[image]
[title]Long before it was full of Prets, Simmons and obnoxiously decorated rickshaws, Soho was a playground for London’s rascals, rapscallions and rogues. In the ’60s, you’d find its streets full of speakeasy bars, schpielers (AKA illegal gambling clubs), porn shops and stripshows. But you’d also find independent greengrocers, fishmongers, butchers and delis – it was vibrant, an ever-changing landscape which transformed after dark.
Old Soho is the subject of a new book and exhibition, ‘Soho Night and Day’, written by author and playwright Frank Norman with photos by Jeffrey Bernard, which was originally released in 1966. ‘He [Frank] wrote it and I took the pictures, it was something of a farce,’ Bernard said. ‘We’d wander around Soho all day and night, having hospitality heaped on us by publicans and restauranteurs who wanted to appear in the book, and I think we were drunk for a year.’
RECOMMENDED:
These photographs document the 1960s Black British experience
These photographs capture the fading world of Smithfield's midnight meat market
The book re-edition features a new introduction written by London historian Barry Miles – who happened to be the editor of Time Out in the late 1970s. ‘Frank gives us an authentic portrait of Soho from half-a-century ago,’ Miles writes. ‘He is painfully honest. He doesn’t see many Soho pubs worth recommending, with the exception of The French Pub, the York Minister, to which he devotes considerable space. In fact, the French is one of the few places that remains more or less untouched since Frank described it, and still does have the ‘spirit’ of Soho.’
Check out some of Jeffrey Bernard’s photographs of 1960s Soho below – from the Casino de Paris’s strip club dressing room to regulars at the French House.
Find out more about the book here. The Soho Night & Day exhibition takes place at Colony Room Green, 4 Heddon St, September 4 to October 18, 3-11pm.