Fortunately, the ground- floor street frontage was retained and is in elegant retail use, with detailing that closely resembles the original appearance as depicted on the book’s front cover.

Soho has always been quite a dynamic, un-deodorised kind of place that welcomes creative oddities, but not bores,” says Choat.The studio piano Elton used on his albums can also be heard on hits like Hey Jude, You’re So Vain, Killer Queen and I Don’t Like Mondays. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. We rendezvous in a pub over a lunchtime drink – not The Coach, mind, because it’s Christmas Eve and if we were in there, people would be knocking on the windows asking to be let in.

By the time the ’60s hit, Soho nightlife was transformed, welcoming people of all classes, races, sexual orientations and gender identities. Choat chuckles when I tell him this, and assures me he won’t refurbish the Coach: “I like it as it is. Milroy’s was always about drinking whisky regardless of how much you earn, where you’re from, where you live, and that’s what we’ve changed it back into,” Simpson tells me, as we’re sitting in the bar before it’s open. I meet with Tony Shrimplin, Chair of the Museum of Soho , who invites me for a wander down Greek Street.While she says the location isn’t great from a retail perspective, the bottom end of Greek Street feels safe and cosy: “I never thought having a business right in the centre of London would feel so village-y. Nor is there mention of the morning sun which shone through the large windows facing Greek Street, and in the afternoons through the windows overlooking Bateman’s Buildings at the rear. Those words come near the end of this unusual book that explores a neglected topic: the capital’s hostels and places of refuge from its bleak and threatening streets. Owner Jayesh Patel assures me they use his knives at L’Escargot across the street: “Virtually any fine dining restaurant in London uses our knives. It may feel a bit exclusive, but you don’t have to stick around in Soho for long before someone will invite you, telling you why their club is the best one.

Upholsterer and tapestry-maker William Bradshaw, living and working at No 60 in the mid-1700s, raised a structure of dwelling house and warehousing where No 59 now stands. It’s really tough to be a business owner in Soho, but if you immerse yourself in the community then you will do well and you will last a lifetime here,” says Martyn Simpson. The plot of land upon which 59 Greek Street stands has a history which long precedes its fame as a place for girls and women. The latter is of especial interest to the early story of 59 Greek Street: Solly and Hill were leaders in the setting-up in 1869 of the London Charity Organisation Society which spread an international influence in the giving of aid to the poor, albeit based on the worthiness of the recipient.

For example, the cocktail bar behind the bookcase (which I did manage to get into in the end) – its proper name is The Vault, and it’s just below Milroy’s of Soho , the whisky specialist established in 1964 by brothers Jack and Wallace Milroy. Shrimplin says the area still has a clubby vibe to it, but there are far fewer live venues and Crossrail has been challenging – he refers to the loss of the Astoria to make room for a Crossrail station on top of Dean Street. From 1917 until the late 1960s it came under the control of Sir Compton Mackenzie (1883–1972) and his family. Nothing stays the same for long, but luckily most of the buildings in Soho are owned by entities (Soho Estates, Shaftesbury PLC, and the Crown Estate) who more or less consider it in everyone’s interest to work to preserve the area’s unique character.

A section has fallen away and landed in the River Cocker below, including the back walls over three floors, sections of flooring and parts of the roof. His images have been featured in publications including i-D, LOVE, PAPER, Playboy, Schön, Tatler UK, The British Journal of Photography, Wall Street International, and the Daily Mail. Patel first fell in love with Japanese knives after a visit to the country: “I got stuck in Japan for ten years, as an apprentice blacksmith, studying with a knife master there.

This article originally appeared as ‘Working girls’ in the Institute of Historic Building Conservation’s ( IHBC’s) Context 172, published in June 2022. Greek Street: home of the Theatre Girls' Club, Soho, London, Catherine Howe, APS Books, Aberford, West Yorkshire, LS25 3AE, 2021, 164 pages, not illustrated.