For the area in New York City, see SoHo. The City of New York This article is about an area of Manhattan, New York City. For the area in London UK see Soho. For other uses, see Soho (disambiguation).

Soho
Soho shown within Greater London
OS grid reference	TQ295815
London borough	Westminster
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LONDON
Postcode district	W1
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
European Parliament	London
UK Parliament	Cities of London and Westminster
London Assembly	West Central
List of places: UK • England • London

Coordinates: 51°31′03″N 0°07′58″W / 51.517514, -0.132659

Soho is an area in the centre of the West End of London, England, in the City of Westminster. Greater London is the top-level administrative subdivision covering London, England. The British national grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references commonly used in Great Britain, different from using Latitude and Longitude The districts of England are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government The City of Westminster ( is a borough of London with city status. The ceremonial counties are areas of England that are appointed a Lord-Lieutenant, and are defined by the government as the Counties for the purposes of the Lieutenancies Greater London is the top-level administrative subdivision covering London, England. The region, also known as the government office region, is currently the highest tier of local government sub-national entity of England, with only one Greater London is the top-level administrative subdivision covering London, England. Constituent country is a phrase used often by official institutions in contexts in which a country makes up a part of a larger entity or grouping England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland This list of sovereign states, alphabetically arranged gives an overview of States around the world with information on the extent of their Sovereignty. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system The London postal district is the area in England, currently of 241 square miles to which mail addressed to the LONDON Post town is delivered UK Postal codes are known as postcodes. UK postcodes are Alphanumeric. The W (Western and Paddington postcode area, also known as the London W postcode area is a group of postcode districts in central and west London, England The UK Telephone numbering plan, also known as the National Telephone Numbering Plan, is the system used for assigning Telephone numbers in the United There are a number of law enforcement agencies in the United Kingdom. "Metropolitan Police" redirects here See also Metropolitan police. The fire service in the United Kingdom operates under separate legislative and administrative arrangements in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and The London Fire Brigade ( LFB) is the statutory The London Ambulance Service NHS Trust (LAS is the largest "free at the point of contact" ambulance service in the world that does not directly charge its patients London is a Constituency of the European Parliament. It currently elects 9 MEPs using the D'Hondt method of Party-list proportional This is a list of the 646 constituencies currently represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, as at the 2005 general election Cities of London and Westminster is a Constituency covering the area comprising the City of London and southern portion of the City of Westminster in Greater London is divided into fourteen territorial constituencies for London Assembly elections each returning one member West Central is a Constituency represented on the London Assembly. A Gazetteer of place names in the United Kingdom showing each place's County, Unitary authority or council area and its geographical coordinates List of places --> List of cities in the United Kingdom List of towns in England Lists of places This is a partial list of places in London, England See List of places in England for lists of settlements in other counties A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates using mainly a spherical coordinate system. The West End of London is an area of Central London, England, containing many of the city's major tourist attractions businesses headquarters and the commercial London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland The City of Westminster ( is a borough of London with city status. It is an entertainment district which for much of the later part of the 20th century had a reputation for its sex shops as well as its night life and film industry. sex shop, erotic shop is a shop that sells products such as Sex toys Pornography, erotic Lingerie, erotic books and Safer sex Since the early 1980s the area has undergone considerable transformation and is now a fashionable district of upmarket restaurants and media offices with only a small remnant of "sex industry" venues in the west of the area. ^[1].

Geography

Soho has an area of approximately one square mile and may be thought of as bounded by Oxford Street to the north, Regent Street to the west, Shaftesbury Avenue to the south and Charing Cross Road to the east. Oxford Street is a major thoroughfare in London, England in the City of Westminster. Regent Street is one of the major shopping streets in London 's West End. For the racehorse see Shaftesbury Avenue (horse Shaftesbury Avenue is a major street in London, England, Charing Cross Road is a London street which runs immediately north of St Martin-in-the-Fields to St Giles' Circus (the intersection with Oxford Street However apart from Oxford Street, all of these roads are nineteenth century metropolitan improvements, so they are not Soho's original boundaries, and it has never been an administrative unit, with formally defined boundaries. The area to the west is known as Mayfair, to the north Fitzrovia, to the east Holborn, St. Giles and Covent Garden, and to the south St James's. Mayfair is an area of central London, England, within the City of Westminster. Fitzrovia is an area of Central London, near London's West End. Holborn (ˈhoʊbɚn or /ˈhoʊbɝːn/ "ho bun" is an area of Central London, England Saint Giles (Αιγίδιος Ægidius Gilles Egidio Egidio Gil c Covent Garden (Pronunciation kɒvʌnt is a district in London, England, located on the easternmost parts of the City of Westminster and the southwest St James's is an area of central London in the City of Westminster. Chinatown and the area around Leicester Square can be considered as either just inside or just outside the southern edge of Soho. The name Chinatown has been used at different times to describe different places in London. For the British guitarist see Lester Square. Leicester Square (ˈlɛstɚ is a Pedestrianised square in the West End

