I have such a soft spot for Soho and when I spent the day walking around it today, memories of so many lunches, evenings out & summer sandwiches sitting in Soho Square above came flooding back to me.
I've worked in and around Soho many times over the years.
Located within easy walking distance of Oxford Street, Regent Street & Leicester Square,
Soho is a vibrant & busy cluster of streets.
Narrow streets & pavements, full of traffic which seems to consist mostly of delivery vans to-ing & fro-ing to the many restaurants & bars.
It's full of cool media types, magazine offices and film companies.
It's cool but not chic, it's an effortless cool I think, a relaxed kind.
It's not expensive or genteel like Chelsea, it feels "real" & a little bit grubby...
it feels like you're in the centre of a city, in a good way.
In the summer, Soho Square - which isn't really that big - is completely packed with office workers & students covering every inch of the grass, soaking up the sun's rays.
I used to sit there every lunchtime that I could, hanging on for a few extra minutes.
There is a huge range of really good restaurants, cuisine of every different kind....
new places open frequently.
today I noticed lots of "street food" which looked really good too.
There are very old traditional London pubs, gay bars & super-modern bars.
At nights, people spill out onto the pavements, restaurants are fairly small here,
there is a lot packed into every street.
Berwick Street fruit & veg market still sits alongside the Indian sari shops full of bales of brightly coloured silks and satin.
Bar Italia does a great espresso and you can sit outside many of the cafes on the pavement people watching. It's a great place to have a quick coffee or a late supper after a theatre date.
There are also lots of homes there....
hidden away, up on the 3rd or 4th floor, doorways hidden down narrow alleyways,
basement flats & rooftop gardens.
It's the great place to visit for a real taste of London.
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