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Covent
Garden Market & Piazza
At
the heart of the Covent Garden piazza lies the famous
market, designed in 1632 by Inigo Jones and now
visited by 30 million tourists each year. The large
glass covered building comprises several arcades
of fashionable boutiques, cafés and an arts
and crafts, the Apple
Market.
In the open piazza jugglers, mime artists, variety
acts and musicians delight and amaze the crowds.
Restaurants, cafés and bars line the piazza,
offering great views of this daily spectacle.
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Street
Entertainers
Today, the Street Performers of Covent Garden
perform finely crafted shows, derived from
years of training and practicing the art,
both here in London and all over the world.
Far from being entirely reliant on foreign
tourist audiences, they are a well established
and appreciated part of the London community.
The West Piazza is known as being a pitch
capable of gathering a large crowd. As well
as local performers, Covent Garden has an
`open pitch’ policy towards visiting
performers and during summer is host to performers
from around the world.
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History
Now one of London's most popular tourist attractions,
for much of its existence Covent Garden served
as a fruit and vegetable market - the largest
in England - which covered the whole of the
square and occupied many of the buildings.
The wholesale produce has now moved to New
Covent Garden Market in south London and
the original site has been transformed beyond
all recognition.
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Royal
Opera House
The Royal Opera House, just off the north piazza,
was built in 1809 on the site of a theatre dating
back to 1732.
A fire destroyed that building in 1857 but it was
replaced within a year by the present House which,
after two year's renovation, reopened in 2000 to
high acclaim.
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Restaurants,
Pubs and Bars
A string of restaurants and cafés stretch
out around Covent Garden piazza and the streets
beyond with a choice of cuisine from around
the globe.
Use Coventgardenlife.com to book online direct
into the restauratn's diary with realtime
confirmation. Also enjoy exclusive online
offers at selected restaurants. We
continually add new restaurants, pubs and
bars to our listing. All our venues have been
screened for value, service and cuisine.
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