Summer in the city… the best place to be is in the garden. Not just Covent Garden, but our own gem of a semi-wild oasis, The Phoenix Garden.
On the afternoon of Sunday 25th June there will be a free barbecue in the garden. With a forecast of 28 degrees, there will also be lots of cold drinks!
If you are a local and would like to join us, please email Admin@ThePhoenixGarden.org to be added to the guest list.
Please join us at a right royal party to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
This fantastic event will take place in The Actors’ Church garden from 12pm until 6pm.
Free entry comes with free goodies for all, including:
… Plus many more surprises for anyone of any age.
Bring your Royal Mint to enjoy the delights of our specially created Platinum Punch and Platinum Pudding, with plenty of other choices to eat and drink. And try your luck in the raffle.
Arrive early for the amazing opening ceremony at Noon, with dancers from Pineapple and specially composed music.
Organised by volunteers from Covent Garden Community Association, the event has been made possible with generous grants from Capco, Westminster council and Covent Garden Area Trust.
A development has been put forward by Guinness for Old Brewers Yard and 4 buildings near it in Shelton Street, Neal Street, Mercer Walk and Langley Street.
The uses proposed for various building areas are:
| Part of development | Address | People seated / standing | Existing use | Proposed use |
| Old Brewers Yard | 28 Shelton St. | 100 / 200 | Service yard | Public semi open-air bar, open to all. |
| Langley St basement | 5 Langley Street | 130 / 250 | Bar with entertainment | Private events. |
| Restaurant building | 28-32 Shelton St. | 337 | Offices | Restaurant uses and private events, including 6th floor open terrace area. |
| Brewery building | 1 Mercer Walk | 220 | H&M shop | A ‘brewery experience’ tour & private events, with some sale of beer for consumption away from the premises. |
| Retail shop | 15 Neal St. | 15 | Tea House | Sale of beer for consumption away from the premises. |
| Total people: | 802 / 1,022 | |||
More details about the Planning application can be found on our Planning update page for this development.
More details about the Licence applications can be found on our Licensing update page for this development.
Camden and Westminster have been working together for some time on a plan to reduce through traffic in Covent Garden including Seven Dials. A proposal for a trial scheme was published here recently, and they are inviting feedback until 13th September via this form. They are now offering drop-in sessions, too, to answer people’s questions. These are on Tuesday 7th September & Thursday 9th September, 5.30pm to 7.30pm at 41-42 King Street, Covent Garden.
CGCA is broadly supportive of the proposals, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t still have quite a few questions ourselves. We are happy to see that the manned ‘Covid gates’ on Seven Dials will be removed so that legitimate traffic can get through, and the reversal of the North part of Mercer Street to try to reduce the traffic jams that used to plague that area (if you have forgotten how bad it was, see some footage here). We are not so keen on elements of pedestrianisation in Westminster streets, and have questions about some of the routing.
Residents have been asking us if we can we can explain some more about the rationale for the changes. Based on a number of discussions with Council Officers and the Traffic Consultants for the scheme, we have set out our understanding along with our outstanding questions here.
We also marked up their map below, to show the existing arrangements more clearly versus what changes are proposed. For a larger version, please click here.
If you would like to know any more about the CGCA’s views on the scheme please email your questions to licensing@coventgarden.org.uk.
Congratulations to everyone who supported the campaign to preserve what was the Saville Theatre. To locals who appeared as CGCA’s witnesses and gave evidence in the first days of the hearing. And to the many people who attended the proceedings whose presence was important to show the extent of local interest.
The Beatles at the Saville Theatre in 1965 after collecting their MBEs. Sadly, the murals are lost.
Special thanks go to the CGCA’s own volunteers who led the campaign, and to our two expert witnesses who also donated their time.
Paul Velluet, the architect and great friend of Covent Garden who cut through the legal nit-picking to focus everyone on the harm to the unspoiled building and its legacy.
And Jane Palm-Gold, our local historian who brought to life the cultural legacy of the venue.
Programme for the first show at the Saville Theatre in 1931 – hardly changed on the outside as the Odeon we see today.
All this strengthened our cause for ‘conservation’, rather than the ‘gut and stuff’ job that our team felt better described the destructive proposals, even if they hadn’t included several hotel floors of shiny glass being plonked on top of this Art Deco gem.
Details of what was proposed are here.
The Inquiry hearing was a bit of a marathon in the end – stretching from early December right into January, but hopefully it was worth the effort.
The planning inspector’s report and judgment is at this link.
CGCA is submitting information to Historic England to expand the listed building description for a better defence against unsympathetic development proposals in the future.
We may not be having the usual CGCA extravaganza and party, but the only Silent Night in Covent Garden will be the one we sing in St. Paul’s churchyard this weekend.
Please join other Covent Gardeners and visitors for carols, choir and mulled wine on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th December, with 2 sessions each day: 1.15-2pm and 2.15-3pm.
