London is packed with firsts, from the world’s first underground railway, which opened between today’s Paddington and Farringdon Street in 1863, to the world’s first traffic island, unveiled in 1845. Urban legend maintains that its creator, a Colonel Pierpoint, built it to ensure road safety as he stumbled in and out of his club, and was run over and killed by a horse-drawn carriage on the first day it was unveiled, but it’s not clear this is 100% true.
With London having existed for more than 2,000 years, it’s the site of a bewildering array of world ‘firsts’, from the sublime to the absurd - here’s a few of the best.
1. 1910 Sicilian Avenue
Alongside the nearby Woburn Walk, Sicilian Avenue was a pioneering purpose-built pedestrian street in London, a British first and among the first in Europe. Sicilian Avenue delivered a splash of slightly artificial Mediterranean romance in a snug diagonal between Bloomsbury and Holborn - with architectural flourishes in Italian marble and white terracotta, it conjured images of Classical Rome and an Italy that may never have existed. As it reopens in 2026, pedestrianisation is still a hit, particularly amongst the young, with 67% of Gen Zs saying they are more likely to choose a cafe on a pedestrianised street.
2. 1819 Burlington Arcade
A pioneering ‘shopping mall’ which set the tone for today’s luxury outlets, Burlington Arcade is guarded by its own police force - the burgundy-suited Beadles, who were originally drawn from builder Lord George Cavendish’s own regiment to guard the luxury stores within.
3. 1889 The Savoy
Many of the ‘luxuries’ we consider a standard part of hotel life made their debut (in Britain at least) in the luxurious Savoy, which still caters to a well-heeled clientele just off London’s strand. The Savoy (funded by profits from Gilbert and Sullivan opera productions) was the first hotel in Britain with electric lights, electric lifts and other then-unheard-of luxuries such as on-demand hot and cold running water.
4. 1889 Traffic Lights, Westminster Bridge
The world’s first traffic lights - designed by railway engineer John Peake Knight, also behind the first emergency brake cord for trains and the first ‘safety carriages’ for women travellers - were unveiled near London’s Westminster Bridge in December 1889. The 22-foot-tall gas-lamp-powered lights were a revolutionary idea, but then a gas lamp exploded, burning a policeman, and the idea was abandoned for 40 years.
5. 1898, First Escalator, Harrods
It's quite possible that modern visitors would not recognise the world's first escalator as being the same thing as the moving staircases we all routinely ride today - it was made from woven leather and worked like an angled conveyor belt, and was so disorienting to customers that staff members waited at the top with cognac (for men) and smelling salts (for women) in case they were 'overcome' with the new sensation.
Sicilian Avenue Graph - How much more or less likely are you to choose a restaurant or cafe in a pedestrianised street than one with traffic? Gen Z