New Scotland Yard

The sign in front of the New Scotland Yard building

It’s a building.

Scotland Yard is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police of London. It was named this because the public entrance was on a street called Great Scotland Yard.

“Scotland Yard” has become a nickname for anything involving the London police.

New Scotland Yard is a specific building that houses the MPS headquarters. It gets confusing, because the last building was also called “New Scotland Yard.” The “new” prefix seemed to have been adopted in some prior move into a new building (the headquarters has been moving around since the 1800s), and is carried over from HQ building to HQ building.

This name for the building is prominently featured on the front of it, and there’s a unique revolving triangular sign which also bears the name.

Why I Looked It Up

I was reading a mystery novel set in London, and a detective of the MPS told a cab driver to take him to “New Scotland Yard” as if it was a place everyone should know.