This busy Westminster neighbourhood sits just to the south of some of London’s most popular tourist attractions. To the north, lies the sprawling St James’s Park, Green Park, and Hyde Park, which themselves include Buckingham Palace, and border the famous neighbourhood of Mayfair. Within this area itself sit Victoria Palace Theatre, Portland House, and a cluster of high street shops, bars and restaurants within a large, modern development. Surrounded by glass skyscrapers, the area’s main thoroughfares are Victoria Street and Bressenden Place, though for those not travelling by taxi, Victoria station is just to the south. The neighbourhood is far from residential, with the majority of those who occupy the locality on a daily basis spending the majority of their time in one of the numerous office blocks.

The area, dubbed the ‘Devil’s Acre’ by Charles Dickens, once formed part of the parish of St George Hanover Square. Cardinal Place, which today plays host to numerous high street chain stores, was the site of a huge brewery called the Stag Brewery. It began as a small brewhouse in the early 17th century, but it grew substantially over the following decades. It was purchased by Watney & Co. who built lodgings around it and employed a vast number of staff. Victoria Street was constructed after the demolition of one of London’s most notorious slums in 1851, followed by Victoria station in 1860.

The renowned architect, Archibald Leitch (1865-1939), had offices in the area at 53 Victoria Street. Sadly, the remains of these offices are long gone. Leitch is best-known for his work designing football stadiums such as Craven Cottage, Anfield, Stamford Bridge, Old Trafford, and White Hart Lane.

Like many areas that are similar to this neighbourhood, North Victoria can get incredibly busy during peak tourist season, not only on the pavements but also on the roads. It also tends to get rather polluted with the numerous busy roads that traverse the neighbourhood.

The whole area of Victoria is a designated ‘Opportunity Area’ in the Mayor’s London Plan. With excellent transport links to accommodate commercial and residential growth, the locality is set to see some ongoing transformations over the next decade. As part of the ongoing imporvements, it was announced that the main Victoria station will be receiving a £30 million upgrade, intended to start work on enhancing its capacity and improving its accessibility. More ticket barriers will be placed and the halls expanded to accommodate the increased number of users and passengers the station is now serving. Food halls and outlets will be removed but new outlets will be constructed on platform level elsewhere to compensate. In addition, newer developments have already been completed adjacent to the station, to provide more office, retail and commercial, as well as residential space.

Victoria Nova, which was completed in 2017 and strategically located beside the station, is expecting another building to be added to the block, as part of owner Land Securities’ n2 scheme. The Nova development as a whole is set across 897,000 sq ft. and three buildings – Nova North, Nova South and The Nova Building. Nova Food, which is two minutes from Victoria station, features 17 restaurants and three pop-up kiosks. The n2 scheme will be the next addition in the Nova portfolio, with office space with a terrace on each floor, opening-up the public realm and connecting Nova to Cardinal Place.