Catherine Street, originally known as Brydges Street, is a street in the City of Westminster, London. It runs from Russell Street in the north to Aldwych in the south. It is crossed midway by Tavistock Street and joined on the western side near Aldwych by the eastern end of Exeter Street.
The street was first laid out by Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford, in the 1630s at which time it was closed at its southern end near the junction with Exeter Street. Its southern end was the wall of Exeter House garden and the back of the White Hart Inn in the Strand. [1] The south part was named Catherine Street after Queen Catherine of Braganza, wife of King Charles II. [2]
Until 1872 the north part was called Brydges Street after the fourth earl's wife. [1] In that year the whole street was named Catherine Street.
The street is part of the theatre district of London's West End and includes the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on the corner with Russell Street, the Duchess Theatre on the west side and the Novello Theatre on the corner with Aldwych. All three theatres are listed buildings with Historic England, as are number 42 Tavistock Street on the corner with Catherine Street [3] and number 15 Catherine Street. [4]
The public houses in the street are Nell of Old Drury and the Opera Tavern, and there are a number of restaurants and bars. The Opera Tavern was built (with No 21) in 1879 to a design by the architect George Treacher. [1]
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and with the Royal Opera House, itself known as "Covent Garden". The district is divided by the main thoroughfare of Long Acre, north of which is given over to independent shops centred on Neal's Yard and Seven Dials, while the south contains the central square with its street performers and most of the historical buildings, theatres and entertainment facilities, including the London Transport Museum and the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster. Drury Lane is part of London's West End Theatreland.
Strand is a major thoroughfare in the City of Westminster, Central London. The street, which is part of London's West End theatreland, runs just over 3⁄4 mile (1.2 km) from Trafalgar Square eastwards to Temple Bar, where the road becomes Fleet Street in the City of London, and is part of the A4, a main road running west from inner London.
Aldwych is a street and the name of the area immediately surrounding it, in the City of Westminster, part of Greater London, and is part of the West End Theatreland. The 450 metres (1,480 ft) street starts 600 metres (2,000 ft) east-northeast of Charing Cross, the conventional map centre-point of the capital city.
Tavistock is an ancient stannary and market town within West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2011 census the three electoral wards had a population of 13,028. It traces its recorded history back to at least 961 when Tavistock Abbey, whose ruins lie in the centre of the town, was founded. Its most famous son is Sir Francis Drake.
Russell Square is a large garden square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, built predominantly by the firm of James Burton. It is near the University of London's main buildings and the British Museum. Almost exactly square, to the north is Woburn Place and to the south-east is Southampton Row. Russell Square tube station sits to the north-east.
Jermyn Street is a one-way street in the St James's area of the City of Westminster in London, England. It is to the south of, parallel, and adjacent to Piccadilly. Jermyn Street is known as a street for gentlemen's-clothing retailers in the West End.
The WC postcode area, also known as the London WC postcode area, is a group of postcode districts in central London, England. The area covered is of high density development, and includes parts of the City of Westminster and the London Boroughs of Camden and Islington, plus a very small part of the City of London.
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The present building opened in 1812 is the most recent of four theatres that stood at the location since 1663, making it the oldest theatre site in London still in use. According to the author Peter Thomson, for its first two centuries, Drury Lane could "reasonably have claimed to be London's leading theatre". For most of that time, it was one of a handful of patent theatres, granted monopoly rights to the production of "legitimate" drama in London.
William Russell, 1st Duke of Bedford KG PC was an English nobleman and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 until 1641 when he inherited his Peerage as 5th Earl of Bedford and removed to the House of Lords. He fought in the Parliamentarian army and later defected to the Royalists during the English Civil War.
The Phoenix Theatre is a West End theatre in the London Borough of Camden, located in Charing Cross Road. The entrances are on Phoenix Street and Charing Cross Road. The Phoenix Theatre was built on the site of a former factory and then music hall Alcazar before.
Wych Street was in London where King, Melbourne and Australia Houses now stand on Aldwych. It ran west from the church of St Clement Danes on the Strand to meet the southern end of Drury Lane. It was demolished by the London County Council in around 1901, as part of redevelopment bisected by new street Aldwych, the east of which mimics its course, in a curved way so taking up land buildings stood on, and these works created Kingsway.
Clare Market is a historic area in central London located within the parish of St Clement Danes to the west of Lincoln's Inn Fields, between the Strand and Drury Lane, with Vere Street adjoining its western side. It was named after the food market which had been established in Clement's Inn Fields, by John Holles, 2nd Earl of Clare. Much of the area and its landmarks were immortalised by Charles Dickens in The Old Curiosity Shop, The Pickwick Papers, Barnaby Rudge and Sketches by Boz.
John Russell (1620–1687) was an English soldier and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1641 to 1644. He fought in the Royalist army during the English Civil War.
Tavistock Street is a street in the Covent Garden area of London which runs parallel to the Strand between Drury Lane and Southampton Street just south of the market piazza.
The Old Bell is a Grade II listed public house at 16 Exeter Street and 23 Wellington Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2.
The Nell Gwynne Tavern is a Grade II listed public house at 1–2 Bull Inn Court, Covent Garden, London, WC2.
The Cheshire Cheese is a public house at 5 Little Essex Street, London WC2, on the corner with Milford Lane.
Milford Lane is a narrow street in the City of Westminster that runs from Strand in the north to a brief walkway section leading to Temple Place in the south. It is joined by Little Essex Street and Essex Street on its eastern side. Maltravers Street once joined the lane to Arundel Street, but ceased to exist when building work at 190 Strand was completed.
This is a list of the etymology of street names in the London district of Covent Garden. Covent Garden has no formally defined boundaries – those utilised here are: Shaftesbury Avenue to the north-west, New Oxford Street and High Holborn to the north, Kingsway and the western half of the Aldwych semi-circle to the east, Strand to the south and Charing Cross Road to the west.
Media related to Catherine Street at Wikimedia Commons
51°30′44.54″N0°7′11.49″W / 51.5123722°N 0.1198583°W
 | This London location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |