Soho Square
Where Soho comes to be together
Soho Square has been at the centre of the area’s life since at least the 1760s. William Beckford – the extravagant Gothic novelist forced to flee England after a scandal in 1784 – was born at 22 Soho Square in 1760. In 1999, in the aftermath of the Admiral Duncan bombing, the square became the spontaneous site of a garden of remembrance, flowers and tributes brought from Old Compton Street to make a place of collective grief.
Today it is the informal heart of London Pride weekend – the place where thousands gather, where the community comes together above ground. In May 1999 people put flowers down here and wept. This is where Soho comes when it needs to be together.