Soho, W1

Soho is an area of central London's West End, in the borough of the City of Westminster. It is an area of approximately one square mile bounded by Oxford Street to the north, Regent Street to the west, Shaftesbury Avenue to the south, and Charing Cross Road to the east. The area to the west is known as 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 be considered as either just inside or just outside the southern edge of Soho.

Soho is a small, multicultural area of central London which is home to industry, commerce, culture and entertainment, as well as a residential area for both rich and poor. For centuries it has housed waves of immigrants: the French church in Soho Square is witness to its position as a centre for French Huguenots in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Soho is famed for its many clubs, pubs, bars, and restaurants, as well as late night coffee shops that give the streets an "open all night" feel at the weekends and not forgetting the array of sex shops dotted here and there. Indeed, most Soho weekends are now so busy as to warrant closing-off of some of the streets to vehicles. This measure was implemented for a brief period in the mid-1990s, but Westminster Council later removed most of the pedestrianisation, supposedly after complaints from some local businesses about loss of trade.

There are many record shops in the area, specifically around Berwick Street, where shops such as Blackmarket Records and Vinyl Junkies dish out the "freshest grooves". Soho is also notable as the home of London's main gay village, centred on Old Compton Street. The area had been gay-friendly for many years, but became even more so beginning in the early 1990s.

Soho is near the heart of London's theatre area, and is a centre of the independent film and video industry as well as the television and film post-production industry. It is home to Soho Theatre, purpose built in 2000 to present new plays and stand-up comedy. The British Board of Film Classification, formerly known as the British Board of Film Censors, can be found in Soho Square.

Soho is criss-crossed by rooftop free-space communications laser beams, and below ground level with fiber optics, known as Sohonet, which connects the Soho media and post-production community to British film studio locations such as Pinewood Studios and Shepperton Studios, and to other major production centres such as Rome, New York, Los Angeles, Sydney, and Wellington, New Zealand.

The Soho area has had the reputation of being the heart of London's sex industry for at least 200 years, but has increased in the last 50 years.

Nearest places :
Fitzrovia
Mayfair
Bloomsbury
Holborn
Marylebone
West End (In the narrowest sense of the entertainment district around Leicester Square. By most other definitions Soho is part of the West End itself.)
Covent Garden
St. Giles - the area surrounding St. Giles-in-the-Fields, St. Giles Circus and the Phoenix Garden.

Public transport links in Soho, W1

Real estate agents in Soho, W1

Properties listed on eleflat.co.uk

(3) Soho, W1
(35) Marylebone, W1
(10) London Bridge, SE1
(10) Enfield, EN1
(9) Chelsea, SW3
(8) South Kensington, SW7
(7) Tottenham, N17
(6) Canary Wharf, E14
(6) Bloomsbury, WC1
(5) Perivale, UB6
(5) Notting Hill, W11
(5) Mayfair, W1
(5) Camden, NW1
(5) Belgravia, SW1
(4) Sydenham, SE26
(4) Streatham, SW16
(4) Regents Park, NW1
(4) Muswell Hill, N10
(4) Islington, N1
(4) Fulham, SW6
(4) Edmonton, N9
(4) Docklands, E1
(4) City, EC4
(4) Chiswick, W4
(4) Brockley, SE4
(4) Brixton, SW2
(3) Westminster, SW1
(3) Walthamstow, E17
(3) Putney, SW15
(3) Maida Vale, W9
(3) Knightsbridge, SW1
(3) Kings Cross, N1
(3) Kensington, W8
(3) Greenford, UB6
(3) Edgware, HA8
(3) Earls Court, SW5
(3) Canning Town, E16
(3) Bow, E3
(3) Acton, W3
(2) Wimbledon, SW19
(2) Waterloo, SE1
(2) Tufnell Park, N7
(2) Southgate, N14
(2) Southfields, SW18
(2) Shepherds Bush, W12
(2) Seven Sisters, N15
(2) Pimlico, SW1
(2) Mile End, E3
(2) Marble Arch, W2
(2) Kentish Town, NW5
(2) Ilford, IG1
(2) Green Park, W1
(2) Cricklewood, NW2
(2) Charlton, SE7
(2) Brentford, TW8
(2) Borough, SE1
(2) Bethnal Green, E2
(2) Bayswater, W2
(2) Battersea, SW11
(1) Woolwich, SE18
(1) Wood Green, N22
(1) Willesden, NW10
(1) West Hampstead, NW6
(1) Wanstead, E11
(1) Wandsworth, SW18
(1) Walworth, SE17
(1) Wallington, SM6
(1) Tooting, SW17
(1) Stratford, E15
(1) Stoke Newington, N16
(1) Stepney Green, E1
(1) Stamford Hill, N15
(1) St John's Wood, NW8
(1) Southall, UB1
(1) South Norwood, SE25
(1) Shoreditch, N1
(1) Shad Thames, SE1
(1) Richmond, TW10
(1) Preston, HA3
(1) Paddington, W2
(1) Morden, SM4
(1) Mill Hill, NW7
(1) Hounslow, TW3
(1) Holloway, N7
(1) Harrow, HA0
(1) Hackney, E8
(1) Golders Green, NW11
(1) Finchley, N3
(1) East Sheen, SW14
(1) Ealing, W5
(1) Croydon, CR0
(1) Crouch End, N8
(1) Clapton, E5
(1) Clapham, SW4
(1) Bermondsey, SE16
(1) Bellingham, SE6
(1) Beckenham, BR3
(1) Barnet, EN4
(1) Barnes, SW13
(1) Archway, N6
(1) Anerley, SE20