21 Facts About Covent Garden

Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane.

Covent Garden falls within the London boroughs of Westminster and Camden and the parliamentary constituencies of Cities of London and Westminster and Holborn and St Pancras.

Covent Garden Estate was part of Beecham Estates and Pills Limited from 1924 to 1928, after which it was managed by a successor company called Covent Garden Properties, owned by the Beechams and other private investors.

In 1962 the bulk of the remaining properties in the Covent Garden area, including the market, were sold to the newly established government-owned Covent Garden Authority for £3, 925, 000.

However, over time the area regarded as part of Covent Garden has expanded northwards past Long Acre to High Holborn.

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Covent Garden estate was originally under the control of Westminster Abbey and lay in the parish of St Margaret.

St Paul Covent Garden was completely surrounded by the parish of St Martin in the Fields.

The northern reaches of Covent Garden were within the ancient parish of St Giles in the Fields and outside the Liberty of Westminster.

Covent Garden came within the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Board of Works from 1855 and in 1889 became part of the County of London.

Since 1965 Covent Garden falls within the London boroughs of Westminster and Camden, and is in the Parliamentary constituencies of Cities of London and Westminster and Holborn and St Pancras.

Covent Garden Market reopened in 1980 as a shopping arcade with restaurants and a pub.

Royal Opera House, known as "Covent Garden", was constructed as the "Theatre Royal" in 1732 to a design by Edward Shepherd.

The Covent Garden building has on display many examples of buses, trams, trolleybuses and rail vehicles from the 19th and 20th centuries as well as artefacts and exhibits related to the operation and marketing of passenger services and the impact that the developing transport network has had on the city and its population.

In 1645 Covent Garden was made a separate parish and the church was dedicated to St Paul.

Covent Garden area has long been associated with entertainment and shopping.

Covent Garden has 13 theatres, and over 60 pubs and bars, with most south of Long Acre, around the main shopping area of the old market.

The Seven Dials area in the north of Covent Garden was home to the punk rock club The Roxy in 1977, and the area remains focused on young people with its trendy mid-market retail outlets.

Covent Garden is licensed for street entertainment, and performers audition for timetabled slots in a number of venues around the market, including the North Hall, West Piazza, and South Hall Courtyard.

Covent Garden area has over 60 pubs and bars; several of them are listed buildings, with some on CAMRA's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors; some, such as The Harp in Chandos Place, have received consumer awards.

Covent Garden was home to some of London's earliest coffee shops, such as Old Slaughter's Coffee House, which ran from 1692 until 1843, and a Beefsteak Club, the Sublime Society of Beef Steaks, which was co-founded in 1736 by William Hogarth at the Theatre Royal.

Covent Garden Festival, known as the BOC Covent Garden Festival due to sponsorship by BOC, is or was a festival of music and musical theatre staged across various venues in early summer each year.