Detective Shaw’s London: old New Scotland Yard

Book locations, episode 1

In common use the term Scotland Yard is another way to define the Metropolitan Police of London, also called Met, which has jurisdiction over the area called Greater London (excluding the City, which has its own police), but it actually means the building where it is based, the full name of which is New Scotland Yard, often referred to simply as the Yard. This denomination originates from the address of the first police headquarters in Great Scotland Yard (1829), although the main entrance was at 4 Whitehall, and followed the moves first to Victoria Embankment (1890), with the addition of the adjective “New”, then to Broadway (1967) and finally again to Victoria Embankment (from 2016).

In the previous headquarters of the London police there was the famous rotating sign (see images), which had become a real tourist attraction (in fact I too could not resist the temptation to take a picture in front of it in the 2011). But the building at 10 Broadway was abandoned by the Metropolitan Police in late 2016. It had, in fact, already been sold since 2014 to the Abu Dhabi Financial Group (ADFG), although it was still in use. As part of a real estate redevelopment for the police force, the headquarters was relocated, along with its rotating sign, to the Curtis Green Building (again on Victoria Embankment) after it underwent a refurbishment.