http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/75/Saint_annes_ct.jpg

Always loved it here:

http://www.nottinghillartsclub.com/super/super%20archive/super02/super02gaz.html

http://www.gazrockin.com/

I went to a few 6T's nights at the 100 Club, but they were never the night out that you'd get from Gaz.

God bless Gaz - It's all about the mix.

Do please drop by when in town.

J.

Meard Street. A place to catch your breath & think of Dickens.

http://www.creativereview.co.uk/crblog/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/meardst.jpg

J.

Some Soho tailors (Random) -

Sam Arkus:

http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/directory/1197/26404.php

Mr Eddie:

http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/directory/1197/26386.php

JP:

http://www.johnpearse.co.uk/

Mr Powell:

http://www.markpowellbespoke.co.uk/flash/index.htm

Worth a read:

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/live/live.html?in_page_id=1889&in_article_id=445618

A list of names:

http://www.welovelocal.com/en/london/westminster/soho/shopping-amenities/tailors/

(^ First I've heard Savile Row was in Soho!)


J.

Last edited by Russell_Street (2008-04-28 01:01:30)

Kettners:

http://www.kettners.com/default.aspx

"Kettners is one of London’s oldest and most famous restaurants. Founded in 1867 by Auguste Kettner, a former chef to Emperor Napoleon III (the last monarch to rule France who lived in Britain until the 1848 revolution), this landmark has hosted many meals for famous guests including; Oscar Wilde, King Edward VII, Gary Cooper, Bing Crosby, Agatha Christie, Boy George, Kenneth Brannagh, Hugh Laurie and Johnny Depp, to name but a few."

And the great thing is that today you can just pop in for a Pizza if you fancy. Very democratic of them - I like that.

J.

... Worth playing with is the lack of kudos in wearing a suit from the Row these days.

And this has been the case for a while.

It all depends on who you are, where you go, what you do, as ever, but just like being Public School (unless you can wing it) a Savile Row suit can earn you a just as much of a sneer from some as the admiration of others.

It all depends on what matters to you.

I don't rate the Row. But it's nice for tourists I guess.

J.

Last edited by Russell_Street (2008-04-28 06:15:58)

Random:

"A little known fact is that 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. (from the original German translation by Manheim & Willett)"

A Pub Crawl through Soho:

http://www.ratebeer.com/Story.asp?StoryID=556

The Soho Soc.:

http://www.thesohosociety.org.uk/

^ Lots of links to click on.

Cafe Society:

"If Frith Street is the centre of Italian culture in London then Bar Italia is the Vatican. A small coffee bar, apparently unchanged in years, it simply oozes Latin charm. At any time of the night, you'll have to queue for a coffee and there will be no room inside to drink it. Instead, you'll have to join the crowds outside, lounging over their Vespas in tight white t-shirts & Levis, gesticulating wildly and gawping at the women as they pass by.

Bar Italia is an institution in London and being one of the only places you can go at any time of the day or night, it certainly has its benefits."

http://flickr.com/photos/93139922@N00/282702963/

And...

http://www.classiccafes.co.uk/pollo_special.htm

And now I read that the Pollo died 3 years ago? Shame, that.


Actually I'm too damn sad to carry on with this post now.


J.

Some memories I popped out on Tom22's 'Call Girls' thread not too long ago:

"Working in Soho we used to randomly hand out Christmas cards to the working girls who worked the Berwick Street market. It used to make their day.
We knew a few from the pubs and they were fascinating people - My abiding memory of them is how strict they were and what store they placed in 'having standards'. If you said the wrong thing to them they were very unforgiving.
Later came the girls who worked the doors of the clip joints (that had been a male job previously as I recall). They all seemed to be foreign and they always had a learning curve in identifying the Soho locals from the punters up in town which we always enjoyed.

"What, with my back?" was always the best way to turn down their advances.

The Poland Street NCP car park (and to a lesser extent the Brewer Street & Windmill Street ones too) always had couples in cars parked up 'doing business' in those days. After a while you no longer registered them it was such an everyday thing.
The Poland Street NCP is a great short-cut between Poland & Marshall Streets and Marshall Street (Next to the Swimming Baths) had a block of Edwardian flats where Westminster council used to put their 'problem tennents' - Fantastic people who drank all day & used set fire to things by accident. We knew a few of them from the pubs too - they'd invite you back to theirs via the nearest shop and you'd sit eating toast and drinking neat spirits until the early hours. Very friendly people who really seemed to know how to live life. I doubt any of them lived past 50.

The biggest shop window for rent boys was the Burger King (used to be a Wimpy as I recall) overlooking Picadilly itself. I wonder if it still is?
The boys were always far more into drugs than drinking so we'd know them from the bars & clubs more than the pubs although the Queens Head pub was a favourite with them & they used to whore themselves nearby on those concrete bollards at the Picadilly end of Shaftesbury Avenue.

'B-3' would be the style of the bollards in question I think:

http://www.fsindustries.com/more_info/c … ards.shtml

Most of the boys would just come up to town to whore themselves and then return to places like Surbiton for the rest of the time. Ditto the working girls - Many of them would commute too.

More expensive whores would work around the back of the Hilton in one of the old Mews there and then there was nearby Shepherd Market, although that was mainly over by my day.

All the major London Railway stations were centres of prostitution too with different stations catering for different punters both Gay & Straight. Various Tube stations had various scenes too - Especially Tottenham Court Road where all the druggies were, just under the Centre Point tower.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sznerchu/2200851663/

There's a book in all this.

It's dangerous to romanticise this world, but they were really interesting people who, however sad their back-stories were, always seemed to be having fun whenever you met them in Soho."

J.

^

No maybes, mate.

Yes!

http://www.fluidfoundation.com/venuedetails.aspx?VenueID=1261

Used to go there back when Hugh Grant used to wander around Soho out of it. Nobody would go near him.

J.