Seven Dials Covent Garden is a unique quarter of London whose star-shaped layout remains as constructed in the early 1690s. It was brought back to life largely through the dedication of the Seven Dials Trust, working in partnership with the local authorities and landowners for nearly forty years.

We were deeply saddened to hear of the death of our Founder Trustee and later Trust Patron Christina Smith OBE who passed away peacefully at home in Covent Garden on 11th March 2022. Christina was a proactive member of the Trust and our work over many years. Her presence and many words of wisdom will be missed by us all.

The Trust was commissioned by the Mercers’ Company to provide façade brackets for their festoon lighting in Neal Street. These elegant wall brackets are a smaller version of the wall brackets designed by trustee Paul Draper for our façade lanterns and thus match them.

The Trust was commissioned by the Mercers’ Company to provide the Covent Garden Lantern © for their new Mercers’ Walk development with a specially designed wall bracket. These lanterns have our specially designed Zeta LED within a ‘sugar bowl’ thus harnessing both current and 19c technology to maximise the light spread and reducing both carbon emissions and energy needs.

Camden have retrofitted the 51 Phase One lanterns in Seven Dials with our specially designed Zeta LED within a ‘sugar bowl’ thus harnessing both current and 19c technology to maximise the light spread and greatly reducing both carbon emissions and energy needs. Many thanks to Shaftesbury Plc for funding this project.

The Trust has worked with Camden, Shaftesbury Plc and the Covent Garden Community Association on major improvements to the end of Shaftesbury Avenue where it meets Neal Street. This is one of the key gateways into Seven Dials.

After a long delay due to the Pandemic we have installed the latest  sponsored People’s Plaques. Further information will follow when various delayed unveilings take place. If you are interested in sponsoring, or know someone who may be interested in sponsoring a plaque have a look at our brochure: Download the People’s Plaques Project Brochure.

For many years Paul and his partner, the artist Emanuele Gori, have spent part of the summer in Tropea in southern Italy. Tropea is built on a rock formation of cliffs with many buildings dating back centuries. Paul has been given the Freedom of the Municipality of Tropea for his extraordinary drawing.

The Trust was very sad to learn that Colin Smith, past MD of Comyn Ching has passed away. Comyn Ching were the oldest company in Seven Dials, established in 1700, and one of the country’s foremost architectural ironmongery companies.