Regent Street has long been celebrated as London's premier shopping street. This book describes one of the most complex schemes in London's urban development and records nearly two hundred years of social change. The Prince Regent's favourite architect, John Nash, planned and executed Regent Street in the second decade of the 19th century. Nash's grand scheme for a major thoroughfare included a vision of a fashionable rendezvous where 'those who have nothing to do but walk about and amuse themselves may do so'. The author interprets the creation of the whole area from St James's Park and Waterloo Place north to Regent's Park with Park Crescent and the park villas. Regent Street maintains its commercial importance, surviving both total rebuilding and the inevitable changes brought about by two world wars and a revolution in social habits.
Regent Street is, in fact, the largest single piece of retail marketing in London belonging to a single owner: The Crown Estate. In the new millennium a directly 'hands on' approach has been adopted to regenerate the street and develop it as a 'destination': significant sites for company or shop premises.
It took ingenuity, diplomacy and commercial acumen by a varied group of Londoners to preserve the legacy of John Nash and his 20th-century successors into the new millennium. The Crown Estate now has the task of reconciling traffic needs, the demands
of Victorian enthusiasts, and the expectations of shopkeepers and their customers with the management of one of London's premier
streets. Regent Street is well set up for the next
100 years.
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