View source for Scotland Yard

{{Short description|Headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service, Westminster, Greater London}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox building
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| address             = * 1829–1890: 4 Whitehall Place, [[St James's]], [[City of Westminster]] (with a public entrance in [[Great Scotland Yard]])<br/>
* 1890–1967: Norman Shaw Buildings, [[Victoria Embankment]], [[City of Westminster]]
* 1967–2016: 8–10 [[Broadway, London|Broadway]], [[City of Westminster]]
* 2016–present: [[New Scotland Yard (building)|New Scotland Yard]], [[Victoria Embankment]], [[City of Westminster]]
| location_city       = [[City of Westminster]], [[Greater London]]
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'''Scotland Yard''' (officially '''New Scotland Yard''') is the headquarters of the [[Metropolitan Police]], the [[territorial police force]] responsible for policing [[Greater London]]'s [[London boroughs|32 boroughs]], and several additional authorities throughout the United Kingdom. Its name derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 [[Whitehall Place]], which had its main public entrance on the [[Westminster]] street called [[Great Scotland Yard]].<ref name="definition1">{{cite web |url= http://www.met.police.uk/history/definition.htm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130703105844/http://www.met.police.uk/history/definition.htm |archive-date=3 July 2013 |url-status=dead |publisher= Metropolitan Police Service |title= History of the Metropolitan Police Service |access-date=22 March 2017}}</ref> The Scotland Yard entrance became the public entrance, and over time "Scotland Yard" came to be used not only as the common name of the headquarters building, but also as a [[metonym]] for the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) itself and police officers, especially detectives, who serve in it.<ref>{{cite book| last=Newton |first=Stephen Leslie |title=German/English Lexicographical Contrasts: City, Queen (quean), Yard |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=r2BMAQAAMAAJ |year=1992 |publisher=University of California, Berkeley |page=75}}</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote in 1964 that, just as [[Wall Street]] gave its name to New York's financial district, Scotland Yard became the name for police activity in London.<ref name=Farnsworth>{{cite news |last=Farnsworth |first=Clyde H. |title=Move is planned by Scotland Yard |work=The New York Times |date=15 May 1964 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1964/05/15/move-is-planned-by-scotland-yard.html |access-date=3 December 2015}}</ref>

The force moved from Great Scotland Yard in 1890, to a newly completed building on the [[Victoria Embankment]], and the name "New Scotland Yard" was adopted for the new headquarters.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Story of Soho: The Windmill Years 1932–1964 |isbn=978-1-445-60684-2 |page=104|last1=Hutton |first1=Mike |date=15 March 2012 }}</ref> An adjacent building was completed in 1906. A third building was added in 1940. In 1967 the MPS consolidated its headquarters from the three-building complex to a tall, newly constructed "New Scotland Yard" building on [[Broadway, London|Broadway]] in nearby [[Victoria, London|Victoria]]. In 2013, it was announced that the force would move again to the Victoria Embankment at Westminster's [[Curtis Green Building]], which following tradition was renamed "New Scotland Yard".<ref>{{cite news |title=New Metropolitan Police HQ announced as Curtis Green Building |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-22593003 |work=BBC News |date=20 May 2013 |access-date=22 May 2013}}</ref> This move to the latest New Scotland Yard was completed in 2016.<ref name=MetroPoliceStaffMove/><ref name=RoyalOpeningPostponed/>

==History==
The [[Metropolitan Police Service]] is responsible for law enforcement within [[Greater London]], excluding the square mile of the [[City of London]], which is covered by the [[City of London Police]], and also excluding the [[London Underground]] and [[National Rail]] networks, which are the responsibility of the [[British Transport Police]].

