Old Compton Street

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Eastern end of Old Compton Street

Old Compton Street is a road that runs east–west through Soho in the West End of London.

History[]

The street was named after Henry Compton who raised funds for a local parish church, eventually dedicated as St Anne's Church in 1686.^{[citation needed]} The area in general and this street, in particular, became the home of Huguenots, French Protestant refugees who were given asylum in England by Charles II in 1681.

By the end of the 18th century, fewer than ten of the houses were without shop fronts.^{[citation needed]} In the middle of the 19th century, while there were some workshops too, as well as restaurants and public houses, the ground floors of most of the houses were still used as shops. The number of people of overseas descent continued to grow and the street became a meeting place for exiles, particularly those from France: after the suppression of the Paris Commune, the poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine often frequented drinking haunts here. Richard Wagner also spent time living on the street: more generally it became a home for artists, philosophers, bohemians and composers.^[1]

Old Compton Street had its resident curiosity in the form of Wombwell's Menagerie.^{[citation needed]} George Wombwell kept a boot and shoe shop on the street between 1804 and 1810 and, by all accounts, was quite an entrepreneur. Of short stature and an alcoholic, he nonetheless built up three hugely successful menageries from a starting point of two snakes bought at a bargain price. The menageries travelled around England and made him a wealthy man before his death in 1850.^{[citation needed]}

In 1887, M. Siari, an Algerian, established the Algerian Coffee Stores at number 52, still known as among the world's best leading suppliers of tea and coffee, and remains up to now one of the oldest shops in the street.

The street's radical and artistic traditions continued after World War II, with it being frequented by communists, proto-beatniks and existentialists, and it became a centre for modern and trad jazz.^[1]

Between 1956 and 1970 the 2i's Coffee Bar was located at number 59. Many well-known 1960s pop musicians played in its cramped surroundings.^[1]

Current[]

Today, the street is the main focal point for London's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.^{[citation needed]} In Soho, central London, it features several gay bars, restaurants and cafés, as well as a popular theatre. Whilst a pedestrianisation project proved unpopular with local traders and was reversed, the street is closed to vehicular traffic for the Soho Pride festival one weekend each year, in late summer.

The Prince Edward Theatre is located on the east end of the street. Until 2004 the long-running production of Mamma Mia!, a musical based upon the songs of ABBA, was showing at the theatre. When Mamma Mia! moved to larger premises in another part of the West End, a production of Mary Poppins moved in, but closed in 2008. It subsequently became home to Aladdin. London producer and director Adam Spreadbury-Maher lives at the northern end of Old Compton Street.^[2]

The Admiral Duncan public house.

In 1999, the Admiral Duncan pub was the site of a nail bomb attack which killed three people and injured over a dozen.^[3] A neo-nazi, David Copeland, was subsequently found guilty of the bombing (intended specifically to injure members of the gay community). Previously decorated in neutral colours, Admiral Duncan was re-opened with a flamboyant pink and purple exterior with a large rainbow flag flying outside as a symbol of gay pride. The flag has remained there ever since, in defiance of Westminster City Council's planning permission laws.

Along the street are numerous other gay bars including Comptons of SOHO and G-A-Y. Also on the street are a variety of cafés, tea rooms (including the original branch of the Patisserie Valerie chain) and restaurants (including Bincho, a yakitori restaurant and Balans, which unusually for much of England is open 24 hours a day), and sex shops.

In the middle of Charing Cross Road, at its junction with Old Compton Street, beneath the grill in the traffic island in the middle of the road, can be seen the old road signs^[4] for the now-vanished Little Compton Street, which once joined Old Compton Street with New Compton Street.^{[citation needed]}

Additional adjoining streets[]

• Wardour Street
• Greek Street
• Little Compton Street (now defunct)
• New Compton Street

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Old Compton Street.

• Panoramic view at the junction with Dean Street
• Discovering Old Compton Street and New Compton Street
• Compton Street, Old and New
• CloneZone, London's oldest Gay sex shop

Coordinates: 51°30′48″N 0°07′53″W / 51.51326°N 0.13128°W / 51.51326; -0.13128