Tottenham Court Road: the changing fortunes of London's furniture street 1850-1950

London's Tottenham Court Road has long been associated with the furniture business, but had its heyday between 1850 and 1950. This paper considers the furniture business in this street through a mix of retail business history and urban geography. It will attempt to show why this particular 'furniture street' developed as it did. Considerations of the networks or clusters of businesses associated with furniture-making assist in the analysis. The nature of the furniture industry and trade in the immediate area and the history of particular stores in the street as exemplars of the processes are examined.