===4 Whitehall Place===
{{multiple image
| align             = left
| footer            = 8 and 9 Great Scotland Yard (far left, with clock), next to the [[Public Carriage Office]] (right) at 4 Whitehall Place, Westminster, London, and right, a commemorative [[blue plaque]] on the building now on the site of 4 Whitehall Place
| width             = 
| image1            = PublicCarriageOffice.jpg
| width1            = 200
| image2            = Scotland Yard.jpg
| width2            = 139
}}
The Metropolitan Police was formed by [[Robert Peel]] with the implementation of the [[Metropolitan Police Act 1829|Metropolitan Police Act]], passed by Parliament in 1829.<ref name="definition1"/> Peel, with the help of [[Eugène-François Vidocq]], selected the original site on Whitehall Place for the new police headquarters. The first two [[Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis|commissioner]]s, [[Charles Rowan]] and [[Richard Mayne]], along with various police officers and staff, occupied the building. Previously a private house, 4 Whitehall Place ({{coord|51.50598|-0.12609|display=inline|region:GB_scale:2000|name=Original Scotland Yard – 4 Whitehall Place}}) backed onto a street called [[Great Scotland Yard]]. The building now on the site of 4 Whitehall Place (the 1950s rear extension to the [[Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1066106?section=official-list-entry|title=GOVERNMENT OFFICES, MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE FISHERIES AND FOOD GOVERNMENT OFFICES, MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE FISHERIES AND FOOD WEST BLOCK|work=Historic England}}</ref>) still has a rear entrance on Great Scotland Yard. 

By 1887, the Metropolitan Police headquarters had expanded from 4 Whitehall Place into several neighbouring addresses, including 3, 5, 21 and 22 Whitehall Place and several stables, including one at 7 Great Scotland Yard still in use by the [[Metropolitan Police Mounted Branch|mounted branch]].<ref name="definition1"/> These also included buildings which fronted onto the north side of Great Scotland Yard, with the address of 8 and 9 Great Scotland Yard, sometimes shown on maps as a station or "police office" on [[Police_division#Metropolitan_Police_divisions,_1829–1999|A Division]] but actually used from 1842 as the central headquarters of the new [[History_of_the_Metropolitan_Police#1829–1859|Detective Branch]].<ref>[[John Moylan]], ''Scotland Yard and the Metropolitan Police'', 1929, pp. 93–4</ref> Those buildings were damaged in [[Fenian dynamite campaign|an 1884 Fenian bomb attack]] and are now lost under the former Central London Recruiting Office, which was acquired by [[hypermarket]]s operator [[Lulu Hypermarket|Lulu Group International]] in 2015 and reopened as a [[Hyatt]] luxury hotel four years later.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.standard.co.uk/insider/new-great-scotland-yard-hotel-a4308561.html |title=First look: Scotland Yard hotel opens after revamp |last=Ackerman |first=Naomi |date=9 December 2019 |work=Evening Standard |location= London  |access-date=8 February 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/england-united-kingdom/great-scotland-yard/lhrub |title=Great Scotland Yard Hotel |publisher=[[Hyatt]] |access-date=8 February 2020 |archive-date=29 January 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200129171320/https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/england-united-kingdom/great-scotland-yard/lhrub |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Victoria Embankment===
[[File:Old "New Scotland Yard", Westminster - geograph.org.uk - 1600086.jpg|thumb|left|The "New" Scotland Yard (built 1890 and 1906), now called the [[Norman Shaw Buildings]]; at the far right is the Curtis Green Building (white), which became New Scotland Yard in November 2016]]
In the 1880s the force decided that it had outgrown its original site, and moved to a new headquarters designed by architect [[Richard Norman Shaw]] ({{coord|51.50222|-0.12463|display=inline|region:GB_scale:2000|name=New Scotland Yard – Norman Shaw North Building (second location)}}) on the Victoria Embankment, overlooking the [[River Thames]], south of what is now the [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]]'s headquarters. In 1888, during the construction of the new building, workers discovered the dismembered torso of a female; the case, known as the '[[Whitehall Mystery]]', was never solved. In 1890, police headquarters moved to the new location, which was named New Scotland Yard. By this time, the Metropolitan Police had grown from its initial 1,000 officers to about 13,000 and needed more administrative staff and a bigger headquarters. Further increases in the size and responsibilities of the force required even more administrators and space. Therefore, new buildings were constructed and completed in 1906 and 1940, so that New Scotland Yard became a three-building complex. ({{coord|51.50183|-0.12446|display=inline|region:GB_scale:2000|name=Norman Shaw South Building (extension to New Scotland Yard)}}). The first two buildings are now a Grade I [[listed building|listed structure]] known as the [[Norman Shaw Buildings]].

