If something has Gone West it is lost forever. Usually it refers to a plan, project or business deal that “goes west” when something key goes wrong. It has been suggested that the sun setting in the west is the root of the phrase. However, it’s more likely to be the Tyburn gibbet, a place of execution once situated near the site of Marble Arch in central London. The main prisons of London, Newgate and The Clink, were both located on the east side of the city. And so a condemned man would be loaded on to a cart and taken west to meet his fate – never to return.