ARCADES PROJECT

It may not be London’s oldest arcade, opening in June 1880, some 60 years after its neighbour the Burlington Arcade, but the Royal Arcade is actually my favourite of London’s shopping arcades, and The Globe newspaper in April 1910, reviewing London’s arcades, called the Royal: “the most imposing and ornamental arcade in London.”

Outspoken art historian Nikolaus Pevsner was apparently not such a big fan, calling the Royal Arcade “a tasteless Victorian façade with much female sculpture.” And the Illustrated London News, which used the Pevsner quote in its 1984 review of Bond Street, said it was “not London’s finest arcade.” Well, we’re all entitled to a view…And another viewpoint, just before the arcade opened in 1880 came from another correspondent of a London newspaper, who said, “the shops are infinitely superior to those in the Burlington, with finer windows and loftier rooms.”

The entrance to the arcade is in beautiful grey Portland stone and Aberdeen granite, with a balcony looking down over Albemarle Street, and the terracotta colouring standing out vividly in the morning sunlight. Classic figures – all female, as Pevsner complained about for some reason – decorate the frontage.

Inside, superb arches, still in terracotta, grey and cream, support the glass roof, with six hanging lanterns to add light. There are more terracotta columns separating the upstairs sections to each shop unit, and beautiful fittings on the ground floor. Even the numbers above the shop doors are eye-catching. At the Bond Street end, there is a small area with inside balcony (not accessible to the public) from which there must be great views back along the arcade and out into the shopping street below.

At the time of our visit in spring 2023, there was only one empty unit, with a nice range of independent businesses in the others: jewellery, perfume, chocolates, watches, shoes, antiques, and an art gallery. The arcade website insists that a new business will be opening up soon in the empty unit, so it may even be there by the time this post is online…

Press quotes courtesy of www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk, The British Library Board, Illustrated London News, 1 September 1984, Illustrated London News Group; The Globe, 2 April 1910; Willesden Chronicle, 7 May 1880.

My favourite shop today

Sadly most of the shops are out of my price range, so for once I didn’t buy anything from this, my favourite arcade in London. The gallery caught my eye, though, and probably the chocolate shop will be the first place I do end up purchasing from.

My pick of the arcade’s past

Thanks to the Royal Arcade’s own website, we learn that this arcade was originally called simply ‘The Arcade,’ but that from the time Queen Victoria’s shirt-maker, H. W. Bretell moved into No. 12 at the tender age of just 24 in the early 1880s, the arcade took on its Royal title. And the Prince of Wales, who later became Edward VII, was known to buy his cigars in this arcade.

One of the early shops not mentioned by today’s arcade website is George May’s second hand book shop, which operated out of No 9, with ‘an enormous stock of scarce and interesting books.’ May’s also put out adverts offering to pay for books he wanted on his shelves, like the three volumes of Dickens’ Great Expectations, published in 1861, or Clutterbuck’s ‘History of Hertfordshire.’ He’d pay £1 for a clean volume of any of the works listed, he said.

At No 14 in 1894 was a cigarette manufacturer, who added a sweet-smelling touch to his tobacco, specializing in ‘cigarettes tipped with the real petals of roses or violets.’

During the Blitz, a bomb fell almost directly opposite the Royal Arcade in September 1940, shattering the glass in many of the arcade shops. Goodyear’s florists stayed open, though, rescuing bunches of flowers from the debris and continuing to trade, though the shop had to move to a different site during repairs.

Stories here courtesy of: The Royal Arcade website (see below); www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk; The British Library Board; Kilburn Times, 20 December 1889; Gentlewoman, 2 June 1894; West London Observer, 20 September 1940.

This arcade in films or books

The 2008 movie Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day starring Frances McDormand was partly filmed in the Royal Arcade, as was 2016 Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool starring Annette Bening, Jamie Bell and Julie Walters.

What’s your favourite shop in the arcade today?

What memories do you have of visits in years gone by?

Have you got any good stories to add on the past of this arcade?

Have you seen Royal Arcade, London, in any other film or book?

Does the arcade have its own website?

Yes it does, and this is one of my favourite arcade websites, for the way they connect the present to the past. Click the link for access to the Royal Arcade website. The arcade is also active on Facebook and Twitter.