audience with a knife – so I confiscated the
knife and gave him a clip round the ear.”
It wasn't all bad, of course. At an
unassuming address on Dean Street (69, if
you're interested), nightclubbing, as we know
it today, was born. It was from here that the New Romantic
movement took off – finding its true voice in the famed club
night Blitz, which later took place in nearby Covent Garden.
It was also at this time that the area began to
metamorphose into what it is today. The governing
Westminster Council, as well as Soho property owners,
noticed howmuch real-estate prices had risen in the
neighbouring boroughs of Mayfair and Covent Garden, and
wanted a slice of that money. Mass redevelopment began, the
virtual guide happily informs, while Westminster Council
tightened sex licensing laws and cleaned up the streets.
Three decades later, Soho is flourishing. But it begs the
question: has the locale lost the rock 'n' roll spirit it once had
(
and that the app so beautifully highlights)? “Very far from
East London is now so oversaturated
that people are returning to Soho
it," says W Insider Robinson. "Though, it's definitely come on
in leaps and bounds in other ways.”
In particular, Soho has become the best place in town to
grab a bite. Take Cevice (
cevicheuk.com
),
one of the area's
newest and most talked about restaurants. Opened nine
months ago with a hunch that people might fancy high-
end Peruvian cuisine, it's since seen 60,000 customers pass
through its doors. “Soho is now the most exciting place in
the world to go for lunch and dinner," gushes founder Martin
Morales. "The food is innovative and the options are endless.”
Izzy Lawrence, a Storm supermodel and MTV presenter
who blogs about London at
gogobot.com
is another firm
advocate, and, like many, she has seen the cool crowds return
in the past year: “East London stole the limelight from Soho,
because creative types moved there for studio space, and
the arty crowds followed. But it's now so oversaturated that
people are coming back.”
She recommends La Bodega Negra (
labodeganegra.com
),
an edgy newMexican food joint with the added bonus of a
06:
Gamblers in
Soho's Golden
Nugget Casino,
1965.
It's still
there if you
fancy a flutter
06
PHOTO GETTY
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