Location in Context

History

The area which is now Soho was grazing farmland until 1536, when it was taken by Henry VIII as a royal park for the Palace of Whitehall. Marylebone (sometimes written St Marylebone or Mary-le-bone, or in archaic use Marybone) is an area of central London, England in Fitzrovia is an area of Central London, near London's West End. Bloomsbury is an area of central London in the south of the London Borough of Camden, developed by the Russell family in the 17th and 18th centuries into Mayfair is an area of central London, England, within the City of Westminster. Covent Garden (Pronunciation kɒvʌnt is a district in London, England, located on the easternmost parts of the City of Westminster and the southwest For the football stadium in Newcastle upon Tyne, see St James' Park; for the football stadium in Exeter, see St James Park The name Chinatown has been used at different times to describe different places in London. The Strand is a street in the City of Westminster, London, England. Henry VIII (28 June 1491 &ndash 28 January 1547 was King of England and Lord of Ireland, later King of Ireland and claimant to the Kingdom of The Palace of Whitehall was the main residence of the English monarchs in London from 1530 until 1698 when all except Inigo Jones 's 1622 The name Soho first appears in the 17th century. Most authorities believe that the name derives from the old ‘soho!’ hunting call (Soho! There goes the fox!, etc. ). ^[2][3][4][5] The Duke of Monmouth used ‘soho’ as a rallying call for his men at the Battle of Sedgemoor,^[6] half a century after the name was first used for this area of London. James Crofts, later James Scott 1st Duke of Monmouth and 1st Duke of Buccleuch ( April 9 1649 &ndash July 15 1685) was an English The Battle of Sedgemoor was fought on 6 July 1685 and took place at Westonzoyland near Bridgwater in Somerset, England

In the 1660s the Crown granted Soho Fields to Henry Jermyn, 1st Earl of St Albans. Henry Jermyn 1st Earl of Saint Albans KG (c 1604-January 1684 was the third son of Sir Thomas Jermyn (1573-1645 of Rushbrooke, Suffolk. He leased 19 of its 22 acres to Joseph Girle, who as soon as he had gained permission to build there, promptly passed his lease and licence to bricklayer Richard Frith in 1677, who began its development. In 1698 William III granted the Crown freehold of most of this area to William, Earl of Portland. William III or William of Orange (14 November 1650 &ndash 8 March 1702 He is informally known in Northern Ireland and Scotland as "King Billy" Hans William Baron Bentinck 1st Earl of Portland, KG, PC ( 20 July 1649 - 23 November 1709) was a Dutch Meanwhile the southern part of what became the parish of St Anne Soho was sold by the Crown in parcels in the 16th and 17th century, with part going to Robert Sidney, Earl of Leicester. Saint Anne's Church in the Soho section of London was consecrated on 21 March 1686 by Bishop Henry Compton as the Parish church Robert Sidney 2nd Earl of Leicester ( 1 December 1595 &ndash 2 November 1677) was the son of Robert Sidney 1st Earl of Leicester

Despite the best intentions of landowners such as the Earls of Leicester and Portland to develop the land on the grand scale of neighbouring Bloomsbury, Marylebone and Mayfair, it never became a fashionable area for the rich, and immigrants settled in the area: the French church in Soho Square is witness to its position as a centre for French Huguenots in the 17th and 18th centuries. Bloomsbury is an area of central London in the south of the London Borough of Camden, developed by the Russell family in the 17th and 18th centuries into Marylebone (sometimes written St Marylebone or Mary-le-bone, or in archaic use Marybone) is an area of central London, England in Mayfair is an area of central London, England, within the City of Westminster. The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France (or French Calvinists) from the sixteenth to the eighteenth By the mid 1700s the aristocrats who had been living in Soho Square or Gerrard Street had moved away. Soho’s character stems partly from the ensuing neglect by rich and fashionable London, and its lack of development and redevelopment that characterizes its neighbouring areas.

