Leicester Square

The brush that painted London sober, sombre and genteel missed Soho. A graceful old square and courtyards and passages that burrow unpredictably between the streets and everything humming with life. This walk takes into account the famous restaurants, bars, sidewalk cafes, Chinatown and the colour and clamour of Berwick Street market.

Colourful and cosmopolitan Soho is the free port that every city must have. It's London's hottest - and coolest - social melting pot. It's a place of bewitching contrasts. Homely village and red-light district; workplace and playground; Chinatown and Theatreland; a paradise for gourmands and the haunt of artists, con-artists, artistes and artisans. Today it's a by-word for style; in the 60s it was the cradle of British pop music; a century ago it was the worst slum in town; earlier still, the hub of aristocratic life. There's no place like it.