Credit: Museum of Soho
Credit: Museum of Soho
museum
75 Dean Street, W1D 3PU
A special exhibition exploring the people and places that shaped the area during the Second World War. Tracing famous figures who made Soho their home, and the ordinary everyday heroes who kept the area functioning and our spirits up!
Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus, Tottenham Court Road
Credit: Museum of Soho
Credit: Museum of Soho
12:00–17:00
View the exhibition of The West End at War.
12:00–17:00
View the exhibition of The West End at War.
12:00–17:00
View the exhibition of The West End at War.
12:00–17:00
View the exhibition of The West End at War.
12:00–17:00
View the exhibition of The West End at War.
12:00–17:00
View the exhibition of The West End at War.
12:00–17:00
View the exhibition of The West End at War.
12:00–17:00
View the exhibition of The West End at War.
During the Second World War, Westminster stood at the heart of a city transformed by conflict. Its famous streets, theatres, hotels, government buildings and historic landmarks shared the dangers of aerial bombardment with the homes and workplaces of thousands of Londoners.
It is sometimes claimed that Soho escaped the bombing—that it remained “unbombed” throughout the war. The surviving evidence tells a different story. High-explosive bombs and incendiary devices fell across the district, damaging buildings, disrupting lives and placing enormous demands upon firefighters, rescue workers and local residents. Among the most visible casualties was St Anne’s Church in Dean Street, much of which was destroyed during an air raid in September 1940.
West End at War explores this often-overlooked history through bomb-incident maps, official records, photographs and eyewitness accounts. Together, these sources reveal both the scale of the destruction and the experiences of those who lived and worked through it.
Behind the familiar image of the West End—its lights, entertainment and cosmopolitan nightlife—lay another landscape: one of shelters and sandbags, fire watchers and emergency services, shattered buildings and interrupted lives. Yet the district continued to work, perform and welcome visitors.
This exhibition invites us to look beyond the myths of wartime London and discover how conflict reshaped the West End, its communities and the streets we know today.
Guided tour
The area post 1700 became very cosmopolitan with immigrants mainly from Europe, and their influence on food and drink became increasingly important. This tour is based on food and drink, passing by restaurants, pubs, coffee bars, pâtisserie and delis that have been present for decades, finishing at a relatively new site.
Guided tour
Hear about the history of Soho on a walk around some of the sites associated with colourful characters of yesteryear. From Soho's beginnings as a fashionable suburb in the seventeenth century up to the 1950s, I regale you with delicious snippets of history. We end the tour with the option of refreshments at the birthplace of British RocknRoll.