By the mid 1800s all respectable families had moved away and prostitutes, music halls and small theatres had moved in. In the early 1900s foreign nationals opened cheap eating-houses and it became a fashionable place to eat for intellectuals, writers and artists. From the 1930s to the early 1960s, Soho folklore states that the pubs of Soho were packed every night with drunken writers, poets and artists, many of whom never stayed sober long enough to become successful; and it was also during this period that the Soho pub landlords established themselves.

A detailed mural depicting a variety of Soho characters including writer Dylan Thomas and jazz musician George Melly is in Broadwick Street, at the junction with Carnaby Street. Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953 was a Welsh poet who wrote exclusively in English Alan George Heywood Melly ( 17 August 1926 – 5 July 2007) was an English Jazz and Blues Singer

The Soho name has been imitated by other entertainment and restaurant districts such as Soho, Hong Kong, SoHo, New York, and Palermo Soho, Buenos Aires. The Soho ( Chinese 蘇豪 also 荷南 district in Hong Kong is an entertainment zone located in Mid-levels and bordering Sheung Wan, within This article is about an area of Manhattan, New York City. For the area in London UK see Soho.

Broad Street pump

Main article: John Snow (physician)

John Snow memorial, with John Snow pub shown in the background

A significant event in the history of epidemiology and public health was the study of an 1854 outbreak of cholera in Soho by Dr. John Snow. John Snow ( 15 March 1813 &ndash 16 June 1858) was a British physician and a leader in the adoption of Anaesthesia and medical John Snow ( 15 March 1813 &ndash 16 June 1858) was a British physician and a leader in the adoption of Anaesthesia and medical Epidemiology is the study of factors affecting the Health and Illness of populations and serves as the foundation and Logic of interventions made in the Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease prolonging life and promoting health through the organised efforts and informed choices of society organisations Cholera, sometimes known as Asiatic cholera or epidemic cholera, is an infectious Gastroenteritis caused by the Bacterium John Snow ( 15 March 1813 &ndash 16 June 1858) was a British physician and a leader in the adoption of Anaesthesia and medical ^[7] He identified the cause of the outbreak as the public water pump located at the junction of Broad Street (now Broadwick Street) and Cambridge Street (now Lexington Street), close to the rear wall of what is today the John Snow public house. For information on Wikipedia project-related discussions see WikipediaVillage pump. Broadwick Street (formerly Broad Street is a street in Soho, City of Westminster London.

John Snow mapped the addresses of the sick, and noted that they were mostly people whose nearest access to water was the Broad Street pump. He persuaded the authorities to remove the handle of the pump, thus preventing any more of the infected water being collected. The spring below the pump was later found to be contaminated with sewage. This is an early example of epidemiology, public health medicine and the application of science—the germ theory of disease—in real time. Epidemiology is the study of factors affecting the Health and Illness of populations and serves as the foundation and Logic of interventions made in the The germ theory, also called the pathogenic theory of medicine, is a Theory that proposes that Microorganisms are the cause of many Diseases. ^[8]

The 2006 appearance of the places related to the Broad Street Pump outbreak of cholera is described here:

"Almost every structure that stood on Broad Street in the late summer of 1854 has been replaced by something new - thanks in part to the Luftwaffe, and in part to the creative destruction of booming urban real estate markets. (Even the streets names have been altered. Broad Street was renamed Broadwick in 1936). The pump, of course, is long gone, though a replica with a small plaque stands several blocks from the original site on Broad Street. A block east of where the pump once stood is a sleek glass office building designed by Richard Rogers with exposed piping painted a bold orange; its glassed-in lobby hosts a sleek, perennially crowded sushi restaurant. St. Luke's Church, demolished in 1936, has been replaced by the sixties development Kemp House, whose fourteen stories house a mixed-use blend of offices, flats, and shops. The entrance to the workhouse on Poland Street is now a quotidian urban parking garage, though the workhouse structure is still intact, and visible from Dufours Place, lingering behind the postwar blandness of Broadwick Street like some grand Victorian fossil. (…) On Broad Street itself, only one business has remained constant over the century and half that separates us from those terrible days in September 1854. You can still buy a pint of beer at the pub on the corner of Cambridge Street, not fifteen steps from the site of the pump that once nearly destroyed the neighbourhood. Only the name of the pub is changed. It is now called The John Snow"^[9].

A replica of the pump, with a memorial plaque, now stands near the location of the original pump.

