Leonard Bentley
Piccadilly Circus: 1904
This is a postcard published by the Valentine Company and printed in Great Britain, an early example of home production. The photograph was taken in early summer 1904 and the view is looking east across Piccadilly Circus and down Coventry Street, the Circus is devoid of its famous advertising signs, they were to come in 1908 with the “Perrier” advertisement, except for two modest signs. The Spaten Brewery was and still is a Munich based company now owned by the Anheuser-Busch group, it appears that German Lager was popular in Edwardian London. The other sign on the window of No.3 Shaftesbury Avenue is for Juno Cycles, their retail premises at this location was six years old at this time and their factory was in Bishopsgate, EC2 where pedal cycles were manufactured by the Metropolitan Machinists’ Co. Ltd. The company had been in business since the 1860s and innovated many features of the modern pedal cycle including the diamond frame, they later produced a limited number of motorcycles. The bus in the foreground is advertising “The Fairy’s Dilemma” playing at the Garrick Theatre, it began its ninety-performance run in early May. It was a comedy written by W.S. Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan fame, it was one of his last productions.
Piccadilly Circus: 1904
This is a postcard published by the Valentine Company and printed in Great Britain, an early example of home production. The photograph was taken in early summer 1904 and the view is looking east across Piccadilly Circus and down Coventry Street, the Circus is devoid of its famous advertising signs, they were to come in 1908 with the “Perrier” advertisement, except for two modest signs. The Spaten Brewery was and still is a Munich based company now owned by the Anheuser-Busch group, it appears that German Lager was popular in Edwardian London. The other sign on the window of No.3 Shaftesbury Avenue is for Juno Cycles, their retail premises at this location was six years old at this time and their factory was in Bishopsgate, EC2 where pedal cycles were manufactured by the Metropolitan Machinists’ Co. Ltd. The company had been in business since the 1860s and innovated many features of the modern pedal cycle including the diamond frame, they later produced a limited number of motorcycles. The bus in the foreground is advertising “The Fairy’s Dilemma” playing at the Garrick Theatre, it began its ninety-performance run in early May. It was a comedy written by W.S. Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan fame, it was one of his last productions.