London - Soho

The district of Soho (from an old hunting cry), bounded on the west by Regent Street, on the north by Oxford Street, on the east by Charing Cross Road and on the south by Shaftesbury Avenue, is a part of London which means different things to different people. For the businessman Soho is a good address. Its convenient central situation has led a wide range of businesses to establish themselves here - film companies, publishers, sound recording studios, record companies, exporters and agencies of all kinds.

During business hours the life of Soho is dominated by the comings and goings of those employed in these various activities. Soho is also a Mecca for the gourmet, with its specialized food and delicatessen shops and its restaurants offering a wide range of international cuisines. Since the latter part of the 17th century, when thousands of Huguenot refugees from France settled here after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, to be followed later by Italians, Swiss, Chinese, Indians and newcomers of many other nationalities, Soho has been an area much given to foreign cuisines - at first in the family but later also on a commercial basis, often in small restaurants consisting of no more than a single room. The original clientele of the Soho restaurants was made up of thrifty foreigners and poor students: it has now become fashionable to eat in Soho, and a meal in this quarter can sometimes be expensive. There are, however, still numbers of reasonably priced restaurants in Soho; and since they are open for lunch as well as dinner a meal in Soho can be combined with a stroll through the streets of this very characteristic quarter of London.

For theater-goers, Soho boasts a concentration of the most famous West End theaters.

For many visitors, too, Soho is a world of dubious entertainments, late night shows and sex shops, but in recent years the number of these establishments has declined. In this respect as in others Soho caters for every taste.

Soho should really be seen both by day and by night. Daytime visits can include Carnaby Street of 1960s fame, the church of St Anne's Soho in Wardour Street where Theodore, King of Corsica, is buried, along Dean Street, where Karl Marx lived at No. 28 from 1850 to 1856, to Soho Square with its statue of Charles II. After an evening performance at the theater, a stroll down Brewer Street and Old Compton Street can provide a selection of bars, cafes and restaurants. Chinatown, with its shops and restaurants stretching between Gerrard Street and Leicester Square, is also very inviting.