Music scene

The music scene in Soho can be traced back to 1948 and Club Eleven which is generally revered as the fountainhead of modern jazz in the UK. Club Eleven was a Nightclub located in London between 1948 and 1950 It was located at 41 Great Windmill Street. The Harmony Inn was an unsavoury cafe and hang-out for musicians on Archer Street operating during the 1940s and ‘50s. It stayed open very late attracting jazz fans from the nearby Cy Laurie Jazz Club. Cyril "Cy" Laurie (b London, April 20, 1926; d April 18, 2002) was an English Jazz clarinetist and bandleader

Soho was the setting for Brecht's famous song Mack The Knife: - And the ghastly fire in Soho, Seven children at a go— In the crowd stands Mack the knife, but He's not asked and doesn't know. (born; 10 February 1898&ndash14 August 1956 was a German Poet, Playwright, and Theatre director. Mack the Knife or The Ballad of Mack the Knife, originally Die Moritat von Mackie Messer, is a song composed by Kurt Weill (from the original German translation by Manheim & Willett)^[10]

The Ken Colyer Band's 51 Club (Great Newport Street) opened in the eary fifties. Kenneth 'Edward' Colyer ( April 18 1928 &ndash March 8 1988) was a British Jazz Trumpeter and Cornetist Blues guitarist and harmonica player Cyril Davies and guitarist Bob Watson launched the London Skiffle Centre, London’s first skiffle club, on the first floor of the Roundhouse pub on Wardour Street in 1952 ^[11]. Cyril Davies ( 23 January 1932 - 7 January 1964) was one of the first British blues Harmonica players and Blues musician Skiffle is a type of Folk music with Jazz, Blues and Country influences usually using homemade or improvised instruments such as the Washboard

In the early 1950s, Soho became the center of the Beatnik culture in London. Coffee Bars like Le Macabre (Wardour Street) which had coffin shaped tables, fostered beat poetry, jive dance and political debate. The Goings On located in Archer Street ^[12] was and Sunday afternoon club, organised by Liverpool beat poets Pete Brown, Johnny Byrne and Spike Hawkins, that opened in January 1966. Pete Brown (born Peter Ronald Brown 25 December 1940 in Ashtead, Surrey) is an English Performance poet For the former England international footballer and South African soccer coach see Johnny Byrne (footballer Spike Hawkins (born 1943 is a British poet best known for his Three Pig Poems. For the rest of the week it operated as an illegal gambling den. Other 'beat' coffee bars in Soho included the French, Le Grande, Stockpot, Melbray, Universal, La Roca, Freight Train (Skiffle star Chas McDevitt’s place)^[13], El Toro, Picasso, Las Vegas, and the Moka Bar. Skiffle is a type of Folk music with Jazz, Blues and Country influences usually using homemade or improvised instruments such as the Washboard Chas McDevitt (born Charles James McDevitt, 4 December 1934, Eaglesham, Glasgow, Scotland

The 2 i’s Coffee Bar (live acts performed in the tiny basement) was probably the first rock club in Europe, opened in 1956 (59 Old Compton Street) and soon Soho was the centre of the fledgling rock scene (although the term had not yet been coined) in London. Clubs included the Flamingo Club (which started in 1952 as Jazz at the Mapleton), La Discotheque, Whiskey a Go Go, Ronan O'Rahilly's (of pirate radio station, Radio Caroline fame) The Scene^[14] in 1962 (first mod club - near the Windmill Theatre in Ham Yard - formally The Piccadilly Club) and jazz clubs like Ronnie Scott's^[15] (opened in 1959 at 39 Gerrard Street and moved to 47 Frith Street in 1965 ) and the 100 Club. Ronan O'Rahilly is an Irish businessman best known as the founder of Pirate radio stations Radio Caroline South which broadcast from a ship anchored in Radio Caroline is a European Radio station that started transmissions on Easter Sunday 1964 from a ship anchored in International waters off the coast of The Windmill Theatre, later the Windmill Club, was a variety and revue Theatre in Great Windmill Street London. Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club is a Jazz club which has operated in London since 1959.

Soho's Wardour Street was the home of the legendary Marquee Club (90 Wardour Street) which opened in 1958 and where the Rolling Stones first performed in July 1962. The Marquee is a legendary music club first located at 165 Oxford Street, London, England when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and Skiffle Eric Clapton and Brian Jones both lived for a time in Soho sharing a flat with future rock publicist, Tony Brainsby. Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE (born 30 March 1945 is an English Blues-rock Guitarist, singer Songwriter and Composer Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones (28 February 1942 – 3 July 1969 was a founding member and Guitarist of the English Rock group The Rolling Stones. Tony Brainsby was the archetype of the Sixties publicity man His career spanned over thirty years in which time he represented some of rock's leading acts ^[16]

Soho today

Soho is a small, multicultural area of central London; a home to industry, commerce, culture and entertainment, as well as a residential area for both rich and poor.