===10 Broadway===
[[File:New Scotland Yard, Broadway.jpg|thumb|upright|The former New Scotland Yard building in Victoria Street]]
The headquarters of the Metropolitan Police were moved to 8–10 Broadway in 1967, in a new building constructed on a site that also bordered onto Victoria Street.

In 2008, the [[Metropolitan Police Authority]] (MPA) bought the [[Freehold (law)|freehold]] of 10 Broadway for around £120 million.<ref>{{cite news |title=Metropolitan Police to sell New Scotland Yard |first=Justin |last= Davenport |url= https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/metropolitan-police-to-sell-new-scotland-yard-8252711.html |newspaper=Evening Standard |location= London |date=30 October 2012 |access-date=26 May 2013}}</ref>

10 Broadway was sold to the [[Abu Dhabi Financial Group]] in December 2014 for £370 million, and redevelopment plans for a six-building, mixed-use development were approved in February 2016.<ref>{{cite news |last=Curry |first=Rhiannon |date=24 February 2016 |title=Green light to demolish New Scotland Yard to make way for flats |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/02/24/green-light-to-demolish-new-scotland-yard-to-make-way-for-flats/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/02/24/green-light-to-demolish-new-scotland-yard-to-make-way-for-flats/ |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |location=London |access-date=24 March 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Ownership was officially passed from the MPA to the Abu Dhabi Financial Group when the relocation was completed on 31 October 2016;<ref name=MetroPoliceStaffMove/> the building began demolition later that year.<ref>{{cite news |last=Rowlinson |first=Liz |date=18 October 2019 |title=Prime property buyers return to Westminster |url=https://www.ft.com/content/1db2c99a-ee79-11e9-a55a-30afa498db1b |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/1db2c99a-ee79-11e9-a55a-30afa498db1b |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=[[Financial Times]] |location=London |access-date=24 March 2020}}</ref>

===Current location===
{{Further|New Scotland Yard (building)}}
[[File:New Scotland Yard ¦ Embankment Chic ? (33219232590).jpg|thumb|left|The current site of New Scotland Yard, formerly the [[Curtis Green Building]]]]
In May 2013, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that the '''New Scotland Yard''' building on Broadway would be sold and the force's headquarters would be moved back to the [[Curtis Green Building]] on the [[Victoria Embankment]]. A competition was announced for architects to redesign the building prior to the Metropolitan Police moving to it in 2015.<ref>{{cite news |title=Met confirms Scotland Yard to be sold |url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/met-confirms-scotland-yard-to-be-sold/story-fn3dxix6-1226647232424 |newspaper=[[The Australian]] |date=20 May 2013 |access-date=26 May 2013}}</ref> This building previously housed the Territorial Policing headquarters and is adjacent to the original New Scotland Yard (Norman Shaw North Building).

