With rationing still in place from the wartime and your average pub not allowed to stay open past 2.30 in the afternoon, England in the post-war era of the 1940s and 1950s was a pretty stifling place. But against the odds, just up the road from genteel Westminster, the district of Soho became a bohemian utopia, a thriving counterculture where some of the most revered artists of the day were able to live out an alternative vision of the world.
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| The Windmill girls dash across London’s Soho to a party in 1953. (PA Archive/PA Images) |
Soho had always been a bit different – since the eighteenth century it has been home to intellectuals, immigrants, and outsiders – and was known for its unusual mix of ideas, languages, and sexuality. By the mid-twentieth century however, Soho could claim to be one of the bohemian capitals of Europe, rivaled only by the Left Bank of Paris.
Decades before bustling Chinatown was established and the bright lights were brought to the theatre, this is what Soho looked like in the 1950s.
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| The first prizewinning tableau on parade through the streets of Soho, London, at the opening of the Soho Fair in 1955. |
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| Frith Street in Soho, London in 1955. |
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| Mirv Arvinen (Miss Finland 1955) and Soho’s Fair Queen Andria Loran (right) try their hand at scoffing a plate of pasta at the Soho Fair spaghetti-eating contest on Frith Street, Soho, London in 1956. |
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| Andria Loran, a model in London’s Soho, democratically elected ‘Queen of Soho 1956’, stands in the doorway of the Mambo Club. |
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| Londoners enjoy the Soho nightlife in 1956. |
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| London’s youth hang out on the streets of Soho in 1956. |
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| London’s youth hang out on the streets of Soho in 1956. |
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| A group of young women ‘hanging out’ on the streets of Soho, London in 1956. |
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| A view down along the shops, cafes and bars from the junction of Old Compton Street and Frith Street in London’s Soho in 1959. |
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| The Barbour Brothers from Blackpool strolling down Shaftesbury Avenue, 1952. (Chris Ware) |
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| Londoners relaxing during a summer heat wave at St Anne’s Churchyard Gardens, 1952. (Daniel Farson) |
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| A banjo player entertaining the customers outside the Windmill Theatre, 1953. (Bert Hardy) |
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| A couple dancing at jazz club the Blue Heaven, 1954. (Charles Hewitt) |
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| Four women sharing a 9-foot-long baguette, 1955. (Daily Mirror) |
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| Young men at La Caverne nightclub, 1955. (Joseph McKeown) |
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| Waiters carrying half bottles of champagne setting off on the annual waiters' race from Soho Square to Greek Street, 1955. (Slim Aarons) |
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| Young girls greeting each other, 1956. (Thurston Hopkins) |
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| Two prostitutes leaning out the windows of a brothel, 1956. (Thurston Hopkins) |
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| People dancing at the Gargoyle Club, 1956. (Thurston Hopkins) |
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| A man in drag heading a carnival procession down Old Compton Street during the Soho Fair, 1956. (Ron Gerelli) |
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| Miss Soho waving to the crowds during the annual Soho Fair, 1956. (Mirrorpix) |
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| Pasta eating contest, 1956. (Jack Garofalo) |
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| A group playing and jiving in the street at a fair, 1957. (Evening Standard) |
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| Six models giving a preview of the latest in French haute couture, 1958. (Ron Case) |
