29-450: The Intrepid Fox was a pub at 97–99 Wardour Street , Soho , London, established in 1784 by the publican Samuel House, who named it after the prominent British Whig statesman Charles James Fox . The pub was located on the corner of Wardour Street and Peter Street. During the general election of 1784 , House provided free drink to the public. More recently, it was a goth pub which also hosted heavy metal gigs. It closed in 2006, when
58-498: A London building or structure is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Wardour Street Wardour Street ( / ˈ w ɔːr d ɔːr / ) is a street in Soho , City of Westminster, London. It is a one-way street that runs north from Leicester Square , through Chinatown , across Shaftesbury Avenue to Oxford Street . Throughout the 20th century the West End street became
87-518: A centre for the British film industry and the popular music scene. There has been a thoroughfare on the site of Wardour Street on maps and plans since they were first printed, the earliest being Elizabethan . In 1585, to settle a legal dispute, a plan of what is now the West End was prepared. The dispute was about a field roughly where Broadwick Street is today. The plan was very accurate and clearly gives
116-601: A master baker's, the Sari Centre, Lesgrain French Coffee House, Harrison Marks ' Glamour Studio, an Indian restaurant and various brothels. Probably the first Chinese restaurants opened in Lisle Street, parallel to Gerrard Street, and more opened gradually; one of the first restaurants was Kowloon Restaurant. The Tailor & Cutter did not close down until around 1974. The area now has more than 80 restaurants. In 2005,
145-401: A name, it is shown to have about 24 houses, and additionally a large "Gaming House" roughly on the present-day northwest corner of Leicester Square . The map also shows a large windmill, about 50 yards to the west of what is now St Anne's Church , roughly on the current alignment of Great Windmill Street . The name Colmanhedge Lane did not last, and a 1682 map by Ogilby and Morgan shows
174-603: A one-day shutdown in protest of violent tactics by immigration officers from the Home Office . The London Chinatown Community Centre (LCCC) has been housed in the Chinatown area since it was founded in 1980 by Dr Abraham Lue. The Centre claims to have received 40,000 people for help and assistance since its foundation. Located since 1998 on the second floor of 28-29 Gerrard Street, the Centre relocated to 2 Leicester Court in 2012, above
203-418: A plaque formerly on the house at the corner with Broadwick Street. Sir Edward Wardour owned land in the area, and Edward Street was what is now the stretch of Broadwick Street between Wardour Street and Berwick Street , as shown by Roque. Neither side of the street was fully built up by 1720. John Rocque shows both roads very clearly on his large-scale map of 1746 . From Oxford Street south to Meard Street
232-561: Is now Wardour Street ; then south to Compton Street is Old Soho ; then down to Coventry Street is Princes Street . For the length of Leicester Square it is Whicomb Street and finally Hedge Lane , which now starts at Panton Street rather than James Street. By the end of the 18th century, Horwood , on a large map of 1799, uses the same names but not Old Soho and Hedge Lane . This leaves just Wardour , Princes and Whitcomb streets. The houses have individual numbers by then, and are shown in detail on Horwood's map. The names are much
261-689: The Hippodrome Casino . On 25 July 2016, a new Chinatown gate on Wardour Street was opened by Prince Andrew, the Duke of York . It was made by Chinese artisans and assembled in London. The gate is in the style of the Qing dynasty . There was a Chinese-style pavilion at Newport Place from the 1980s which was a popular meeting point , but it was demolished in 2016 after more than thirty years, despite protests. The development authorities had plans to renovate and enlarge
290-592: The 1970s. Previously, it was a regular Soho area, run-down, with Gerrard Street the main thoroughfare. It was dominated by the Post Office, facing Macclesfield Street, and other major establishments were The Tailor & Cutter House, at 43/44, now a Chinese supermarket and restaurant, the Boulogne Restaurant, near the Wardour Street end, and by Peter Mario's Restaurant at the other end. Other businesses included
319-524: The 20th century, the Chinese population of London was concentrated in that area, setting up businesses which catered to the Chinese sailors who frequented in Docklands . The area was known through exaggerated reports and tales of slum housing and (the then-legal) opium dens, rather than the Chinese restaurants and supermarkets of the current Chinatown. However, much of the area was damaged by aerial bombing during
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#1733084750810348-572: The Blitz in the Second World War , although a number of elderly Chinese still choose to live in this area. After the Second World War, however, the growing popularity of Chinese cuisine and an influx of immigrants from Hong Kong led to an increasing number of Chinese restaurants being opened elsewhere. The present Chinatown, which is off Shaftesbury Avenue did not start to be established until
377-645: The Charing Cross Library with the Westminster Chinese Library. The nearest London Underground stations are Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus . The song lyrics to Warren Zevon 's 1978 hit song " Werewolves of London ": "He was looking for the place called Lee Ho Fook‘s / Gonna get a big dish of beef chow mein" refer to Lee Ho Fook , a Chinese restaurant that stood on 15 Gerrard Street . The films Ping Pong (1986) and Soursweet (1988) are set in Chinatown; they are regarded as
406-564: The area. From 1935, the Shim Sham Club , an unlicensed jazz club popular with black and gay audiences run by Ike Hatch , and its successor the Rainbow Roof, were at 37 Wardour Street. The Flamingo Club was situated at numbers 33-37 from 1957 until 1967. The Vortex Club at 203 Wardour Street is mentioned in a song by the Jam , "A-Bomb in Wardour Street". Based in the discothèque Crackers, in 1977
435-795: The club hosted early concerts by punk bands such as Siouxsie and the Banshees , the Slits and Adam and the Ants . From 1964 to 1988, number 90 was the site of the Marquee Club , and since the late 1960s, number 159 has been the home of the St Moritz nightclub. The Eric Gilder School of Music was at 195 Wardour Street (its original building is now demolished). The street is home to more than 30 restaurants and bars north of Shaftesbury Avenue . South of Shaftesbury Avenue there are many well-known Chinese restaurants including
