Carpenter's Coffee House

Benjamin Pollock's Toy Shop is a shop selling vintage and retro toys in London's Covent Garden. One of the oldest toy shops in London, it had its origins in Hoxton in 1851 before being taken over in 1877 by Benjamin Pollock, who ran it until his death in 1937. Coronation Street actor Peter Baldwin co-owned the shop from 1988 to his death in 2015. Located at 44 The Market Building, Benjamin Pollock's Toy Shop specialises in Victorian toy theatres, both original and reproduction, in addition to books, puppets, music boxes and other traditional toys.

The Rock Garden was a music venue located at 6/9 The Piazza, Covent Garden in London. Opening in 1976, the basement venue hosted thousands of live music acts and became popular with up-and-coming punk rock and new wave artists of the time. It has been widely reported that U2 played their first London gig at the venue and that Dire Straits had a weekly residency at the club for a number of months. The Smiths played their first ever London show at the Rock Garden on the 23 March 1983. Talking Heads played the band’s first UK gig at the Rock Garden on 13 May 1977. Other artists that performed at the venue include: Iron Maiden, The Police, XTC, Adam and The Ants, Patti Smith and Suede.In 1990s it become a nightclub and music venue called The Gardening Club. In August 2010, Apple opened an Apple Store across 1-7 The Piazza, Covent Garden on the former site of the Rock Garden restaurant and the Gardening Club.

Cabaret Mechanical Theatre is an English organisation that mounts exhibitions around the world of contemporary automata by a collective of artists. Founded by Sue Jackson, the group played a central role in the revival of automata from the 1970s onwards, and Jackson championed the idea of automata as a form of contemporary art.Cabaret Mechanical Theatre was started in 1979 in Falmouth, Cornwall, where Jackson encouraged local artists Peter Markey, Paul Spooner and Ron Fuller to manufacture automata for her craft shop, "Cabaret". The shop became an exhibition space and the collection moved to Covent Garden, central London, in 1984, remaining there until 2000 when rising rates forced it to close.Part of the Cabaret Mechanical Theatre collection remains on display at the American Visionary Arts Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.

Tom King's Coffee House (later known as Moll King's Coffee House) was a notorious establishment in Covent Garden, London in the mid-18th century. Open from the time the taverns shut until dawn, it was ostensibly a coffee house, but in reality served as a meeting place for prostitutes and their customers. By refusing to provide beds, the Kings ensured that they never risked charges of brothel-keeping, but the venue was nevertheless a rowdy drinking den and a favourite target for the moral reformers of the day.

The history of Anglo-Saxon London relates to the history of the city of London during the Anglo-Saxon period, in the 7th to 11th centuries. Romano-British Londinium had been abandoned in the late 5th century, although the London Wall remained intact. There was an Anglo-Saxon settlement by the early 7th century, called Lundenwic, about one mile west of Londinium, to the north of the present Strand. Lundenwic came under direct Mercian control in about 670. After the death of Offa of Mercia in 796, it was disputed between Mercia and Wessex. Viking invasions became frequent from the 830s, and a Viking army is believed to have camped in the old Roman walls during the winter of 871. Alfred the Great reestablished English control of London in 886, and renewed its fortifications. The old Roman walls were repaired and the defensive ditch was recut, and the old Roman city became the main site of population. The city now became known as Lundenburg, marking the beginning of the history of the City of London. Sweyn Forkbeard attacked London unsuccessfully in 996 and 1013, but his son Cnut the Great finally gained control of London, and all of England, in 1016. Edward the Confessor, the stepson of Cnut, became king in 1042. He built Westminster Abbey, the first large Romanesque church in England, consecrated in 1065, and the first Palace of Westminster. These were located just up-river from the city. Edward's death led to a succession crisis, and ultimately the Norman invasion of England.

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. The area was fields until briefly settled in the 7th century when it became the heart of the Anglo-Saxon trading town of Lundenwic, then abandoned at the end of the 9th century after which it returned to fields. By 1200 part of it had been walled off by the Abbot of Westminster Abbey for use as arable land and orchards, later referred to as "the garden of the Abbey and Convent", and later "the Convent Garden". Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries it was granted in 1552 by the young King Edward VI to John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford (c.1485–1555), the trusted adviser to his father King Henry VIII. The 4th Earl commissioned Inigo Jones to build some fine houses to attract wealthy tenants. Jones designed the Italianate arcaded square along with the church of St Paul's. The design of the square was new to London and had a significant influence on modern town planning, acting as the prototype for new estates as London grew.By 1654 a small open-air fruit-and-vegetable market had developed on the south side of the fashionable square. Gradually, both the market and the surrounding area fell into disrepute, as taverns, theatres, coffee-houses and brothels opened up. By the 18th century it had become notorious for its abundance of brothels. An Act of Parliament was drawn up to control the area, and Charles Fowler's neo-classical building was erected in 1830 to cover and help organise the market. The market grew and further buildings were added: the Floral Hall, Charter Market, and in 1904 the Jubilee Market. By the end of the 1960s traffic congestion was causing problems, and in 1974 the market relocated to the New Covent Garden Market about three miles (5 km) south-west at Nine Elms. The central building re-opened as a shopping centre in 1980 and is now a tourist location containing cafes, pubs, small shops, and a craft market called the Apple Market, along with another market held in the Jubilee Hall. Covent Garden falls within the London boroughs of Westminster and Camden and the parliamentary constituencies of Cities of London and Westminster and Holborn and St Pancras. The area has been served by the Piccadilly line at Covent Garden tube station since 1907; the 300 yard journey from Leicester Square tube station is the shortest in London.

