Greek Street
Encyclopedia
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, leading south from Soho Square
Soho Square
Soho Square is a square in Soho, London, England, with a park and garden area at its centre that dates back to 1681. It was originally called King Square after Charles II, whose statue stands in the square. At the centre of the garden, there is a distinctive half-timbered gardener's hut...
to Shaftesbury Avenue
Shaftesbury Avenue
Shaftesbury Avenue is a major street in central London, England, named after Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, that runs in a north-easterly direction from Piccadilly Circus to New Oxford Street, crossing Charing Cross Road at Cambridge Circus....
. The street is famous for its restaurants and cosmopolitan nature.
History
Originally Hogs Lane, the street is thought to have been known by its present name since 1679. It is thought to take its name from a Greek Church, which was built in 1677 in adjacent Crown Street, now part of the west side of Charing Cross RoadCharing Cross Road
Charing Cross Road is a street in central London running immediately north of St Martin-in-the-Fields to St Giles Circus and then becomes Tottenham Court Road...
. The church is depicted in William Hogarth
William Hogarth
William Hogarth was an English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic and editorial cartoonist who has been credited with pioneering western sequential art. His work ranged from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral subjects"...
's 'Noon' from Four Times of the Day
Four Times of the Day
Four Times of the Day is a series of four paintings by English artist William Hogarth. Completed in 1736, they were reproduced as a series of four engravings published in 1738. They are humorous depictions of life in the streets of London, the vagaries of fashion, and the interactions between the...
.
Although the street has several houses from the 18th century and earlier, it is mainly 19th century in appearance.
No. 1 Greek Street is the site of St Barnabas House, which was built in 1746. In 1811, it became the offices of the Westminster Commissioner for Works for Sewers. This is where Chief Engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette started to work on the construction of the London sewage system
London sewerage system
The London sewerage system is part of the water infrastructure serving London. The modern system was developed during the late 19th century, and as London has grown the system has been expanded.-History:...
. By 1862 the house was taken over by The House of Charity, which was established in 1846 to provide temporary accommodation for homeless people. Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
used the house and gardens as a model for the London lodgings of Dr Manette and Lucy in A Tale of Two Cities
A Tale of Two Cities
A Tale of Two Cities is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. With well over 200 million copies sold, it ranks among the most famous works in the history of fictional literature....
.
In the mid-eighteenth century, no. 9 was the location of the Turk's Head Tavern where a well-known lodge of Freemasons
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
met. The Ancient Grand Lodge of England was organized there on 17 July 1751.
The Coach & Horses pub (also known as Norman's), famous for the rudeness of its former landlord, is at no. 29, at the corner with Romilly Street. The fortnightly editorial lunch of Private Eye
Private Eye
Private Eye is a fortnightly British satirical and current affairs magazine, edited by Ian Hislop.Since its first publication in 1961, Private Eye has been a prominent critic and lampooner of public figures and entities that it deemed guilty of any of the sins of incompetence, inefficiency,...
is held in the Coach and Horses. There has been a public house of that name on the site since the 1720s. There has been a public house known as Pillars of Hercules
Pillars of Hercules (pub)
The Pillars of Hercules is a pub in Greek Street, Soho, London. Most of what exists now was built around 1910, but the pub dates back to 1733 . Dickens referred to it in A Tale Of Two Cities, and the road at the side of the pub through the arch is named Manette Street, after Dr Manette, one of the...
at no. 7 since 1733.
No. 47 is known for providing temporary lodgings for famed Venetian
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
adventurer and author Giacomo Casanova
Giacomo Casanova
Giacomo Girolamo Casanova de Seingalt was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, Histoire de ma vie , is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of the customs and norms of European social life during the 18th century...
in 1764.
No. 49, on the west side of Greek Street, was the home of the legendary folk music club, Les Cousins
Les Cousins (music club)
Les Cousins was a folk and blues club in the basement of a restaurant in Greek Street, in the Soho district of London. It had its heyday during the British folk music revival of the mid-1960s and was notable as a venue in which musicians of that period met and learnt from each other...
.
In the southern part of the street (past Old Compton Street
Old Compton Street
Old Compton Street runs east-west through Soho, London, England.- History :The street was named after Henry Compton. who raised funds for a local parish church, eventually dedicated as St Anne's Church in 1686...
