This ‘soulless’ London area is getting a facelift — but not everyone’s happy

New plans have been unveiled for the future of 1 Embankment Place (Picture: Hopkins Architects)

At one point or another, most Londoners have probably found themselves wandering down Villiers Street, whether trying to speed walk through all the tourists or staggering back from a night spent at Heaven nightclub.

Now, though, the area surrounding it is set for a complete overhaul, as new plans have been unveiled for one of its most iconic buildings.

1 Embankment Place runs directly above Charing Cross station, which sits directly next to Villiers Street. While the new blueprints are still open to public consultation, Hopkins Architects has been charged with the task of giving the building – and the area just outside it – a bit of a facelift.

At the moment, the architects are hoping to give the shop spaces below the main office building a new look and improve the links out to spaces like Hungerford Bridge and Victoria Embankment Gardens.

This will no doubt be welcome news for anyone who’s tried to scramble their way through here at rush hour (along with the rest of the 86,000 people who make up the daily footfall of Villiers Street specifically).

The inside office space, which has exclusively been used by PwC since it first opened in the 1990s, will also be getting a new face, with extra outdoor terraces and improved desk layouts.

The new plans will be looking to upgrade the local businesses (Picture: Hopkins Architects)

As for the space below, the project team at 1 Embankment Place have told Metro the new plans will be looking to upgrade the existing shops and restaurants alike, which is set to be discussed with the current businesses.

Heaven, which sits under the arches and has formed a vital part of LGBTQ+ nightlife since the late 1970s, sits outside of the planning boundaries for 1 Embankment Place, and isn’t included in the plans.

However, there’s still potentially lengthy building work set to take place directly above it, which the team say will take several years to carry out should the planning application be approved this summer.

Centuries of history

There’s a reason Villiers Street is so iconic: it’s got centuries’ worth of history behind it. First of all, it’s home to what’s believed to be London’s oldest wine bar: Gordon’s, which has stood in the same place since 1890.

These days, it still serves wine straight from the cask, and it’s managed to retain that centuries-old feel, with the original facade still intact. Plus, the bar is still owned and operated by the Gordon family.

A couple of doors down, Rudyard Kipling, who famously penned The Jungle Book, lived at number 43 between 1889 and 1891. In 1957, English Heritage placed a blue plaque on the wall, commemorating his time there.

As for the building itself, it has a strong place in the area’s history, as Hungerford House – which was the original building taking up the plot that’s now known as 1 Embankment Place – was mentioned in Samuel Pepys’ infamous diary in 1669.

It was damaged by another fire, a mere three years after it survived the Great Fire of London, and was subsequently pulled down and redeveloped as Hungerford Market. The House of Commons stepped in at this point and agreed that it needed a little bit of TLC, considering that it was decaying in the smoky aftermath.

In the 1800s, it was redeveloped as Hungerford Hall, which was again destroyed by fire, and finally, between 1989 and 1991, the building as we know it today came to fruition.

It was designed by Sir Terry Farrell, who was famously the architect behind the MI6 building next to Vauxhall Station. Following his death last year, his son, Max Farrell, is completing his vision for the site’s retrofit, which hopes to retain the character of the original design, but with a more modern feel.

Since it first opened, it’s only received one refurbishment – and that was more than 10 years ago, back in 2014.

The application is being submitted this summer, but if approved, it could take several years (Picture: Hopkins Architects)

So far, some of the early-stage feedback from the consultation has seen members of the public ask for clearer signage, more public seating, and more local businesses rather than tourist-centric options.

‘I quite like it the way it is’

At the moment, it’s fair to say visiting this central London neighbourhood comes with a mild sense of sensory overload. Sure, it might be a bit busy, but not everyone is thrilled with the current plans to tidy it up a bit.

Over on the r/London Reddit thread, @markvauxhall admitted: ‘To be honest, I quite like it the way it is.’ He added that he wasn’t sure this was an improvement, and believed it would make it ‘more soulless than today.’

@HomeConstant6123 largely agreed with this perspective, describing most of Zone 1 as ‘sterile.’ They said: ‘I like the dinginess.’

‘If you want to make that street nicer for people then stop trucks using it for deliveries during rush hour,’ @mattsparkes joked. @Wombletrap went one step further, suggesting: ‘Fully pedestrianising the street by closing the PwC car park entrance would be a good start. It’s only overcrowded when some a**hole tries to force a car through the pedestrians.’

‘Nothing like a bit more soullessness in the area to really tie it together,’ @gravitas_shortage said, while @Living_Initiative_26 hoped that this won’t mean any changes for the neighbouring Craven Street, which they described as a ‘rare island of relatively intact Georgian London.’

That’s not all that’s happening in this buzzy area.

Londoners, get ready to tick the Strand off your travel bucket list, because, according to The Telegraph, it’s one of the 20 streets you need to walk down in your lifetime.

If you’re a local, you might raise your eyebrows at such touristy hotspots, and instead favour a waltz down Crouch End Broadway, Islington’s Camden Passage, or Camberwell Church Street.

But nope, the Strand stands firm on the list. Sure, it’s right in the heart of the West End, but consider our eyebrows firmly raised at that one.

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