SICILIAN Avenue, known for its independent boutiques and location for huge blockbusters, will soon reopen.
The street in Holborn has undergone a huge £22million transformation and will be open for business this summer after being closed for five years.
The pedestrian shopping arcade has been closed to customers for years while the street has been undergoing major refurbishment.
The street runs diagonally between Southampton Row and Bloomsbury Way and is right next to Holborn tube station.
The pedestrian shopping arcade in London’s West End was initially designed by architect Robert Worley in 1906 and opened in 1910.
Inspired by Italy, hence the name ‘Sicilian’, the street has colonnades, turrets, and large bay windows which are being preserved throughout.
In 2020, the businesses on Sicilian Avenue closed with the Triangle Investment Group entering the refurbishment phase.
A spokesperson for Alchemy Asset Management, which has also been working on the project, said: “We have dealt with many challenges.
“However, due to its rich history and architectural elegance, the structural adaptation has been hugely worthwhile in terms of the fantastic product we have been able to create.”
Designs by MICA Architects reveal there will be a new tiled surface on the road and adds they will “reinstate the grandeur of the avenue”.
Illustrative designs show a busy Sicilian street with a new look, including a brand new floor and lots of retail spots.
For any fans of the old Sicilian Avenue, sadly none of the boutiques and restaurants that were originally there are returning, including the Holborn Whippet pub.
There are 12 commercial units available for lease on Sicilian Avenue but at the moment there’s no insight into which businesses will be filling them.
Currently, you can still walk through Sicilian Avenue, but it does appear very empty with work still underway.
The pedestrian street hasn’t just been home to boutiques and pubs, it’s also been used as a filming location for some iconic movies.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society starring Lily James Glen Powell filmed several scenes on Sicilian Avenue in 2018.
Being a period drama, they transformed the street to look like it was the 1940s.
Actress Gal Gadot and co-star Chris Pine also filmed on Sicilian Avenue for London scenes in the 2017 remake of Wonder Woman.
Here’s another shopping spot in London that we tested out, and it can save you hundreds of pounds.
And another overlooked shopping location in London that’s become a very cool neighbourhood with free shows and trendy bars.
Five Filming Locations Across The UK
Here are more locations in the UK that starred in some of the most famous movies...
Found in Cheshire, Lyme offers some of the most iconic scenes in film history. If I say Pride and Prejudice, you probably know already. Starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, the 1995 production of Pride and Prejudice was filmed in various locations across the UK. But for that very famous moment where Lizzie Bennet sees Mr Darcy emerge from the lake in what became a very see-through shirt.
The Eden Project is home to one of the biggest indoor rainforests and is known for its tropical climates – but not when it transformed into an ice palace. For Pierce Brosnan’s Die Another Day in 2002, the Eden Project became a frozen landscape.
For any fan of the classic movies, Saltram House in Plymouth is like stepping into a Jane Austen story. And it was in fact used to film the 1995 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility starring Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant and Kate Winslet. Saltram House in Devon became Norland Park, the estate that the Dashwood family had to give up.
This incredibly grand Georgian house in Buckingham has more than 300 years of history behind it, and it’s been the backdrop for plenty of movies. With sprawling gardens it’s no wonder movies picked it as the perfect spot. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which was the third instalment, saw Indiana head to Stowe, which was dressed as the Reichstag.
Another trip to save for a sunny day is to the Glencoe National Nature Reserve in Scotland – especially for Harry Potter fans. Not only is the landscape beautiful, but it was also transformed to be part of the wizarding world for almost all of the Harry Potter films. Most famously, it was the location for Hagrid’s hut which was specially built for filming.