The Avenue of Stars was a version of the Hollywood Walk of Fame in London, England. It opened in 2005 with one hundred names, and was a temporary installation to accompany a TV show to celebrate ITV's 50th birthday. The Avenue of Stars was a walkway through Covent Garden passing St Paul's Church, commonly known as the "Actors' Church". It honoured individuals or groups from the entertainment industry with notable achievements. As on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the individual or group was represented by a five-pointed star containing the name set into the walkway. To qualify for a star, the individual or group had to have been from the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, or a Commonwealth nation.The first inductee onto the Avenue of Stars was Jimmy Page, guitarist with Led Zeppelin. In 2006, all of the stars were removed, due to rapid deterioration and only the old flagstones are visible in the courtyard. American singer/songwriter Is'real Benton formed a U.S.-based eponymous foundation to restore the Walk of Fame.

Jubilee Market is located in Jubilee Hall in Covent Garden, London.The first market in Covent Garden piazza took place in 1654, and Jubilee Market was built in 1904, covering Tavistock Street, named after the then Duke of Bedford, Marquess of Tavistock. It is the only market in London to be wholly owned by traders, who took over the market to save it from bankruptcy. After a major renovation of the market itself, beginning in 1985 and lasting two years, Jubilee Market was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 5 August 1987, as commemorated by a headstone in the façade of the market. The market changes its wares during the week. Monday is entirely devoted to antiques, Tuesday to Thursday is the general market, while Saturday and Sunday are dedicated to arts and crafts items.

St Paul Covent Garden was a civil parish in the metropolitan area of London, England. The former area of the parish now corresponds to the Covent Garden market and surrounding streets in the City of Westminster.

Henrietta Street is a street in Covent Garden, London, that was once home to a number of artists and later became the location of many publishing firms.

Evans Music-and-Supper Rooms was an entertainment venue for music and singing in the early nineteenth century, located at 43 King Street, Covent Garden, London. The venue provided the type of entertainment which later evolved into music hall. What would later be known as the Evans Music and Supper Rooms was initially known as the Thomas Archer House. The house was built by Thomas Archer in 1712 for Admiral Edward Russell, the fourth Earl of Bedford's grandson. The House would later be sold to a man named Joy and turned into The Grand Hotel. Formerly the dining room of the Grand Hotel, a 'song and supper' room was established in the 1840s by W. H. Evans. It was also known as Evans Late Joy's, the venue previously being owned by a man named Joy. In 1842 the rooms were taken over by John Paddy Green, who had been one of Evans's entertainers. Green reconstructed the rooms and maintained their popular reputation. The room was 113 feet (34.4 m) long by 56 feet (17.1 m) wide.Evans' existed as the most popular song and supper room in the West End for some time during the late 1800s Entertainment was provided by choir boys singing madrigals and glees, followed by older comic singers such as Sam Cowell, Charles Sloman and Sam Collins. The patrons would eat, drink and talk at tables provided and participate in singalongs, sometimes of a "lewd" nature. A repeat performer there in the late 1870s was the comedian Arthur Roberts, who was known for his risqué act. In 1879, his performance of one of his "saucy" songs caused Evans's to lose its license for a year. The venue was patronised by William Makepeace Thackeray, who presented it (in a composite portrait with the Coal Hole and the Cyder Cellars, two nearby song-and-supper rooms) as "The Cave of Harmony" in his novel The Newcomes and as "The Back Kitchen" in Pendennis.Unlike the later music halls the patrons were male only, until the 1860s, when women were at last admitted. John Paddy Green said in an interview that women were not allowed in because they were uneducated. The venue closed in 1880, and in 1930 the upstairs rooms in the building were occupied by the Players' Theatre Club who wished to revive the music hall tradition. The cast became known as the "Late Joys" and have since provided old time music hall entertainment at a variety of other venues.

The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. The first theatre on the site, the Theatre Royal (1732), served primarily as a playhouse for the first hundred years of its history. In 1734, the first ballet was presented. A year later, the first season of operas, by George Frideric Handel, began. Many of his operas and oratorios were specifically written for Covent Garden and had their premieres there. The current building is the third theatre on the site, following disastrous fires in 1808 and 1856 to previous buildings. The façade, foyer, and auditorium date from 1858, but almost every other element of the present complex dates from an extensive reconstruction in the 1990s. The main auditorium seats 2,256 people, making it the third largest in London, and consists of four tiers of boxes and balconies and the amphitheatre gallery. The proscenium is 14.80 metres (48 ft 7 in) wide, with the stage of the same depth and 12.20 metres (40 ft 0 in) high. The main auditorium is a Grade I listed building.