Old Street Roundabout

Urban sculpture / advertising hoarding in the centre of Old Street roundabout. From the south side of the roundabout, looking north.

Old Street Roundabout is located on the boundary of the London Borough of Hackney and the London Borough of Islington, and is an interchange system at the junction of Old Street and City Road. The area surrounding the roundabout is often colloquially known as Silicon Roundabout, owing to the prominence of British web-based companies and the nearest church is St John's Hoxton.

Connections

Old Street Roundabout in the direction of Angel, Holloway and King's Cross in North London

City Road heads south from the roundabout towards the City of London, and to the Moorgate and Liverpool Street railway stations. City Road also heads into north London, towards Angel, King's Cross, St Pancras and Euston. This area lies in the London congestion charge zone.

Old Street heads west towards central London and the West End. Old Street also heads into the East End and the London Borough of Hackney, towards Shoreditch and Dalston.

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]

Old Street station

Ticket hall of Old Street station.

Old Street Station is below Old Street Roundabout; it is served by the Northern Line (Bank branch) of the London Underground, and by First Capital Connect trains.

Silicon Roundabout

See also: East London Tech City

The roundabout at the junction of City Road and Old Street is known as the Silicon Roundabout, owing to the high number of web businesses located in the immediate area, and as a reference to Silicon Valley, California. The term was coined by Dopplr.com CTO Matt Biddulph on Twitter.^[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 7 story building just off of Silicon Roundabout. There has been no confirmation as to what Google will be using this building for, nor details of any potential job openings in that area at present.^[7]

Cycling accidents

The Old Street roundabout is a notorious hot spot for severe cycling accidents. According to Charlie Lloyd of London Cycling Campaign, the junction is among the top three in London for accidents involving cyclists.^[8] Within a few days in February 2011 alone, two cyclists were severely injured in collisions involving lorries on or very close to the roundabout.^[9][10] In another crash with a lorry in 2008 a cyclist suffered severe leg injuries which the police described as "potentially life-changing".^[11] Cycling activists are calling the roundabout "the junction of death",^[12] although it is not known that fatal accidents have happened here in recent years. Cycling activists recommend that cyclists avoid Old Street Roundabout, by using either Leonard Street (east-west direction), Bath Street (northbound) or Wellesley Terrace/Mora Street/Lever Street (southbound).

References

1. ^ The Open Guide to London wiki
2. ^ London's Holy Wells
3. ^ 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. 
4. ^ "Silicon Roundabout". The Economist: pp. 63–64. November 27, 2010. 
5. ^ 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. 
6. ^ "London's Silicon Roundabout". Wired Magazine. 29 January 2010. http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2010/02/start/silicon-roundabout. 
7. ^ Lords Of The Ring: The Tech Titans of Silicon Roundabout The Independent Newspaper, 1 October 2011
8. ^ 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. 
9. ^ 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. 
10. ^ 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. 
11. ^ "Old Street roundabout accident: "Life-changing injury"". http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Uk/uk.rec.cycling/2008-06/msg00876.html. Retrieved 25.03.2011. 
12. ^ "Old Street roundabout Junction Of Death". http://www.cyclingcrowd.com/Uwe/Forum.aspx/uk-bicycle/20454/Old-Street-roundabout-Junction-Of-Death. Retrieved 25.03.2011. 

Coordinates: 51°31′33″N 0°05′15″W / 51.5257°N 0.0875°W / 51.5257; -0.0875