London Trocadero

The London Trocadero is a former entertainment complex on Coventry Street, with a rear entrance in Shaftesbury Avenue, London. It was originally built in 1896 as a restaurant, which closed in 1965. In 1984, the complex reopened as an exhibition and entertainment space. It became known for the video-game oriented SegaWorld attractions which were added in 1996, and later downscaled and renamed to "Funland" before its closure in 2011. Part of the building was opened as a hotel in 2020.

The complex incorporates separate historic London buildings, including the old London Pavilion Theatre (a former venue for the Palace of Varieties), the New Private Subscription Theatre, the Royal Albion Theatre, the Argyll Subscription Rooms, the Eden Theatre and the Trocadero Restaurant.

The name Trocadero indirectly derives from the Battle of Trocadero in 1823, through the Palais du Trocadéro in Paris, named after the French victory. Since at least 1919, the Trocadero has been abbreviated to the Troc or Chicarito, and under that name it appears in a poem by John Betjeman.[1]

History

Original venue (1896–1965)

The Trocadero Restaurant of J. Lyons and Co. opened in 1896 on a site on Coventry Street, near the theatres of the West End, which had been formerly occupied by the Argyll Rooms, where wealthy men hired prostitutes. A one time maître d'hôtel of the Trocadero was French-born Raymond Monbiot, great-grandfather of the journalist and environmentalist George Monbiot.

The new settings were done in an Opera Baroque style, and the various Trocaderos of the English-speaking world have derived their names from this original, the epitome of grand Edwardian catering. Murals on Arthurian themes decorated the grand staircase, and the Long Bar catered to gentlemen only. During World War I, the Trocadero initiated the first "concert tea": tea was served in the Empire Hall, accompanied by a full concert programme. After the war, cabaret was a feature of the Grill Room. The Trocadero closed on 13 February 1965.

Relaunched leisure space (1984–1996)

In 1984, the Trocadero was redeveloped as a tourist-orientated entertainment, cinema and shopping complex. Providing 450,000 sqft of leisure space, it was the largest leisure scheme in the United Kingdom at the time; only being matched 19 years later by the similar sized

External links

Official website:
Trocadero Restaurant launch, early days and banquets
History of the London Trocadero with archive images

References

Jocelyn Brooke, John Betjeman, Chapter 3, Poems online at ourcivilisation.com, accessed 15 May 2013^
Kenny Kemp. How the Westway was won by tycoon Sunday Herald, 10 February 2002, retrieved 26 August 2008^
Ted. Fun Is Infinite: The rise and fall of the London Trocadero and Sega World

Redevelopment plans (2012–present)

A new plan for a 583-bedroom hotel including "pod rooms", apartments, shops and a rooftop bar was approved by Westminster City Council in August 2012.[7] In March 2014, Criterion announced plans to open a TK Maxx in the centre, 5 years after it was blocked by the Crown Estate.[8]

The locked entrance and a handful of left-over arcade games and attractions remained in a much quieter, emptier Trocadero centre with spaces at basement level for street dancers. Despite some online articles indicating that the venue would permanently close on 25 February 2014,[9] only a few areas were removed and others remained open while renovation and plans to build the hotel continued.[10] The Cineworld cinema closed on 21 September 2014 and was replaced by a new Picturehouse cinema called Picturehouse Central, which opened on 19 June 2015.[11]

Plans were submitted in May 2020 to develop parts of the building's basement into a mosque[12] but were later withdrawn in the wake of comments from the public voicing concerns over increased traffic and a place of worship being incongruous with the area's reputation for nightlife.[13] After further delays and changes of plan, Criterion opened the hotel in 2020: the Zedwell Piccadilly has 728 windowless rooms and a large rooftop bar.[14][15]

In 2023, Asif Aziz's plan to convert a part of it into a mosque was approved by the Westminster City Council's planning committee. According to the plans, the site will also hold 'interfaith meetings'. The site will be able to hold 250 worshippers in the lower basement area and 140 in the upper one, for a total capacity of 390, which is far lower than the capacity of the plan proposed originally. Some critics have expressed concern over the mosque's location near various nightlife establishments.[16][17]

In October 2025 it was announced that Westminster City Council had granted planning permission for a £40 million refurbishment that would create a casino and leisure centre within the building, with an entrance at 13 Coventry Street. The project proposed by Genting UK will redevelop 37,000 square feet of the interior, including the vacant restaurant space on the first floor previously occupied by Bubba Gump and the vacant former nightclub, Opium, in the basement. The complex will cater for 1,250 customers and create 350 new jobs in hospitality for Londoners, from entry-level to management. [18]