The Admiral Duncan pub, Soho landmark and site of the Soho nail-bombing

It has clubs, pubs, bars, restaurants, a few sex shops scattered amongst them, and late-night coffee shops that give the streets an "open all night" feel at the weekends. Many Soho weekends are busy enough to warrant closing off of some of the streets to vehicles; Westminster Council pedestrianised parts of Soho in the mid-1990s, but later removed much of it, apparently after complaints of loss of trade from local businesses. The City of Westminster ( is a borough of London with city status. Car-free zones (also known as auto-free zones and pedestrian zones) are areas of a city or town in which automobile traffic is prohibited

Record shops cluster in the area around Berwick Street, where shops such as Blackmarket Records and Vinyl Junkies offer the latest releases. Soho is also the home of London's main gay village, around Old Compton Street, where there are dozens of businesses thriving on the pink pound. A gay village (also known as a gay neighborhood or by the slang gayborhood) is an urban geographic location with generally recognized boundaries Old Compton Street runs east-west through Soho, London, England. Pink pound is a term describing the Purchasing power of the LGBT community in Britain. On April 30 1999, the Admiral Duncan pub on Old Compton Street, which serves the gay community, was damaged by a nail bomb planted by neo-Nazi David Copeland. Events 313 - Roman emperor Licinius unifies the entire Eastern Roman Empire under his rule The Admiral Duncan is a Pub in Old Compton Street, Soho in the heart of London 's gay district. The nail bomb is an Anti-personnel Explosive device packed with nails to increase its wounding ability David John Copeland (born May 15 1976) is a former member of the British neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement, who became known as the "London nailbomber" It left three dead (two of whom were heterosexual) and 30 injured.

Soho is home to religious and spiritual groups, notably St Ann's Church on Dean Street (damaged by a V1 flying bomb during WW2, and re-opened in 1990), St Patrick's Church in Soho Square (founded by Irish immigrants in the 19th century), City Gates Church with their centre in Greens Court, the Hare Krishna Temple off Soho Square and a small mosque on Berwick Street. Saint Anne (also Ann or Anna of David's house and line was the mother of the Virgin Mary, according to Christian tradition The Fieseler Fi 103, better known as V-1 (German Vergeltungswaffe 1 was an early Cruise missile used during World War Two World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Saint Patrick (Patricius Irish: Naomh Pádraig) was a Roman Britain -born Christian Missionary and is the Patron saint The Hare Krishna Mantra, also referred to reverentially as the Maha Mantra ("Great Mantra" is a sixteen-word Vaishnava mantra made well

Gerrard Street is the centre of London's Chinatown, a mix of import companies and restaurants (including Lee Ho Fook's, mentioned in Warren Zevon's song Werewolves of London). The name Chinatown has been used at different times to describe different places in London. The name Chinatown has been used at different times to describe different places in London. Warren William Zevon (January 24 1947 &ndash September 7 2003 was a Grammy Award -winning American rock Singer-songwriter and Musician " Werewolves of London " is a Song composed by LeRoy Marinell, Waddy Wachtel, and Warren Zevon and performed by Zevon Street festivals are held throughout the year, most notably on the Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year is the most important of the Traditional Chinese holidays.

On Valentine's Day 2006, a campaign was launched to bring business back into the heart of Soho. Valentine's Day or Saint Valentine's Day is a Holiday celebrated on February 14 The campaign, called I Love Soho, features a community-focused web-site (www. ilovesoho. co. uk). The campaign was launched at the site of Raymond Revue Bar in Walkers Court, with celebrities such as Charlotte Church, Amy Winehouse and Paris Hilton. Charlotte Maria Church (born 21 February 1986 is a Welsh singer actress and television presenter I Love Soho was backed by the former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, the Soho Society, Westminster Council and Visit London. Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born 17 June 1945 is a British Socialist Politician.

