Soho, London

Soho is an area in the centre of the West End of London, England, in the City of Westminster. Although similar in name, Soho is unrelated in any way to the SoHo neighbourhood in New York City. Soho is an entertainment district and for much of the later part of the 20th century, had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life. There is also a range of eating houses here.

Angus Steak House, Soho
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aberdeen_Angus_Steak_Houses_in_2008.jpg
Author: Steve Fareham


The area where Soho is located is bounded by Oxford Street to the north, Regent Street to the west, Shaftesbury Avenue to the south and Charing Cross Road to the east. To the west of Soho is Mayfair, to the north Fitzrovia, to the east Holborn and Covent Garden, and to the south St James's. Chinatown and the area around Leicester Square can also be considered as either just inside or just outside the southern edge of Soho.

Soho was grazing farmland until 1536, when it was taken by King Henry VIII to be turned into a royal park for the Palace of Whitehall. The name Soho first appears in the 17th century. It is believed that it was an old hunting call, as in "Soho! There goes the fox!" On the other hand, it may also be a short form for South Holborn. Holborn itself comes from the Anglo-Saxon word holbourne which means "deep brook", referring to a stream that used to flow near where High Holborn and its continuation, Oxford Street are today.

Berwick Street Market, Soho
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Berwick_street_market_1.jpg
Author: Fin Fahey


By the mid 1800s all respectable families that lived in Soho had moved away while prostitutes, music halls and small theatres moved in. In the early 1900s a number of foreign nationals opened cheap eating-houses. Soon it became a favourite haunt for intellectuals, writers and artists. It is said that the pubs of Soho are often packed with drunken writers, poets and artists - many never staying sober long enough to be successful.

The Soho name has been imitated by other entertainment and restaurant districts such as Soho, Hong Kong; SoHo, New York; and Palermo Soho, Buenos Aires.

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Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.