My Beat Regent Street

Met today the father of London's only 'father and son' newspaper sellers who have their pitches on the opposite sides of Oxford Circus.

It was 12 years ago when Larry Dunsworth from Hampstead took over the pitch on the west side from his son Colin who switched to the east side. "I had just retired after more than 30 years making luxury leather goods and got so bored that I had to find a job to get out of the house" Larry, 72, told me.

"Its an interesting life and I do get to meet lots of different people" adde Larry as he cleaned his Evening Standard stand in readiness for delivery of the first of five editions during his 10am to 7pm day.

This is the first day in my new beat and having reported from many parts of the world it now seems strange that I have returned to Regent Street which I have known since a schoolboy. As a young man I spent many hours waiting in my car parked outside Truimph House for Beryl and when we married 46 years ago, the reception was held in the splendour of the Cafe Royale, on the other side of the street.

I am excited at my latest reporting assignment and the prospect of telling the stories of many of those thousands of people who shop and work in Regent Street, and of the new shops and businesses as they emerge from behind the scaffolding that currently hides those great John Nash buildings.

The task is 24/7 because Regent Street never sleeps and I don't want to miss a thing.

The Crown Estate has embarked on one of the biggest ever developments in London’s West End - a £500m development on Regent Street.

The development, which will include a mix of office, retail, hotel and residential space, will transform the area, particularly at the southern end of the street where it approaches Piccadilly Circus.

The Crown Estate sees the development not just about making Regent Street more of a shopping and eating destination, but one that will revive the public realm. The plans will encourage increased pedestrian flow through the side streets of Swallow Street and Vine Street to the south side of Regent Street and Glasshouse Street and Air Street on the north side.

The Crown Estate sees this as a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity to set the tone for the next 100 years. Most of the ground leases along the street were granted between 80-100 years ago, and come to an end in the next few years. In the past the ground leases have limited what The Crown Estate has been able to do to improve the tenant mix on Regent Street, but now we have the opportunity to implement our Vision for Regent Street and attract the retailers who will add to the brand’s values.

The scale of the opportunity is enormous totalling 4m square feet, the street has 1.5 miles of frontage with 150 retail tenants. The listed facades will stay, but behind them the quality of space will be improved dramatically. The Crown Estate will retain sole ownership of the entire street from Portland Place in the north to Piccadilly Circus in the south. The Crown Estate is thought to be unique in owning the entirety of such a large retail high street.

History of Regent Street

Originally conceived by John Nash in the early part of the 19th century, Regent Street was to have formed part of the processional route for the Prince Regent linking Carlton House, where the Prince lived, to a summer villa which was to have been built for him in Regent's Park.

These proposals fell through when the Prince Regent became King George IV. Carlton House was no longer required as a residence and it was pulled down and replaced by Waterloo Place, Carlton Gardens and Carlton House Terrace, where the London Headquarters of The Crown Estate is now situated.

However, the building of Regent Street went ahead and was completed in 1826. The freeholds of the land acquired for the street were vested in the Sovereign, George IV, who delegated powers of management to the Office of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues, the forerunner of The Crown Estate.

During the 19th Century the street became one of the most famous in Europe, attracting not only the English aristocracy and gentry but also wealthy cosmopolitan shoppers from the Continent. It was a splendid display case for luxury merchandise and had a reputation for being one of the most fashionable streets to be seen in. This reputation continues to this day.

Heddon Street, a cul de sac on the west side of Regent Street was acquired in 1993 specifically to develop a restaurant quarter to expand the choice of establishments available to Regent Street visitors. A number of restaurants are now operating there including Momo, the Zinc Bar and Grill and Strawberry Moon. This has transformed Heddon Street making it a lively cosmopolitan area.


Until the early 1980s the rental income received had shown no significant increase since the 1930s. This was because the building leases granted in the early years of the century contained no rent review clauses. Recently a number of long leases have been re-negotiated, or the leasing patterns re-arranged, as part of The Crown Estate's policy of actively managing Regent Street to ensure it remains a quality estate with its own character.

Architecture
The original buildings were pleasant to look at but, by the turn of the century, could not be adapted to meet modern requirements. The Crown Estate took the opportunity presented by the expiry of the initial buildings leases and offered new 80 year lease terms to those tenants willing to rebuild.

Several of the present buildings were erected in the 1890s. Le Meridian Hotel (then the Piccadilly Hotel) followed in 1905 and virtually all the remainder of the street was rebuilt between 1915 and 1930. Architecturally they conform to a general pattern, having front elevations up to the fourth floor level in Portland stone with various embellishments, with the fifth and sixth storeys set behind a slated mansard with dormer windows. The rear and other secondary elevations are not so grand. Unusually there are many instances where a consistent architectural elevation treatment has been applied to two or more adjacent buildings which are, in all other respects, quite separate. This may have been partly because of a desire to repeat the boundary lines of the original buildings.

Regent Street was rebuilt primarily as a shopping street and stretches for a mile from Charles II Street to the BBC in Portland Place. The only Nash building now remaining is All Souls Church, which is not in Regent Street itself but in Langham Place.

In 1975 the buildings in Regent Street were 'listed' as being of architectural or historic interest. This importance is reflected in The Crown Estate's long term policy to retain the street as one of high quality shopping and modern office accommodation, whilst enhancing the listed buildings.

The Crown Estate has published Regent Street History and Conservation, a study into the social and architectural past of the street. The study provides a comprehensive explanation of the architectural heritage of the street and will ensure that all design proposals take in to account the significance of the existing buildings.

The key findings of the report include:
· Regent Street was the first ever purpose built shopping street in the world.
· Nothing now remains of Nash's original construction between Oxford and Piccadilly Circuses. Extensive demolition and redevelopment occurred in the early twentieth century to meet the needs of the Edwardian retail sector.

The Regent Street of today has magnificent façades, although much of the accommodation behind them is of poor quality.