involving the board's architect George Vulliamy and the engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette, required the clearance of the old Newport Market and the crowded courts around it. Shaftesbury Avenue was completed in January 1886, and Charing Cross Road was opened in February 1887 by Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, a cousin of Queen Victoria, after whom the junction was named.

The circus is framed by listed Victorian buildings. The Palace Theatre, on its south-western side, opened on 31 January 1891 with Sir Arthur Sullivan's grand opera Ivanhoe. The Cambridge public house was rebuilt in 1887, though there has been a pub on the site since 1744. The junction sits at the foot of Shaftesbury Avenue and remains one of Soho's busiest entry points.