**This event is now Sold Out. A waiting list is in operation so please do register and we will contact you should a space become available.**
'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, ….it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness'.
Soho is a microcosm of life and how we live it – this walk explores how this oh so attractive place has changed over the centuries. From being originally a hunting area for Henry VIII, it became one of London’s hotspots – a haunt for artists, authors and radicals. The area was also a magnet for immigrant communities such as the French Huguenots escaping persecution for their Protestant religion.
In the late 1800s new waves of immigrants followed; Italians, then Jewish, Maltese and Chinese. The market in Berwick Street in the early 20th century reflected the area’s importance for the cheap ready to wear market and other day time manufacture.
Soho was an inspiration for writers such as Charles Dickens as mentioned or Arthur Ransome in his book ‘Bohemia in London’. Soho was also home for shorter or longer periods to musician and composer Mozart, and Wagner and Italian socialite and womaniser Casanova and painter Canaletto, who lived at Beak Street.
Later Soho became known as a mecca for rebellious artistic types such as Lucien Freud and Francis Bacon and for music-lovers due to clubs such as the 2i’s, coffee bar, The Marquee Club and jazz at Ronnie Scott’s, with bands such as Led Zeppelin and Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames playing in Soho in their early day.
The tour is led by tour guide Barbara Wright.
***Become a member of the London Society. You'll get priority booking for events, discounted tickets, the Journal and free tickets for the annual Banister Fletcher Lecture. You can join here: https://www.londonsociety.org.uk/join.***
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