Theatre and film industry

Soho is near the heart of London's theatre area, and is a centre of the independent film and video industry as well as the television and film post-production industry. West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London 's "Theatreland" See also Filmmaking Post-production occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, Videos audio recordings It is home to Soho Theatre, built in 2000 to present new plays and stand-up comedy. The Soho Theatre is a Theatre in the eponymous district of the City of Westminster. Stand-up comedy is a style of comedy where the performer speaks directly to the audience with the absence of the theatrical " Fourth wall " The British Board of Film Classification, formerly known as the British Board of Film Censors, can be found in Soho Square. The British Board of Film Classification ( BBFC) originally British Board of Film Censors, is the organisation responsible for Film, DVD Soho Square is a square in Soho, London, England, with a park and garden area at its centre that dates back to 1681.

Soho is criss-crossed by a rooftop telecommunication network, and below ground level with fiber optics making up Sohonet, which connects the Soho media and post-production community to British film studio locations such as Pinewood Studios and Shepperton Studios, and to other major production centres such as Rome, New York City, Los Angeles, Sydney, and Wellington, New Zealand. An optical fiber (or fibre) is a Glass or Plastic fiber that carries Light along its length Sohonet is a Community-of-interest network for the television film and media production community Much of the British independent film television and Post-production industry is based around London's Soho area There are or have been a number of prominent British film studios. Pinewood Studios is a major British Film studio situated in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire. Shepperton Studios, located in Shepperton, Surrey, England is a film studio with a long history of film making Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 The City of New York Los Angeles (lɑˈsændʒələs los ˈaŋxeles in Spanish) is the largest City in the state of California and the American West Sydney (ˈsɪdniː is the most populous city in Australia, with a Metropolitan area population of approximately 4 Wellington (ˈwælɪŋtən is the Capital of New Zealand, the country's second largest urban area, the

There are also plans by Westminster Council to deploy high-bandwidth Wi-Fi networks in Soho as part of a program to further encourage the development of the area as a centre for media and technology industries. Wi-Fi (ˈwaɪfaɪ is the trade name for the popular wireless technology used

Soho and the sex industry

St. Anne's Court in the early sixties

Agent Provocateur, 6 Broadwick Street

The Soho area has been at the heart of London's sex industry for at least 200 years. Agent Provocateur is a well known Lingerie brand based in the United Kingdom. Broadwick Street (formerly Broad Street is a street in Soho, City of Westminster London. Sex industry is the internationalisation of commercial enterprises which supply Sex workers in various capacities

Prior to the introduction of the Street Offences Act in 1959, prostitutes packed the streets and allies of Soho and by the early sixties the area was home to nearly a hundred strip clubs and almost every doorway in Soho had little postcards advertising "Large Chest for Sale" or "French Lessons Given". These were known as "walk ups". With prostitution driven off the streets, many clubs such as The Blue Lagoon became prostitution fronts. The Metropolitan Police Vice squad at that time suffered from corrupt police officers involved with enforcing organised crime control of the area, but simultaneously accepting "back-handers" or bribes. "Metropolitan Police" redirects here See also Metropolitan police. This article is about a police unit For the punk rock band see Vice Squad. "Crime syndicate" redirects here For the DC Comics group of villains see Crime Syndicate.

Clip Joints also surfaced in the sixties, these establishments sold colored water as champagne with the promise of sex to follow, thus fleecing tourists looking for a "good time". Also in 1960, London's first sex cinema theatre, the Compton Cinema Club ^[17] (a membership only club to get around the law) opened at 56 Old Compton Street. It was owned by Michael Klinger who produced many of the early Roman Polański Films such as Cul-de-Sac (1966). "Dead End Street" redirects here For the song by The Kinks see Dead End Street (song. Michael Klinger also owned the Heaven and Hell hostess club (which had earlier been just a Beatnik club) across the road and a few doors down from the 2I's on the corner of Old Compton Street and Dean Street.

Harrison Marks, a "glamour photographer" and girlie magazine publisher had a photographic gallery located in Gerrard Street and published several magazines including Spic and Span, which sold from the late fifties on. George Harrison Marks ( 6 August 1926 - 27 June 1997) was a British glamour Photographer at the height of his productivity from The content, however, by today's standard was very innocent.

