Manette Street

Manette Street, looking onto Greek Street
Foyles on Manette Street in 1976

Manette Street is a small street in the Soho area of London, linking the Charing Cross Road to Greek Street. Dating from the 1690s,[1][2] and formerly named Rose Street, it is now named after the fictional character of Dr Manette in Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities,[2] who is described in the book as living on a quiet street corner "not far from Soho Square".

Buildings on the street include the Pillars of Hercules pub. The House of St Barnabas has a chapel and garden facing onto Manette Street, and an entrance to The Borderline nightclub is accessed from Manette Street. The street was home to the now-demolished Foyles Building and also Goldbeater's House, which had an arm-and-hammer sign outside it, a replica of the original described by Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities.[1]

The street was associated with anarchism in the 19th century,[3] in particular in association with the Rose Street Club, known for its popularity with radicals of all nationalities.[4]

  1. ^ a b Hibbert, Christopher; Weinreb, Ben (2010). The London Encyclopaedia (3rd ed.). Macmillan. p. 524. ISBN 9781405049252.
  2. ^ a b "Greek Street Area: Portland Estate, Manette Street". British History Online. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  3. ^ "Manette Street, Soho – once known as Rose Street, an anarchist hot-bed of the late 19th century – Anarchy in the UK – No Future: The Great Anarchist Scare, Terror Through Time – BBC Radio 4". BBC. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  4. ^ Matthew James Thomas (July 1998). "Paths to Utopia: Anarchist Counter-Cultures in Late Victorian and Edwardian Britain 1880–1914" (PDF). University of Warwick. Retrieved 8 September 2016.