Paul, the librarian at Time Out, first told me about the street beneath Charing Cross Road in around 2005. He promised to show it to me, but never did.
Then, last month, I saw it. I was mooching around Cambridge Circus, noting the loss of London’s best-named book shop, Lovejoys, a landmark from the time I used to be a dedicated fanzine-browser across the road at Sportpages, also since departed. I had always assumed Lovejoys was a wittily named Soho porn shop, but it actually stocked cheap classics and DVDs. The shop taking over the site will be a sex shop it seems, albeit of the modern, seedless, air-brushed, air-conditioned variety rather than Soho’s traditional damp basement. With the erasure of any trace of character at the arse-end of Berwick Street, the old Soho sex shop is nearly gone. Indeed, much of this post is about things that have been removed, including Paul the librarian, who left Time Out shortly before I did.
As I crossed Charing Cross Road from Soho and stood on an island in the middle of the road waiting for a No 24 bus to pass, I happened to look into the grille beneath my feet. I have instinctive curiosity when it comes to London holes but this is the first time I’ve really seen anything of interest, as, to my surprise, I could make out what appeared to be a subterranean street sign set into the wall a few feet below the ground.
I leaned in closer and there they were – not one, but two street signs for Little Compton Street, one blue enamel and the other painted on to brick. Here was London’s buried street.
Although Little Compton Street has its own Wikipedia page, it is not entirely clear how the signs got here. The street itself was obliterated by the construction of Charing Cross Road – here you can see Little Compton Street on an old map of 1868, intersecting with Crown Street (which is marked by green as Soho’s border, though surely red would be more appropriate) just before Cambridge Circus. Little Compton Street ceased to exist in around 1896 and is now part of the Cambridge Circus utility tunnels, which some urban explorers write about here. (Apparently, Rimbaud and Verlaine used to drink in a pub on Little Compton Street during their dramatic London stay.)
Were the underground signs accidentally left behind when Charing Cross Road was run roughshod over the top of Crown Street or was it a careful act of preservation by an unnaturally thoughtful council? Or were they removed from a wall by unknown hand and deliberately placed down here, where Little Compton Street has existed ever since, entombed beneath London feet and offering a tantalising glimpse of those fantasy Londons from countless dreams and dramas. There’s an echo of China Mieville, Neil Gaiman and the Borribles, but also of Malcolm McLaren’s mysterious and misremembered subterranean Victorian road (neatly discussed here) that is said to exist intact beneath Selfridges on Oxford Street.
One wonders whether the brutal Crossrail redevelopment of this bedraggled part of the West End will allow any such traces to remain. I hope so. And I hope they also have this last-gasp, accidental feel, of something that London can’t quite let go, like dying fingernails clawing a wall, leaving behind a ghost, a whisper, of one of London’s many pasts.
For some great old images of Charing Cross Road, browse here with leisure and a little sadness.
The Great Wen 
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below the pavement a street – Paul
Thanks for that, I must go and peer through those railings. I’m not sure Little Compton Street was really obliterated. The northern half of Charing X Rd was really just a widening scheme which consumed one end of Little Compton St. The rest was renamed and is now the eastern end of Old Compton Street.
Psychogeography – love it!
It is one of the defining features of London that it remains pretty much unknowable. Just when you thought you were getting on top of it all, somebody points out some other small detail you didn’t know!
Thanks for that.
Love the blog….quirky and informative.
Just started out myself with ‘William Ruby’s London’ at http://www.williamruby.blogspot.co.uk/
Cheers!
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This is fascinating! I work pretty close to Soho so I’m going to check it out in my lunch break. The “hidden” side of London is the reason I find it such a fascinating city. I was reading recently about all of the disused and abandoned railways, would love to find a tour that takes you through them!
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but can you get down there to explore?
Love this, John. I should take you a tour of Edinburgh’s town below the ground next time you’re up. Great pictures of the little buried street.
😉 X
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Reblogged this on Hallie Saber and commented:
Very cool to be living in the middle of such a rich historical city. There’s been some intrigue about the literal underground of London lately, with a notable write up in the New York Times (http://nyti.ms/1bgseJW). Added to the list of the year: hang out underground some more.
Lovejoys WAS a sex shop in the basement. The cheap classics and DVDs was just an facade.
Peter – thanks for giving a link to my flickr Charing Cross Road set. Regarding Little Compton Street, there seems to be a bit of confusion over the location of the drinking emporium frequented by Verlaine & Rimbaud – it now appears that Richard Wagner actually stayed there! For anyone interested, there’s more info here http://www.flickr.com/photos/warsaw1948/6778186374/in/photostream/
Great blog!
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Hopefully this should explain the mystery of the underground street signs…
http://www.guerrillaexploring.com/gesite/public_html/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=343:ges215-cambridge-circus-utility-tunnels-l0ndon&catid=5:subterranean&Itemid=10
I used to work at The Hearts of Oak Benefit Society in Late 60s, near end of Charing Cross Road, a lovely old building Years later walking with my mum and aunt, I said, this is where I used to work….it was now a sex shop! Wish I hadnt said that so loudly at the time…..:)
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Reblogged this on Stephen Liddell and commented:
Sometimes we hear about how some of the oldest cirties are built on top of the ruins of earlier incarnations. Rome, Paris and London are some well known examples. In fact many British cities are built upon several earlier eras such as the Romans or Vikings which can lay 20-30 feet below the modern streets. Sometimes you can visit these streets such as the famous tourist attractions in Bath and York. At other times, ancient streets are discovered almost by accident when excavated in London before construction work takes place only then to be covered again waiting for new discoveries centuries down the line, Today though was the first time I accidentally discovered a real life Victorian street literally under my feet when I looked through the grate of a drain…..
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