Leisure and entertainment

See also: List of annual events in London and West End theatre

Piccadilly Circus

Within the City of Westminster, the entertainment district of the West End has its focus around Leicester Square, where London and world film premieres are held, and Piccadilly Circus, with its giant electronic advertisements. London's theatre district is here, as are many cinemas, bars, clubs and restaurants, including the city's Chinatown district (in Soho), and just to the east is Covent Garden, an area housing speciality shops. The United Kingdom's Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Royal Opera and English National Opera are based in London and perform at the Royal Opera House, the London Coliseum, Sadler's Wells Theatre and the Royal Albert Hall as well as touring the country.

Islington's 1 mile (1.6 km) long Upper Street, extending northwards from the Angel, has more bars and restaurants than any other street in the United Kingdom.^[219] Europe's busiest shopping area is Oxford Street, a shopping street nearly 1 mile (1.6 km) long, making it the longest shopping street in the United Kingdom. Oxford Street is home to vast numbers of retailers and department stores, including the world-famous Selfridges flagship store.^[220] Knightsbridge, home to the equally renowned Harrods department store, lies to the southwest.

London is home to designers Vivienne Westwood, Galliano, Stella McCartney, Manolo Blahnik, and Jimmy Choo among others; its renowned art and fashion schools make it an international centre of fashion alongside Paris, Milan and New York. London offers a great variety of cuisine as a result of its ethnically diverse population. Gastronomic centres include the Bangladeshi restaurants of Brick Lane and the Chinese food restaurants of Chinatown.^[221]

There is a variety of annual events, beginning with the relatively new New Year's Day Parade, fireworks display at the London Eye, the world's second largest street party, the Notting Hill Carnival is held during the late August Bank Holiday each year. Traditional parades include November's Lord Mayor's Show, a centuries-old event celebrating the annual appointment of a new Lord Mayor of the City of London with a procession along the streets of the City, and June's Trooping the Colour, a formal military pageant performed by regiments of the Commonwealth and British armies to celebrate the Queen's Official Birthday.^[222]

Sports

Main article: Sport in London

Centre Court at the All England Club hosting a 2010 Wimbledon Championships match

London has hosted the Summer Olympics twice, in 1908 and 1948.^[228][229] In July 2005 London was chosen to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012, which will make it the first city in the world to host the Summer Olympics three times.^[21] London was also the host of the British Empire Games in 1934.^[230] London will host the 2017 World Championships in Athletics.^[231] London's most popular sport is football and it has fourteen League football clubs, including five in the Premier League: Arsenal, Chelsea, Fulham, Queens Park Rangers and Tottenham Hotspur.^[232]

London also has four rugby union teams in the Aviva Premiership (London Irish, Saracens, Wasps and Harlequins), although only the Harlequins play in London (all the other three now play outside Greater London, although Saracens still play within the M25).^[233] The other two professional rugby union teams in the city are second division clubs London Welsh and London Scottish, that play home matches in the city. The city has other very traditional rugby union clubs, famously Richmond F.C., Rosslyn Park F.C., Westcombe Park R.F.C. and Blackheath F.C..

Wembley Stadium viewed from Wembley Way

There are currently three professional rugby league clubs in London – London Broncos who play in the European Super League at The Stoop and the Championship One side the London Skolars (based in Wood Green, London Borough of Haringey) Hemel Stags based in Hemel Hempstead, north of London will play in the Championship One from 2013.

From 1924, the original Wembley Stadium was the home of the English national football team, and served as the venue for the FA Cup final as well as rugby league's Challenge Cup final.^[234] The new Wembley Stadium serves exactly the same purposes and has a capacity of 90,000.^[235] Twickenham Stadium in south-west London is the national rugby union stadium, and has a capacity of 84,000 now that the new south stand has been completed.^[236]

Cricket in London is served by two Test cricket grounds Lord's (home of Middlesex C.C.C.) in St John's Wood^[237] and the Oval (home of Surrey C.C.C.) in Kennington.^[238] Lord's has hosted four finals of the Cricket World Cup. One of London's best-known annual sports competitions is the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, held at the All England Club in the south-western suburb of Wimbledon.^[239] Other key events are the annual mass-participation London Marathon which sees some 35,000 runners attempt a 26.2 miles (42.2 km) course around the city,^[240] and the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race on the River Thames between Putney and Mortlake.^[241]