London/Soho

Soho is a district of central London, part of the West End, famous for jazz, its gay village, sex shops and alternative lifestyles.

Orientation
This is generally considered to be the area enclosed by Piccadilly Circus, Shaftesbury Avenue and Cambridge Circus to the south, Charing Cross Road to the east, Oxford Street to the north, and Regent Street to the west. Oxford Street is the main shopping street in London but much of it is in the Mayfair-Marylebone district.

The area immediately surrounding in the southern part of Soho is widely recognised as London's foremost gay village and is a very stylish part of London indeed.

For a period in the mid to late twentieth century, parts of Soho had a negative reputation as a red light district, but subsequent urban redevelopment, rising rents, and not unsurprisingly targeted action by the Westminster City Council, and Metropolitan Police, have all acted to dim and extinguish many of the red-lights. The area is not quite as seedy as its former reputation portrays it, although it is still advised to be aware of it.

Chinatown is sometimes considered to be part of Soho, but it is south of Shaftesbury Avenue and, having a culture distinctly different from the rest of the West End, adjoins – but is not really part of – Soho.

History
Soho has a long and colourful history. The first record of the name comes from the 17th century when the area was pasture after being used as a hunting park for the Royal Court of Henry VIII some 100 years earlier. Although disputed, it is widely believed that the name Soho originated as a hunting cry.

Despite this royal attention and very grand development taking place in adjoining districts, Soho did not become fashionable until the 1980s and was mostly known as an area settled by new immigrants. By the mid-19th century, it had become the home of prostitutes and low-brow music halls. Things looked up in the early 1900s when it gained something of a Bohemian reputation with writers, artists and actors moving in but the sex industry continued to dominate the district until the 1980s. This lucrative business was always run by organised crime groups and ensured that Soho was a notorious haunt of gangsters throughout much of the 20th century.

The music business began to really prosper here in the 1950s with a beatnik and jazz culture very much to the fore. Perhaps London's most famous jazz venue, Ronnie Scotts, is still thriving today in Frith Street. Many famous rock bands are also closely associated with Soho. The Rolling Stones played their first-ever live concert here (at the legendary Marquee) and the Sex Pistols lived in Denmark Street and played a number of infamous gigs. In the 1970s and 1980s, Soho, and the Marquee in particular, was the place in London to head to check out up-and-coming and often very controversial British bands.

Since the 1980s, the whole of Soho has undergone rapid transformation and development into a fashionable district of upmarket restaurants and media offices. There are though still a few places which are easily associated with its more colourful past and even a small remnant of the previously dominant sex industry remains, much of which has been disrupted by a number of waves of police crackdowns.

Modern-day Soho has the densest concentration of restaurants, cafés, clubs and bars in central London and truly represents the vibrant, bustling heart of the city. It is also the modern hub of London's media world with multiple advertising agencies, television and radio studios and post-production companies choosing this as their base of operations.

Reading
Unsurprisingly given its colourful nature, much has been written about Soho. The following is a short selection of books, all of which would be of benefit to anyone planning to visit Soho.


 * Dirty White Boy, Tales of Soho by Clayton Littlewood, Cleiss Press, 2008, ISBN 978-1573443302. The musings and observations of a clothing store owner in Old Compton St in the 2000s. You will struggle to find a better modern-day commentary on Soho. Littlewood's book has been compared to Christopher Isherwood's writings about sordid Berlin in the 1920s. And apart from all that, it is very funny.
 * Dog Days in Soho by Nigel Richardson, Phoenix, 2001, ISBN 978-0575403420. A biography of one sailor's life in Soho in the 1950s, perhaps the single most notorious period in the history of the district. Poignant and very well written. Gives a fine sense of the period just before the evolution of modern-day Soho.
 * Soho: A History of London's Most Colourful Neighbourhood by Judith Summers, Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd, 1989, ISBN 978-0747508731. Not easy to find copies of this book but it is worth the effort. It covers the social history of the district from the 18th to the late 20th century.

By Tube
A Tube station serves each of the four approximate corners of Soho, all in Zone 1:


 * Tottenham Court Rd to the north-east (Central, Northern and Elizabeth lines)
 * Oxford Circus to the north-west (Bakerloo, Central and Victoria lines)
 * Leicester Square to the south-east (Northern and Piccadilly lines)
 * Piccadilly Circus to the south-west (Bakerloo and Piccadilly lines)

By train
in nearby Covent Garden is the most convenient mainline station, is a 10-15 min walk to the southeast.

By car
Driving to Soho is not recommended, owing to traffic congestion and stringent parking restrictions, and the £8 congestion charge. There is, however, a Masterpark parking station on Poland St, and another car park on Brewer Street.

By rickshaw
More entertainment than transportation really, rickshaws run in Soho and the surrounding areas. They are much more expensive than a black cab, and may seem a lot less safe, but they are a lot of fun and can often be the fastest way to get around these tightly packed streets.

By bicycle
London's cycle hire scheme (known locally as "Boris bikes") has a number of outlets around Soho including on Old Compton Street, Wardour Street, Soho Square and Golden Square.

See
Old Compton Street is Soho's unofficial high street and is full of bars, cafes, clubs and shops. It is a great place to grab a coffee and watch Soho go by.



Buy


Soho has a diverse range of shops, tending towards the arty, boutique and independent style of outlet.

After a period in the 1970s and 1980s when Carnaby Street became little more than a tourist trap and a pale imitation of its innovative, trend-setting heyday in the 1960s, it is now once again a major centre of new design. There are some especially interesting independent fashion stores in the small streets and courtyards off Carnaby Street, so it is well worth exploring the area carefully.

Berwick Street is notable for a collection of independent record shops specialising in different genres of dance music.

Gay-related
Unsurprisingly, Soho has a number of gay-related outlets, some of the best known are:

Patisseries
Have tea and cakes in one of Soho's great patisseries.



Pubs




Jazz joints, bars and clubs

 * There are numerous other jazz bars near Ronnie Scott's, less famous and subsequently cheaper, including:
 * Jazz after Dark, 9 Greek St
 * St Moritz Club, 159 Wardour St
 * St Moritz Club, 159 Wardour St



Sleep
Soho is a densely built district and there are not too many places to stay here.

Stay safe
Soho has a longstanding reputation for seediness, but gentrification paired with an intense police crackdown in the late 2000s and early 2010s has made this reputation mostly legendary. However, there are still con artists and other criminals who may target unsuspecting tourists, particularly those who seem inebriated or otherwise vulnerable.

Don't go to any place recommended by someone you've just met, as this could be a costly scam or worse. Chances are nothing will happen to you if you're sensible, but never drop your guard completely, just in case.

Go next

 * To the east cross Tottenham Court Road into Covent Garden.
 * If you are looking for the gay nightlife, it spills south across into the Leicester Square area.
 * To the west across Regents St. into Mayfair.