ABSTRACT
Development started in the south with Old Compton Street and Golden Square in the 1670s, and then spread north via Dean Street and Wardour Street to Soho Square in the 1680s. Property was bought by wealthy city merchants wanting to be closer to the royal palaces of Whitehall, Westminster and St James. The new arrivals may have had little wealth to contribute but they brought with them their food, their art and their energy to create the vibrant and convivial atmosphere that Soho has always had. The atmosphere has encouraged individuality, creativity and entrepreneurship, the main theme of this walk. Soho is somewhere to take risks, to challenge orthodoxy. The social character of Soho and the key theme of the walk is well illustrated by two towering figures in the history of health care, one of whom people will encounter at the start and the other at the end.
