This Particular Cafe – Bar Italia, Soho

When I was invited to contribute for Soho Times I leapt at the opportunity because, although Soho, up until recently, used to terrify me – I’ve now finally been properly introduced cafes, restaurants, and from time to time, I’ll happily visit a production set in this colourful square mile…

Today as I compose these paragraphs, I’ve retreated to an old favourite writing spot of mine, ‘Bar Italia’. We’ve already met. We became friends one rainy afternoon whilst I was working on the West End theatre production, Les Miserables. A few of the crew at the time highly recommended this place to me, and so I would venture out to it often as my chosen place to caffeinate myself, but also as a form of escapism. It seems everyone here knows each other; and so as soon as I walk through these doors and smell those incredible coffee bean aromas, it instantly makes you feel as though they’ve been expecting you – not in the James Bond way, but the ‘sit back, relax and let me switch the kettle on’ sort of welcome. 

The history here makes this place feel tranquil. I mean, it was once a meeting point for Italian expats in the late 1940s, and has today grown into one of the areas most beloved cafes. It opened in 1949 by the Polledri family. They poured their passion into the Soho community and, of course, poured their delicious coffee into their business. Thus they created not just a coffee shop, but a social hub for the Italian community. It has now grown to become a quintessential part of Soho. Everyone, even a non-Italian like me, is warmly welcomed to enjoy a delicious coffee and add their invisible footprint on its famous flooring, at almost any time of the day or night, for its doors are flung open at 7am and don’t close until 3am. 

As I watch the world go by in this little hidden treasure of mine, my mind goes to wondering what this place looked like. It’s a little mind-blowing to think that Soho, this bustling place I know of today, was once farmland, where men would cry out “soho” whilst hunting animals. In1900, its pavements were a place where one could rely on finding and purchasing fruits that were then rare and exotic, like tomatoes and grapefruits. These pavements featured the first use in public of the newly invented roller skates, then called land skates, These same streets of Soho today are lined with small, independent establishments that gives it that intensely cosmopolitan feeling that has happened due to a mass influx of the French in 1685, of the Italians and Greeks in the 18th and 19th centuries, and of the Chinese in the 20th Century. All of whom have left their mark on the famous Soho scene which always makes me feel as though I, too, am a part of a diverse community contained in such a small space. The new theatres which were popping up the 1930’s, helped the pub and restaurant trade to boom. Soho is also a place that is strongly associated with the music industry. Berwick Street is now known as ‘The Golden Mile of Vinyl’.

Soho seems to change with the times almost seamlessly. That familiar alfresco dining scene that came about through need during the Covid pandemic made Soho feel like a place to dine out in rather than to knock back a drink or two before rushing out of the door. It can go from loud Pride vibes to chill  European vibes. It is a place I’ve gradually  come to appreciate over the years. 

Written by Chole Louise | @chloelouise.biz

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