Gerrard Street

Gerrard Street runs through London’s Chinatown in the West End, a street built between 1677 and 1685. It was named for Charles Gerard, a military leader who once trained troops here. The physician Nicholas Barbon developed the street, and by the mid-1700s it had become known for coffee houses and taverns rather than homes. The Turk’s Head Tavern once stood on the street where Samuel Johnson and Joshua Reynolds met in 1764 to found their dining club. John Dryden lived at number 43, marked by a blue plaque, and later Rudolph Appel ran a printing business there. The street has long been a centre for entertainment and culture. In the 1920s, the 43 Club became notorious for wild parties frequented by the rich and powerful. Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club began in a basement at number 39, and a basement in the street hosted Led Zeppelin’s first rehearsal in 1968. A telephone exchange built in 1907 now serves as an arts and exhibition venue. The buildings also hosted a folk and skiffle club, a psychedelic club called Happening 44, and a Chinese supermarket. Visitors walk past plaques marking former residents like Edmund Burke and Charles Dickens’ fictional lawyer Mr Jaggers. The Turk’s Head Tavern site is remembered with a plaque at number 9. The street’s buildings still carry signs of their varied past, from Georgian townhouses to 20th-century studios. Today it forms the heart of Chinatown, lined with restaurants and shops beneath bright red lanterns. The mix of history and modern life makes the street a quiet witness to London’s changing culture.