Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
churchyard: no wonder the ground is so raised. A memorial on the wall remembers the ex-
traordinary 'King of Corsica', a German adventurer who ended his days in debtors' prison,
leaving his kingdom to his creditors.
Continue down Wardour Street, crossing Shaftesbury Avenue. In the Georgian period
Wardour Street was known for its furniture and antiques shops. Thomas Sheraton, the de-
signer, lived here until 1800.
Turn left into Gerrard Street. Today it is the heart of Chinatown but during the eighteenth
century and into the Regency it was full of coffee houses, taverns and lodgings: a focus
for creative types. Artists such as John Sell Cotman lived here, as well as actors, including
Charles Kemble.
On the left hand side is No. 9. Now a Chinese supermarket, this was originally the fam-
ous Turk's Head coffee house, home from home to the likes of Doctor Johnson and Joshua
Reynolds. You can climb the eighteenth-century staircase at the back of the shop, just as
they did.
Turn left into Gerrard Place, right along Shaftesbury Avenue, then first left into Greek
Street to Old Compton Street. This was a vibrant French community during the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries and has always been full of shops and restaurants rather than
houses.
Beak Street: one of many early nineteenth-century shop fronts in Soho.
The sign of L'Escargot restaurant in Greek Street, one of the numerous
French eating houses that have flourished in the area since the seven-
teenth century.
Continue along Greek Street, where Casanova lived at No. 47 in 1764. Thomas de Quin-
cey, author of
Confessions of an English Opium-Eater
, ran away from school to seedy
lodgings at No. 58 in 1802. No. 20 retains the iron hoist from the original colourman's shop
and, close by, Nos. 17 and 21 have early nineteenth-century shop fronts.