), no. 28 is the site of Maison Bertaux, a renowned French pâtisserie
Pâtisserie
A pâtisserie is the type of French or Belgian bakery that specializes in pastries and sweets. In both countries it is a legally controlled title that may only be used by bakeries that employ a licensed maître pâtissier ....
, founded in 1871. Owned by sisters Michele and Tania Wade, it is known as headquarters for the artist Martin Firrell
Martin Firrell
Martin Firrell has been described variously as a cultural activist, a campaigner, a public artist, or benevolent provocateur, stimulating debate in public space to promote positive social change....
. The upstairs tea room shows work by comedian and artist Noel Fielding
Noel Fielding
Noel Fielding is a British artist, comedian and actor. He is known for his roles as Vince Noir in The Mighty Boosh, which he co-writes with comedy partner Julian Barratt, and as team captain on the music panel show Never Mind the Buzzcocks.-Stand-up comedy:Noel Fielding performed regularly as a...
and members of Icelandic band Sigur Rós
Sigur Rós
Sigur Rós is an Icelandic post-rock band with classicaland minimalist elements. The band is known for its ethereal sound, and frontman Jónsi Birgisson's falsetto vocals and use of bowed guitar. In January 2010, the band announced that they will be on hiatus. Since then, it has since been announced...
among others. It is also the home of the The Maison Bertaux Theatre Club, which performs within the tiny confines of the shop.
The street forms the setting for the 1930 film Greek Street, directed by Sinclair Hill and starring Sari Maritza
Sari Maritza
Sari Maritza was an actress in British films of the early 1930s.Born Dora Patricia Detring-Nathan in Tianjin, China, Maritza was the daughter of a wealthy industrialist and his Viennese wife. Her stage name was taken from the titles of two then famous European operettas: 'Sari' and 'Countess...
and William Freshman.
In the Gangster film "Villain" (1971) the crime lord Vic Dakin (Richard Burton) recommends Greek Street as a source of prostitution "Try the Manhattan Club in Greek Street...lot of 'sunburnt' girls there...for twenty quid they'll do anything...enjoy yourself!"
Present day
Greek Street is known for its selection of restaurants and cafes which currently include a Hungarian restaurant (The Gay HussarThe Gay Hussar
The Gay Hussar is a Hungarian restaurant in Greek Street, Soho, central London, England.- Foundation :Victor Sassie was the founder of The Gay Hussar restaurant in 1953. Sassie was sent to Budapest in Hungary by the British Hotel and Restaurant Association when he was seventeen. He served his...
at No. 2), an oriental organic
Organic food
Organic foods are foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives.For the...
vegetarian restaurant, a Thai restaurant, a pizzeria, a traditional Chinese
Chinese cuisine
Chinese cuisine is any of several styles originating in the regions of China, some of which have become highly popular in other parts of the world – from Asia to the Americas, Australia, Western Europe and Southern Africa...
restaurant, an Italian
Italian cuisine
Italian cuisine has developed through centuries of social and political changes, with roots as far back as the 4th century BCE. Italian cuisine in itself takes heavy influences, including Etruscan, ancient Greek, ancient Roman, Byzantine, Jewish and Arab cuisines...
restaurant and a Moroccan
Cuisine of Morocco
Moroccan cuisine is extremely diverse, thanks to Morocco's interaction with other cultures and nations over the centuries. Moroccan cuisine has been subject to Berber, Moorish, Mediterranean, and Arab influences...
and Lebanese
Lebanese cuisine
Lebanese cuisine includes an abundance of starches, fruits, vegetables, fresh fish and seafood; animal fats are consumed sparingly. Poultry is eaten more often than red meat, and when red meat is eaten it is usually lamb on the coast and goat meat in the mountain regions...
restaurant. There is also a gallery, a whisky shop and several bars. At number 48 is the Michelin-starred L'Escargot
L'Escargot
L'Escargot is a restaurant on Greek Street, in the Soho district of central London. , the restaurant holds one star in the Michelin Guide.-External links:*...
restaurant. There are also several "walk-ups" (providers of legal prostitution) along the street.
The street crosses Manette Street, Bateman Street, Old Compton Street
Old Compton Street
Old Compton Street runs east-west through Soho, London, England.- History :The street was named after Henry Compton. who raised funds for a local parish church, eventually dedicated as St Anne's Church in 1686...
and Romilly Street.