[[File:New Scotland Yard sign 3.jpg|thumb|upright|Rotating sign]]
In December 2015, construction work on the exterior of the Curtis Green building was completed.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Spendelow |first1=Nathan |title=New Met HQ officially completed, with police to move in by end of next year |url=http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/news/west-london-news/new-met-hq-officially-completed-10531046 |access-date=12 November 2016 |work=Get West London |date=1 December 2016}}</ref> On 31 October 2016, the Metropolitan Police staff left the building at 10 Broadway and moved to their new headquarters.<ref name=MetroPoliceStaffMove>{{cite news |last1=Bullen |first1=Jamie |title=Metropolitan Police staff move out of New Scotland Yard after 49 years |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/metropolitan-police-staff-move-out-of-new-scotland-yard-after-49-years-a3384081.html |access-date=12 November 2016 |work=Evening Standard |date=1 November 2016}}</ref> The new New Scotland Yard building was to have been opened by Queen [[Elizabeth II]] on 23 March 2017, but that same day it was announced that the Royal opening would be postponed, due to the preceding day's [[2017 Westminster attack|terrorist attack at Westminster]].<ref name=RoyalOpeningPostponed>The words "New Scotland Yard" (in tall letters) can be seen in a photograph of the front of the building, atop the glass entrance at the base of the facade. {{cite web |title=Royal opening of new Met Police HQ postponed following London terrorist attack: The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh were due to visit New Scotland Yard today |first=Salina |last=Patel |date=23 March 2017 |work=getwestlondon.co.uk |publisher=Trinity Mirror Southern |url=http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/news/west-london-news/royal-opening-new-met-police-12785346 |access-date=23 March 2017}}</ref> The opening was re-arranged for 13 July 2017.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/queen-views-bomb-disposal-robot-at-opening-of-new-met-police-headquarters-a3587271.html |title=The Queen comes face-to-face with bomb disposal robot and arsenal of weapons on tour of Scotland Yard's new HQ |last=Grafton-Green |first=Patrick |date=13 July 2017 |website=Evening Standard |access-date=8 February 2020}}</ref> Like all three of its predecessors it houses the Met's [[Crime Museum]] (formerly known as the Black Museum), founded in 1874, a collection of criminal memorabilia not open to the public.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://content.met.police.uk/Article/The-Crime-Museum/1400015334971/1400015334971|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161224031155/http://content.met.police.uk/Article/The-Crime-Museum/1400015334971/1400015334971/|title=The Crime Museum|publisher=Metropolitan Police|archive-date=24 December 2016|url-status=dead|access-date=22 March 2017}}</ref>

==Popular culture==
Scotland Yard has appeared in books, films, and television since the Victorian era when it featured in the [[Jack the Ripper]] cases and the stories of [[Sherlock Holmes]].<ref>Begg, ''Jack the Ripper: The Definitive History'', p. 205; Evans and Rumbelow, pp. 84–85</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson in the 21st century: it's elementary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2010/mar/21/sherlock-holmes-modern-london |access-date=21 August 2022 |work=The Guardian}}</ref> [[Wilkie Collins]]'s novel ''[[The Moonstone]]'' (1868), a tale of a Scotland Yard Detective investigating the theft of a valuable diamond, has been described as perhaps the earliest clear example of the [[police procedural]] genre.<ref>{{cite book |title=Noir in the North Genre, Politics and Place |date=2020 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |page=247}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone |url=https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/wilkie-collins-the-moonstone |access-date=13 April 2023 |work=British Library |archive-date=25 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150625123958/https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/wilkie-collins-the-moonstone |url-status=dead }}</ref> In [[Robert Louis Stevenson]]'s gothic novella ''[[Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde]]'' (1886), Inspector Newcomen, a Scotland Yard Detective, explores Hyde's loft in [[Soho]] and discovers evidence of his depraved life.<ref>{{cite news |title=Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde |url=https://www.britishlibrary.cn/en/works/jekyllandhyde/ |access-date=15 June 2023 |publisher=British Library}}</ref>

[[Alfred Hitchcock]]'s 1929 thriller film ''[[Blackmail (1929 film)|Blackmail]]'' (widely considered the first British "[[Sound film#Transition: Europe|talkie]]") features a Scotland Yard Detective Frank Webber (played by [[John Longden]]).<ref>{{cite web |title=Blackmail (1929) |url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a55273b |publisher=British Film Institute |access-date=10 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171231082847/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a55273b|archive-date=31 December 2017}}</ref> 

Scotland Yard appears in the 1972 episode of [[Columbo]], "Dagger of the Mind". Columbo visits Scotland Yard to study the investigative techniques they use in London before becoming involved as a consultant for a murder case.{{fact|date=January 2025}}

