Seven Dials Covent Garden is a unique quarter of London whose star-shaped layout remains as constructed in the early 1690s. By 1974 the Seven Dials area was in a state of dereliction. It was brought back to life largely through the dedication of the Seven Dials Trust, working in partnership with the local authorities and landowners for nearly forty years.

The Trustees were very sad indeed to learn that Gordon Taylor has passed away at the age of 95. Gordon was our astronomer when we planned the reconstruction of the Sundial Pillar at Seven Dials and his work involved the detailed calculations for the dial faces and orientation of the Pillar which can be seen on our Orientating for Sundial Time page.

The Seven Dials Trust is complying with government advice and all our projects requiring in-person contact are currently on hold.

In the meantime, we continue to work on those things which can be done in isolation, including the Seven Dials Renaissance Study and our company website.

We were deeply saddened to hear of the death of Trust Patron Frank Dobson. Frank was a great supporter of the Trust and our work over many years. His wit and many words of advice will be missed by us all.

Trust chairman David Bieda says: “We were close friends for almost 50 years, and I shall miss his friendship, wit and wide-ranging knowledge.” 

The Trust has created a new exhibition titled 'Seven Dials Renaissance 1971–2019' to celebrate the conservation & regeneration of Seven Dials and Covent Garden since 1971.

We’re delighted to have received sponsorship for two People’s Plaques through Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s locally-based companies, The Really Useful group and LW Theatres Group Ltd.

You may have noticed the work currently going on in Neal Street to replace the large number of differing street lights with the Trust’s Covent Garden Lantern^® and bracket – extending the scheme of façade lights in Seven Dials – the first phase of which was completed in 2014 – to the surrounding areas. 

Just before Christmas 2018 we installed the first of the Seven Dials History Plaques – in Earlham Street, Short’s Gardens, Mercer Street and on The Dials.

The Trust's latest People's Plaque was unveiled on 26th July. Aptly, in this year of celebrating women's suffrage, it commemorates two pioneering women - Zepherina Veitch and Dame Rosalind Paget DBE, ARRC. The plaque is sited at what is now The Hospital Club, in Endell Street, which was the British Lying-In Hospital (London's first dedicated maternity hospital), built in 1849 and operational until 1913. This is where both Veitch and Paget, already nurses, trained as midwives.

We're delighted that Westminster City Council has chosen to sponsor one of the Trust's People's Plaques, through funding from  the St James' Ward Fund. The plaque chosen celebrates Aldridge's Horse Bazaar, whose extensive premises occupied the site on Upper St Martin's Lane which is now occupied by Orion House and Meridian House.

The long-awaited works to Earlham Street West, between Shaftesbury Avenue and The Dials, were completed just before Christmas. The scheme, which was funded by Shaftesbury plc, is aimed at improving what is seen as a main pedestrian gateway into Seven Dials and beyond to Covent Garden, destined to become even busier once the new Cross Rail station at Tottenham Court Road opens in December 2018.

The Trust is delighted to have been shortlisted for the 2017 Camden Design Awards for its lighting scheme. Over 100 projects were submitted for consideration and we're very proud to be on a shortlist which includes prestigious projects such as The Bartlett School of Architecture; Google's new HQ at King's Cross; and Lauderdale House.