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Heddon Street
Heddon Street as it is today with nine restaurants

David Bowie album cover site gets a £1.5m revamp

Miranda Bryant
11 Aug 2009


The back-alley street made famous by a David Bowie album cover has undergone a £1.5 million revamp.

Heddon Street, which featured on the cover of Bowie's landmark 1972 album The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, is barely recognisable after a multi-million-pound revamp to improve the Regent Street area.

Developers say the pavement, previously lined with parked cars, now has alfresco dining space for up to 6,000 diners at a time in its nine restaurants. The album photograph shows Bowie as “Ziggy”, an alien rock star who came to earth to tell human beings they had only five years left to live.

David Bowie Ziggy Stardust
David Bowie’s 1972 concept album
The old street lamp and K.West sign that appear on the cover have been removed from the site. The red phone box that featured on the back cover image is thought to have been auctioned off in the late Seventies, but developers say its replacement has survived.

The road has been tiled and the area dotted with olive trees as part of a £750 million scheme for the area. Robert Davis, deputy leader of Westminster council, said: “The West End is changing for the better.”

When Bowie revisited Heddon Street in 1993 he was shocked by how much the area had changed. “Everything's gone,” he told Rolling Stone magazine.

Reader views (3)

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Heddon Street is lucky to be recognized with one of the most influential Rock albums of all time.
David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust Album.

Therefore why can't someone organize;
- A brass plaque to remember this historic site.
- Framed print of Ziggy Stardust Album cover.
- Replica of the old street lamp and K.West sign.
- Bring back a phone booth similar to the original.

- Stefan, Perth, Australia, 01/01/2011 15:44
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the street may have changed the history remains and the album will still remain a classic.heddon street freak out far out in out.

- Paul Osborne, splott cardiff, 14/09/2009 11:24
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I wish they would have left the street alone:(

- Monica, Pendleton, U.S.A., 12/08/2009 16:45
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