464-553: The former Intrepid Fox management team opened a new venue of the same name, near Centre Point . The Guardian reported the new venue's imminent closure in 2014. Following the closure of this venue, a third incarnation of the Intrepid Fox was opened at the Archway Tavern later in 2014. 51°30′46.32″N 0°8′1.5″W / 51.5128667°N 0.133750°W / 51.5128667; -0.133750 This article about
493-496: The lane split into three parts. The northern part is shown as SO HO , the middle part Whitcomb Street and the remainder, from James Street south, is Hedge Lane . It is not clear from the map where the boundary between SO HO and Whitcombe Street is—probably somewhere between Compton Street and Gerrard Street . These three names are on the Morden and Lea map of 1682. Wardour Street was renamed and building began in 1686, as shown by
522-631: The large Wong Kei at 41–43. A London County Council blue plaque on Wong Kei's commemorates costume designer and wigmaker Willy Clarkson whose business was based in the building. The street crosses, or meets with, Lisle Street , Gerrard Street, Rupert Court, Dansey Place, Shaftesbury Avenue, Winette Street, Tisbury Court, Old Compton Street, Brewer Street, Bourchier Street, Peter Street, Tyler's Court, Flaxman Court, Broadwick Street, St Anne's Court , Sheraton Street, D'Arblay Street , Hollen Street, Noel Street and Oxford Street. The street signs of Wardour Street appear in both English and Chinese, where
551-510: The latter part of the century. Wright was used for picture frames by the new National Gallery from at least 1856, when they made the large new frame for the Adoration of the Magi by Paolo Veronese that is still in place. The phrase " Wardour Street English " denotes the use of near-obsolete words purely for effect. An example is anent , a preposition , meaning "concerning". This usage derives from
580-445: The meaning of the Chinese name ( 華 都 街) is likely "Chinese Metropolis Street" given the vicinity of Chinatown . 51°30′51″N 0°08′04″W / 51.51419°N 0.13456°W / 51.51419; -0.13456 Chinatown, London#Gerrard Street Chinatown is an ethnic enclave in the City of Westminster , London, bordering Soho to its north and west, Theatreland to
609-452: The name Colmanhedge Lane to this major route across the fields from what is described as "The Waye from Vxbridge to London" ( Oxford Street ) to what is now Cockspur Street . The old plan shows that this lane follows the modern road almost exactly, including bends at Brewer Street and Old Compton Street . The road is also a major thoroughfare on Faithorne and Newcourt 's map surveyed between 1643 and 1647. Although they do not give it
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#1733084750810638-514: The numbering of premises was rationalised around 1896. In the late 19th century, Wardour Street was known for (sometimes slightly shoddy) furniture stores, antique shops, and dealers in artists' supplies. A complicated succession of members of the Wright family were in business in a variety of art and furniture-related fields between 1827 and 1919 at numbers 22 (the first and last), and also 23, 26, 134 and 144, with at least two businesses run by cousins in
667-554: The once great number of antique shops in the area. The Paris-born luthier Georges Chanot III had a shop and violin-making business at no. 157 for many years. During this period, it became a centre of the British film industry , with the big production and distribution companies having their headquarters in the street. By the end of the century most of the big film companies had moved elsewhere, leaving some smaller independent production houses and post-production companies still based in
696-454: The owner Mitchells & Butlers sold the building to property developers. It is rumoured that Mick Jagger poached a young Ronnie Wood from Rod Stewart’s band in a corner of the pub. The Wardour Street building it formerly occupied is clad in faience , including a faience relief of Charles James Fox. As of 2017, the premises were in use as a branch of the Byron hamburger chain. Later in 2006,
725-483: The property developer Rosewheel proposed a plan to redevelop the eastern part of Chinatown. The plan was opposed by many of the existing retailers in Chinatown, as they believe that the redevelopment would drive out the traditional Chinese retail stores from the area and change the ethnic characteristic of Chinatown. In October 2013 and July 2018, the London Chinatown Community Centre (LCCC) organised
754-417: The same on Greenwood 's map of 1827, although the area at the southern end had been redeveloped. The road now ends at Pall Mall East, and the boundary between Wardour and Princes streets may have moved north a little. By 1846, Cruchley 's new plan of London shows change at the southern end. Wardour , Princes and Whitcomb streets stay the same; however, Whitcomb Street loses a few hundred yards at
783-507: The south and east. The enclave currently occupies the area in and around Gerrard Street . It contains a number of Chinese restaurants, bakeries , supermarkets, souvenir shops, and other Chinese-run businesses. The first Chinatown was located in Limehouse in the East End . The first area in London known as Chinatown was located in the Limehouse area of the East End of London . At the start of
812-407: The southern end, and from James Street to Pall Mall is now Dorset Place . In Victorian times, Princes Street is still shown on the 1871 Ordnance Survey map. Stanford 's Map of Central London 1897, at 6 inches (15 cm) to a mile (1:10560), has just two names, Wardour Street from Oxford Street to Coventry Street, and Whitcomb Street south from there. It has remained like this since, though
841-451: The square. The construction of a new pavilion at a different location was announced. Chinatown has no officially defined size, but it has commonly been considered to approximately encompass Gerrard Street, the bottom half of Wardour Street , Rupert Street and Rupert Court, a section of Shaftesbury Avenue and Lisle Street , Macclesfield Street and Newport Place, Newport Court and Little Newport Street. The City of Westminster operates
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