Queensway (London)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Queensway is a bustling cosmopolitan street in the Bayswater district of West London. It contains many restaurants (particularly Chinese, Arab and Mediterranean ones), pubs, letting agents, and high street stores. Near the northern end of the street is the multi-storey Whiteleys Shopping Centre, on the site of London's first department store, opened by William Whiteley in 1867. The store was awarded a Royal Warrant by Queen Victoria in 1896. The current building is from 1911.

This part of Bayswater was first developed as a residential suburb of London in the early nineteenth century. However, the road at its southern end (Bayswater Road) was a long established road across the countryside before this, and a road roughly following the present Queensway can be seen on early maps running north from Bayswater Road across fields under the name of Black Lion Lane. It was subsequently renamed Queen's Road in honour of Queen Victoria, who had been born at nearby Kensington Palace. This was a name somewhat lacking in distinctiveness, and for this reason the present name of Queensway was eventually substituted.

Both Bayswater tube station and Queensway tube station (formerly Queen's Road Station) are located on this street. An important painting of the latter by Walter Sickert can be seen here.