Piccadilly Circus, London 1977

Piccadilly Circus and the London Pavilion, London, 1977. This busy view across the circus shows the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain, with the winged figure popularly known as Eros, surrounded by red buses, a Farm Brand van and a passing open-top bus carrying a Johnnie Walker advert. On the right, Lillywhites is still dressed with decorative lighting and an Embassy cigarette sign, while beyond the fountain a tall billboard reads “Make someone happy with a phone call”. The most telling detail, though, is on the left, where the London Pavilion is wrapped in scaffolding. This was the year the building underwent a major transformation: its long-familiar illuminated adverts and neon signs, which had covered the façade for decades, were stripped away during restoration. Unlike earlier refurbishments, the signage was not put back, leaving the Pavilion’s original architecture visible once more, while the famous lights continued opposite on the advertising corner beyond Shaftesbury Avenue.