COVENTRY STREET

    Coventry Street is the short road that runs between Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus.

     The Swiss Centre clock and glockenspiel in Coventry Street was always a popular meeting point, standing on the north-west corner of Leicester Square. It was demolished in 2008, replaced by the altogether less wholesome M & M’s World. Do these people not realise the queue for sweets in Tesco is much smaller; and there’s more choice?
    
    When the Swiss clock isn’t striking, the most striking thing in Coventry Street is the Four Bronze Horses of the Helios on the corner of Haymarket.
     Well it was, but the horses were corralled and the fountain switched off way before the pandemic.
     March 2025 update: the fence has been removed and the fountain switched back on .....
     The sculpture, by Rudy Weller, is one half of a commission installed in 1992.
     Update (early 2023) Another change - it is now Lío London, described as 'a high-octane cabaret bar'.


     Scott’s famous Oyster and Supper Rooms, with three floors of dining, occupied a large part of the Trocadero from 1891 until 1967 when they moved to Mayfair. In the early days their oysters were ten-a-penny; now they’ll set you back between £42 and £68 a dozen. Scott’s ‘S’ monogram, flanked by shell motifs, can still be seen on the corner of Windmill Street. 
     Ian Fleming had a favourite table at Scott’s, as did James Bond. According to Scott’s, it was here that Fleming first overheard the request for a Martini that was shaken not stirred.
    On one occasion during WWII Fleming invited some captured German officers for lunch at Scott’s, aiming to get them drunk and talkative.
     By the time they’d finished eating, the restaurant was swarming with special branch officers, alerted by a waiter who had overheard the party speaking in German. Unfortunately, Fleming had no new intelligence to show for his efforts.
     Scott’s also gets a namecheck in The Great Escape as the first place two POWs want to go once the war is over.

Thursday,September 15, 2022

     It turns out there is still somewhere interesting to eat in Coventry Street. My nieces Lydia and Sam take me for steamboat in Haidilao, a popular chain in China and Malaysia. Haidilao is in the cavernous basement in the Trocadero. The meal comes with a free manicure and they have mouthwash in the gents. I’m not making this up.

     ...... the noodles are delivered with a rather unnerving flourish.  We pass on the manicure.

Saturday, March 25


Ramadan is under way and for the first time in the West End the holy month is being celebrated with a street light display. 
Ramadan Lights in Coventry Street has 30,000 LED bulbs forming 61 moons. To the surprise of no-one Mayor of London Sadiq Khan was asked to switch the lights on. They can be seen until April 21.

Comments

  1. Mick Goodenough3 January 2023 at 07:35

    Bob James writes …..

    At the bottom of Page 2 in the Coventry Street letter you refer to the Argyll Rooms “where wealthy men had hired prostitutes”. Does this phrase mean ‘had’ as in “had sex with”, or is it the pluperfect tense of the verb “hired”, meaning “had in the past hired”? (Asking for a friend.)

    Best, Bob

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mick Goodenough3 January 2023 at 11:38

    Bob-
    Impressive pedantry once again.It's a long time since I even saw the word pluperfect.And I never understood it.You obviously took Latin more seriously than I did.
    -Mick

    ReplyDelete

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