Old Street Roundabout
Old Street Roundabout is a roundabout located on the boundary of the London Borough of Hackney and the London Borough of Islington. It is an interchange system at the junction of Old Street and City Road. It is sometimes known as St. Agnes Well after the shopping centre beneath it, while the area surrounding the roundabout is often colloquially known as Silicon Roundabout, owing to the prominence of British web-based companies there.
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[edit] Connections
City Road heads south from the roundabout towards the City of London and Moorgate and Liverpool Street stations. It also diverts north towards Angel, King's Cross, St. Pancras and Euston. This area lies in the London congestion charge zone (CCZ).
Old Street heads west towards central London and the West End and eastbound towards the East End,Shoreditch and Dalston.
[edit] St. Agnes Well
The shopping complex in the underpass at the centre of the roundabout is named St. Agnes Well,[1] after an ancient well thought to have been located about 200 metres to the east, at the junction of Old Street and Great Eastern Street.[2]
[edit] Old Street station
Old Street station is located below Old Street Roundabout. It is served by the Bank branch of the London Underground Northern line and by First Capital Connect trains.
[edit] Silicon Roundabout
Old Street roundabout and the surrounding area is sometimes known as Silicon Roundabout owing to the high number of web businesses located there, and as a reference to Silicon Valley in California.[3][4][5]
Amongst the first technology companies located in the area were Dopplr, Last.fm, Consolidated Independent, Tinker.it, TweetDeck, Berg, Trampoline Systems, AMEE, Skimbit, Fotango, weartical.com, Songkick, Techlightenment, Poke London, Kizoom, BrightLemon, Redmonk, Moo, LShift and Livemusic. In 2010 there were 85 startup companies in the area.[6]
In addition to web companies, several games development firms are located in the area, including Sports Interactive.
On 28 September 2011 it was announced that Google had acquired a seven-storey building just off of Old Street roundabout. Google said that the building, in Bonhill Street, would host "a range of activities, such as speaker series, hackathons, training workshops and product demonstrations" in addition to providing workspace for new companies.[7]
[edit] Cycling accidents
Old Street roundabout has become somewhat notorious for cycling accidents. According the London Cycling Campaign, the junction is among the top-three in London for accidents involving cyclists.[8] Within a few days in February 2011 two cyclists were severely injured in collisions involving lorries on or very close to the roundabout.[9][10] In another collision involving a lorry in 2008 a cyclist suffered severe leg injuries which the police described as "potentially life-changing".[11]
[edit] References
- ^ The Open Guide to London wiki
- ^ London's Holy Wells
- ^ Bradshaw, Tim (July 29, 2008). "silicon-roundabout-is-this-the-heart-of-the-uks-new-dotcom-boom". Financial Times blog. http://blogs.ft.com/techblog/2008/07/silicon-roundabout-is-this-the-heart-of-the-uks-new-dotcom-boom/. Retrieved 2009-07-10.
- ^ "Silicon Roundabout". The Economist: pp. 63–64. November 27, 2010.
- ^ Prigg, Mark (July 30, 2008). "Roundabout is London's Answer to Silicon Valley". Evening Standard. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23523294-roundabout-is-londons-answer-to-silicon-valley.do. Retrieved 2009-07-10.
- ^ "London's Silicon Roundabout". Wired Magazine. 29 January 2010. http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2010/02/start/silicon-roundabout.
- ^ "Google Boosts London's Silicon Roundabout \date=28 September 2011". BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15088359.
- ^ Coleman, Jasmine (04.03.2011). "Safety concerns for cyclists on Old Street roundabout following crash". Hackney Gazette. http://www.hackneygazette.co.uk/news/safety_concerns_for_cyclists_on_old_street_roundabout_following_crash_1_820218. Retrieved 25.03.2011.
- ^ Coleman, Jasmine (24.02.2011). "Old Street crash: woman cyclist critically ill". Hackney Gazette. http://www.hackneygazette.co.uk/news/old_street_crash_woman_cyclist_critically_ill_1_811375. Retrieved 25.03.2011.
- ^ Marshall, Tom (16.02.2011). "Cyclist injured in City Road crash". Islington Gazette. http://www.islingtongazette.co.uk/news/cyclist_injured_in_city_road_crash_1_803472. Retrieved 25.03.2011.
- ^ "Old Street roundabout accident: "Life-changing injury"". http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Uk/uk.rec.cycling/2008-06/msg00876.html. Retrieved 25.03.2011.