In [[Monty Python]]'s 1969 comedy sketch "[[The Funniest Joke in the World]]", [[Graham Chapman]] plays a Scotland Yard Inspector who leaves the house with the joke in hand before dying from laughter.<ref>{{cite news |title=Monty Python's 10 funniest sketches |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comedy/what-to-see/monty-pythons-10-funniest-sketches/ |access-date=9 September 2019 | newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] }}</ref>

Scotland Yard has also appeared in the [[Professor Layton]] series as supporting characters, which [[Professor Hershel Layton|Layton]] helped them in solving many cases. Inspector Chelmey and Constable Barton are the most appearing of Scotland Yard's members.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ellison |first=Cara |date=12 November 2013 |title=Professor Layton and The Azran Legacy – review |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/12/professor-layton-and-the-azran-legacy-nintendo-review |access-date=28 February 2025 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>

A fictional version of New Scotland Yard appears in the film ''[[V for Vendetta (film)|V for Vendetta]]''<ref>{{cite news |last=Hicks |first=Chris |title='V for Vendetta' leads list of latest releases |newspaper=Deseret News |date=3 August 2006 |url=https://www.deseret.com/2006/8/3/19966570/chris-hicks-v-for-vendetta-leads-list-of-latest-releases |access-date=14 August 2025}}</ref> and in the video game ''[[Watch Dogs: Legion]]'', where it is depicted as an Albion-controlled site.<ref>{{cite web |title=Watch Dogs: Legion – Hack, Fight, and Sneak as Anyone to Take Back London – E3 2019 |website=Ubisoft News |publisher=Ubisoft |date=10 June 2019 |url=https://news.ubisoft.com/en-us/article/25xKrmRKsp9HMd8ML5wAtF/watch-dogs-legion-hack-fight-and-sneak-as-anyone-to-take-back-london-e3-2019 |access-date=14 August 2025}}</ref>

[[Jeffrey Archer|Jeffrey Archer's]] ''William Warwick'' series, starting with ''Nothing Ventured'' in 2019, follows William Warwick, the protagonist's rise from a detective constable to senior ranks within Scotland Yard.<ref>{{Cite news |last=PTI |date=2019-09-26 |title=Goal is to keep going to finish new 8-book series: Jeffrey Archer |url=https://www.thehindu.com/books/books-authors/goal-is-to-keep-going-to-finish-new-8-book-series-jeffrey-archer/article29517512.ece |access-date=2024-10-01 |work=The Hindu |language=en-IN |issn=0971-751X}}</ref>

Further depictions include:

* [[Scotland Yard (film series)]]: 1953–61.
* [[Colonel March of Scotland Yard]]: 1954–55.
* [[Scotland Yard (TV series)]]: 1960.
* [[New Scotland Yard (TV series)]]: 1972–74.
* [[George Gideon|Gideon of Scotland Yard]]: book and film
* [[Sergeant Cork]]: 1963-1966

==See also==
{{Portal|London}}
* [[Whitehall 1212]] – for many years, the main public telephone number of Scotland Yard
* [[Sakurada Gate]] (Sakuradamon) ― One of the gates at Tokyo Imperial Palace, which is used as a [[Metonymy|metonym]] for the [[Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department]]（TMPD）
* [[List of law enforcement agencies in the United Kingdom, Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{GeoGroup}}
{{Commonscat|Scotland Yard}}
* [https://www.met.police.uk/police-forces/metropolitan-police/areas/about-us/about-the-met/structure/ Metropolitan Police Branches] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811224245/https://www.met.police.uk/police-forces/metropolitan-police/areas/about-us/about-the-met/structure/ |date=11 August 2020 }}
*Blumberg, Jess. [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/world-history/10112406.html "A Brief History of Scotland Yard"], Smithsonian.com, 28 September 2007.

{{Metropolitan Police}}{{London landmarks}}

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[[Category:Police headquarters in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Police stations in the City of Westminster]]