Covent Garden's Local Business Scene

Covent Garden's business character is inseparable from its history as a market district - and from the very real fight, within living memory, to stop that history being demolished.

London's first modern square

The Piazza at the heart of Covent Garden was laid out by the architect Inigo Jones in the 17th century - widely considered London's first modern, planned square, and the area has been a commercial and market centre in some form ever since, in the City of Westminster.

Saved from redevelopment, not just preserved by accident

By the late 1960s, Covent Garden's historic market buildings faced a genuine threat of large-scale demolition and redevelopment. A sustained local campaign fought this off, and the area was designated a conservation area in 1971 - the businesses trading around the Piazza and Covent Garden Market today exist in buildings that were actively saved, not simply left alone by chance.

A dense, walkable business mix

Today's Covent Garden supports an unusually dense concentration of independent retail, hospitality, theatre and creative businesses within a genuinely small area, well served by Covent Garden station on the Piccadilly line - and sits within easy walking distance of Soho, Holborn and the Strand, each with a noticeably different business character of its own.

Still a working market at heart

Despite the area's obvious tourism draw, Covent Garden Market itself continues to host independent traders much as it always has - the area's business identity has genuinely evolved rather than simply becoming a preserved museum piece.

Explore what's operating locally today via businesses listed in Covent Garden, London on Adsquare.