A whimsical tour in west Soho, seeing its history through pubs, including a dodgy pump, a visionary poet and an arm-less bard.
Richard’s walk takes in a famous London department store which had its own local; a pub with an infamous pump on the street outside and a route marked by morbid watering holes.
It’s amazing how pubs can be portals to the history of the area: its trade and industry, entertainment and wider culture and of course the local drinking habits.
Plotting a course around west Soho: Carnaby Street, Golden Square, Brewer Street (appropriately) and Piccadilly Circus, we find gorgeous gin palaces; curious pub names and an arm-less Bard. We take in a poet who saw visions of angels; a master Italian painter (or an imposter!?); kissing and stripping scandals and one pub which really doesn’t pull its punches! Includes an interval break.