Soho's seediest streets

This is an archived page.

A walking tour of Soho's darker side

'They were the foxiest broads on Broadwick Street' © Anne Gerrish

'They were the foxiest broads on Broadwick Street' © Anne Gerrish

Shaftesbury Avenue: Malice in Theatreland

From out of the shadows of a West End theatre in 1788, a man jumped on a young woman, slashing at...
Gerrard Street: It’s Chinatown

In the roaring ’20s, all the Bright Young Things came here to buy their opium from ‘Brilliant...
Leicester Square: Wait for the blackout

Over six days in February 1942, 28-year old Gordon Cummings picked up six women in the pubs of Le...
Charlotte Street: Hanging around

On April 29 1947, a gang of juvenile delinquents making a smash-and-grab raid on Jay’s Jeweller...
Corner of Frith Street and Old Compton Street: X marks the Spot

One of Soho’s most notorious ganglords, Jack ‘Spot’ Comer, was stabbed here in the ‘fight...
Rathbone Place: Dandies in the underworld

During the '40s, Sohemian idol, writer Julian MacLaren-Ross, was most often to be found propping ...
Goslett Yard: Freddie’s dead

Britain’s beloved Light Heavyweight World Champion of 1949, Freddie Mills, was found dead in hi...
Soho Square: Little knocking shop of horrors

Between 1778 and 1801, there existed here a ‘magical brothel’ called The White House. The roo...
Old Compton Street: Kiss me deadly

Ripped apart by a bomb blast on April 30 1999 by former BNP activist David Copeland, leaving thre...
Romilly Street and Dean Street: The Bermuda Triangle

London’s greatest noir writer, Derek Raymond, used to refer to the conjunction of The Coach and...

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