Chinatown, London  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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The name Chinatown has been used at different times to describe different places in London. The present Chinatown is in the Soho area of the City of Westminster, occupying the area in and around Gerrard Street. It contains a number of Chinese restaurants, bakeries, supermarkets, souvenir shops, and other Chinese-run businesses.

Residents

There is a large residential block called Vale Royal House which houses a number of families, professionals and single men and women. This block was built in the 1980s and is made famous by housing the China Town car park underneath it.

There are repeated claims that there are many illegal workers in London's Chinatown earning less than minimum wageTemplate:Citation needed. This illegal trade has association with the Triads, highlighted by a shooting in broad daylight in June 2003 in the Bar Room Bar (brb) on Gerrard Street.

Gerrard Street

Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club started in Gerrard street in the basement of No. 39.

The 43 Club, located at number 43 Gerrard Street, was a Jazz club that became notorious for outrageous parties frequented by the rich and powerful during the roaring twenties. It was eventually closed down by director order of the Home Office and the proprietor, Kate Meyrick, was imprisoned.

Pamela Green and Harrison Marks lived at number 4 Gerrard Street where they set up their glamour studio. In the early sixties they had 15 staff. The director Michael Powell copied their sets for the film Peeping Tom, in which Pamela Green also starred.

Samuel Johnson and Joshua Reynolds met at the Turk's Head Tavern to found The Club dining club in 1764. The site is commemorated by a plaque at No. 9.

A basement in Gerrard Street was the location of the first ever rehearsal of Led Zeppelin in 1968, where they played "Train Kept a Rollin". The exact location of the basement is unknown, and is believed to have been converted into a business premises many years ago.

John Dryden lived for a while at 43 Gerrard Street.