By the mid seventies the sex shops had grown from the handful opened by Carl Slack in the early sixties to a total of fifty nine sex shops^[18] which then dominated the square mile. Some had secret backrooms selling hardcore photographs, Beeline Books (Published in America by David Zentner ^[19]) and Olympia press editions. Olympia Press was a Paris -based Publisher, launched in 1953 by Maurice Girodias as a rebadged version of the Obelisk Press he inherited from

By the 1980s, purges of the police force along with a tightening of licensing controls by the City of Westminster led to a crackdown on these illegal premises. The City of Westminster ( is a borough of London with city status. By 2000, a substantial relaxation of general censorship, and the licensing or closing of unlicensed sex shops had reduced the red-light area to just a small area around Brewer Street and Berwick Street. Censorship in the United Kingdom has a long history with variously stringent and lax laws in place at different times although a much more liberal approach has been taken in recent years sex shop, erotic shop is a shop that sells products such as Sex toys Pornography, erotic Lingerie, erotic books and Safer sex Several strip clubs in the area were reported in London's Evening Standard newspaper in February 2003 to still be rip-offs (known as Clip joints), aiming to intimidate customers into paying for absurdly over-priced drinks and very mild 'erotic entertainment'. A strip club is a Nightclub or bar that offers Striptease (the erotic removal of a performer's clothing and possibly other related services such as The London Evening Standard is an English Tabloid regional local newspaper published and sold in London and surrounding areas of southeast A clip joint or fleshpot is an establishment usually a Strip club or entertainment bar, typically one claiming to offer adult entertainment Prostitution is still widespread in parts of Soho, with several buildings used as brothels, and there is a persistent problem with drug dealing on some street corners. Prostitution is the act of performing Sexual activity in exchange for Money. The illegal drug trade or drug trafficking is a global Black market consisting of the cultivation manufacture distribution and sale of illegal Drugs

Soho has, however, never lost its residential community; and it includes Soho Primary School on Great Windmill Street for local children. Its varied and cosmopolitan nature means that Soho does not have the character of a red light district. A red-light district is a neighborhood where Prostitution and other businesses in the Sex industry flourish

Windmill Theatre

The Windmill Theatre was notorious for its risqué nude tableaux vivants, in which the models had to remain motionless to avoid censorship. The Windmill Theatre, later the Windmill Club, was a variety and revue Theatre in Great Windmill Street London. Tableau vivant (plural tableaux vivants) is French for "living picture It opened in June 1931 and was the only theatre in London which never closed ^[20], except for the twelve compulsory days between 4 and 16 September 1939, throughout the blitz. It stood on the site of a windmill that dated back to the reign of Charles II until late in the eighteenth century. The theatre was sold to the Compton Cinema Group and it closed on 31 October 1964 and was reconstructed as a cinema and casino.

Raymond Revuebar

The Raymond Revuebar was a small theatre specialising in striptease and nude dancing. It was owned by Paul Raymond and opened on 21 April, 1958. Paul Raymond was the alias of Geoffrey Anthony Quinn, ( 15 November 1925 - 2 March 2008) The most striking feature of the Revuebar was the huge brightly lit sign declaring it to be the "World Centre of Erotic Entertainment".

The name and control of the theatre (but crucially, not the property itself) was bought by Gerald Simi in 1997. ^[21] Gradually the theatre's fortunes waned, with Simi citing rising rent demands from Raymond as the cause. ^[22]

The Revuebar closed on June 10, 2004 and became a gay bar and cabaret venue called Too2Much. In November of 2006, it changed its name to Soho Revue Bar. The launch party included performances by Boy George, Anthony Costa, and Marcella Detroit. Boy George (born George Alan O'Dowd 14 June 1961 in Eltham London) is an English Singer-songwriter, who was part of the English New Antony Daniel Costa (born 23 June 1981 in Edgware, Greater London, England) is a British Singer and Marcella Detroit (born Marcella Levy on June 21, 1959, in Detroit, Michigan) is a singer musician and Songwriter. ^[23]

Education

For education in Soho see the main City of Westminster article. The City of Westminster ( is a borough of London with city status.

