was almost "nullified by peevish spoken asides and the cryptic posturing of the duo's lyrics". In a review of the live album Concrete, Michael Hubbard from musicOMH said that "West End Girls" was one of the songs that "round out a collection that never feels too long or superfluous", adding that it "goes some way to installing Tennant and Lowe as national treasures". Cash Box called it "a sensational pop single." Billboard called it a "cannily haunting song" in which "disco meets sociology, rap and the Al Stewart catalogue." Nitsuh Abebe from Pitchfork, in a review of their compilation album PopArt: Pet Shop Boys - The Hits commented that in the song "we meet Tennant not as a singer, but as a speaker", adding that "he mumbles the verses to us not like a star, but like a stranger in a raincoat, slinking alongside you and pointing out the sights". In 1987, "West End Girls" won for Best Single at the Brit Awards, and for Best International Hit at the Ivor Novello Awards. In 2005, the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters gave to West End Girls the Ivor Novello Award for Song of The Decade between the years 1985 and 1994. In 2015, the song was voted by the British public as the nation's 12th favourite 1980s number one in a poll for ITV. In 2020, The Guardian selected "West End Girls" as number one in a critics' poll of the 100 greatest UK number-one singles. It was ranked No. 433 on Rolling Stone'''s "Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2021 and No. 65 on their "200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time" in 2022. Music video The accompanying music video for "West End Girls" was directed by Andy Morahan and Eric Watson, and consists of shots of the duo around London. At the beginning of the video, noises from the city can be heard, a camera passes Lowe on the street, and focuses on mannequins in a shop window. Then appears a sequence of quick cuts with shots of the city's different sub-cultures; the video freezes and cuts to Tennant and Lowe, who walk through an empty Wentworth Street in Petticoat Lane Market. They stand in front of a red garage door; Tennant is in front dressed with a long coat, white shirt and dark necktie, directly addressing the camera, with Lowe standing behind him with