Streets

Map of Soho

• Berwick Street has record shops, and a small street market open from Monday to Saturday. Berwick Street Market is a small market on Berwick Street in the heart of Soho, London, England, selling mainly Fruit and vegetables and general Berwick Street Market is a small market on Berwick Street in the heart of Soho, London, England, selling mainly Fruit and vegetables and general There is a newly built mosque at the end of the road (on the opposite end of Oxford Street).
• Carnaby Street was for a short time the fashion centre of 1960s "Swinging London" although it quickly became known for poor quality 'kitch' products and was more tourist trap than fashion center. Carnaby Street is a pedestrianised shopping street in London, United Kingdom, located in the area of 'Carnaby' in the district of Soho Kings Road, Chelsea attracted the real 'dedicated follower of fashion' of the period. Carnaby Street is now a thriving shopping area.
• Dean Street is home to the Soho Theatre, and a pub called The French House which was during WWII popular with the French Government-in-exile. Dean Street is a street in Soho, London, England, running between Oxford Street to the north and Shaftesbury Avenue to the south The Soho Theatre is a Theatre in the eponymous district of the City of Westminster. Karl Marx lived at numbers 54 and 28 Dean Street between 1851 and 1856.
• Denmark Street was the music publishing centre of the western world, being home to all the major publishers of the day. Denmark Street is a short narrow road in central London, notable for its connections with British Popular music, and is known as the British Tin Pan It is still famous for having the 'highest concentration of guitars in London' as the street is almost entirely populated with guitar, PA, bass and keyboard shops as well as the 12 bar club which has hosted many big names within its tiny walls.
• Frith Street where John Logie Baird first demonstrated television. Frith Street is in the Soho area of London, England. To the north is Soho Square and to the south is Shaftesbury Avenue. John Logie Baird (August 13 1888 – June 14 1946 was a Scottish engineer and inventor of the world's first working television system Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic A plaque above the stage door of the Prince Edward Theatre identifies the site where Mozart lived for a few years as a child.
• Gerrard Street was home to Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club and the Dive Bar, under the Kings Head. The name Chinatown has been used at different times to describe different places in London. Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club is a Jazz club which has operated in London since 1959. It is also the centre of London's Chinatown. The name Chinatown has been used at different times to describe different places in London.
• Golden Square is an attractive small urban square. There is also Golden Square Victoria in Australia Golden Square, Soho, London in the City of Westminster
• Great Windmill Street (below Lexington Street on map - not indicated) was home to the Windmill Theatre "which never closed" during it's long and baudy life.

• Greek Street
• Ham Yard (off Great Windmill Street) was the home of London's first 'mod' club, The Scene. Greek Street is a street in Soho, London, leading south from Soho Square to Shaftesbury Avenue. The scene (often capitalised is a term used by people belonging to various communities ( social groups) dealing with software to describe the more extensive community
• Old Compton Street was the birthplace of Europe's rock club circuit (2 I's club) and boasted the first adult cinema in England (The Compton Cinema Club). Old Compton Street runs east-west through Soho, London, England. Dougie Millings, who was the famous Beatles tailor, had his first shop at 63 Old Compton Street which opened in 1962 ^[24]. Beatles in Millings suits Douglas (Dougie Millings born July 30, 1913 in Manchester; died September 20, 2001 in London was a London-based The Beatles were a pop and rock band from Liverpool, England formed in 1960 Old Compton Street is now the core of Soho's gay village. A gay village (also known as a gay neighborhood or by the slang gayborhood) is an urban geographic location with generally recognized boundaries
• In Soho Square are Paul McCartney's office MPL Communications, and the Football Association headquarters. Soho Square is a square in Soho, London, England, with a park and garden area at its centre that dates back to 1681. Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE (born 18 June 1942 is an English rock Singer, Bass guitarist songwriter Composer, MPL Communications is the Holding company for the business interests of Sir Paul McCartney. The Football Association, also known as simply The FA, is the governing body of football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey
• Wardour Street was home of the legendary Marquee Club and a few doors up there was a private pub (for a few years after which it was open to the public), The Ship (116 Wardour Street) frequented by the likes of John Lennon and Keith Moon. Wardour Street in a street located in London 's Soho, running one-way south to north from Leicester Square, passing through Chinatown, across The Marquee is a legendary music club first located at 165 Oxford Street, London, England when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and Skiffle ^[25] Another seventies rock hangout was The Intrepid Fox Pub ^[26] (97/99 Wardour Street) (once patronised by the likes of Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart, the Sex Pistols, Zodiac Mindwarp and hellraising actor Richard Harris). It is now a centre of the film industry.

Nearest tube stations

• Oxford Circus tube station
• Piccadilly Circus tube station
• Tottenham Court Road tube station
• Leicester Square tube station

References

External links

• The Soho Society
• Soho Housing Association
• Soho Caring Agencies Forum
• The Survey of London: volumes 33 and 34, St Anne Soho (1966) — full text online
• Dr. John Snow and the John Snow pub
• The Soho Bombing in 1999
• Article by SilkTork on Soho pubs
• Soundmap Audio Walking Tour of Soho
• Soho gay scene information
• The Spirit of Soho mural
• Soho local area guide