Asked what the Soho spirit is, Shrimplin says it’s all about the people: “A big part of what I love about Soho is that you can have a place where the sky’s the limit for the bill, and a few doors down you can get a meal for five quid. During her time district visiting in the Five Dials, Maude Stanley had succeeded in encouraging some of her female protégés to live a more exemplary life, but she found that others viewed her home visits as intrusive. The narrative of a historic building seen from the inside, combined with aspects of west-end entertainment, make for a unique perspective. From 1917 until the late 1960s it came under the control of Sir Compton Mackenzie (1883–1972) and his family.

It’s really tough to be a business owner in Soho, but if you immerse yourself in the community then you will do well and you will last a lifetime here,” says Martyn Simpson. It’s a friendly place and not just for old men – the mix of people has never been greater and there’s even a vegetarian dining room upstairs now. Soho has always been quite a dynamic, un-deodorised kind of place that welcomes creative oddities, but not bores,” says Choat. Patel first fell in love with Japanese knives after a visit to the country: “I got stuck in Japan for ten years, as an apprentice blacksmith, studying with a knife master there.

Choat, a tall guy in a Bowie shirt and chunky silver rings, took over the freehold of the 1847-born, Grade II-listed pub eight years ago when “London’s rudest landlord” Norman Balon retired after 63 years. Now, the outside looks the same – the sign with the bare-chested Hercules pushing those pillars is still swinging – but alas, inside the floor is no longer sticky and neither is the air. Sachon is known for his complex, detail-orientated approach; he deconstructs and employs the visual indicators of the shared languages of art and commerce, allowing him to reverse engineer the image making process and meticulously construct worlds that exist somewhere between art and commerce, reality and fantasy. Shot by Sachon in London and Los Angeles, the incredible women pictured in the project include supermodel and socialite, Georgia May Jagger, transgender model and social media savant, Ivana Vladislava, daughter of John Paul Getty and fashion muse, Ivy Getty, fashion designer, Mimi Wade, Vivienne Westwood’s granddaughter, Cora Corre, artist, photographer and filmmaker, Nadia Lee Cohen and British supermodels, Jourdan Dunn and Leomie Anderson. Upholsterer and tapestry-maker William Bradshaw, living and working at No 60 in the mid-1700s, raised a structure of dwelling house and warehousing where No 59 now stands.

Its next-door neighbours, No 60 and No 58 had been standing since the early 1700s, built when Greek Street was a genteel place on the edge of London with nothing to the north but Soho Square, the road to Oxford, fields and a windmill. On 11 December 1966, Elton’s first band, Bluesology, played here as one of two support acts for his rock and roll pianist idol, Little Richard.London, Fabrizio Viti, Jacques Marie Mage, Poster Girl, Roberta Einer, Yohji Yamamoto Eyewear, Zandra Rhodes, Mimi Wade, Miss Sohee, and Koibird. Norman, now 92, still comes in every other Wednesday to collect the new Private Eye (the magazine holds its legendary fortnightly lunches at the Coach). The original of now-global Soho House is on Greek Street, but the insider’s choice is arguably a little further up the street; the Union Club is marked just with a subtle letter “U” on the front. This sweeping staircase was made of stone spandrel steps 3’3 wide to its iron handrail and balusters. The showroom for graphic design duo Miraphora Mina and Eduardo Lima is primarily dedicated to the Harry Potter franchise, and the building had been a popup venue before the House of MinaLima opened in 2016, initially as a temporary exhibition.

As the Theatre Girls’ Club, it excluded males and gave preference to performers; in turn, these young women, mostly in their early teens on arrival, were excluded from normal lodging houses. Tania Wade, sister of current owner Michele Wade, has a small gallery upstairs, says Shrimplin, although you wouldn’t know from the outside. It celebrates these characteristics, picturing women (and dogs) who are unabashed, daring, and authentic. On the floor above was the Music Room covering a total area of 1,025 feet (and extending almost the entire length of the building so clearly intended as a place for large gatherings and entertainments) and which could be divided into two parts by doors and shutters. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others.Maude Stanley planned the demolition of the old building at 59 Greek Street and erection of the new because she wanted to raise something suitable for a club and home for the working girls and young women of Soho. Choat chuckles when I tell him this, and assures me he won’t refurbish the Coach: “I like it as it is. A section has fallen away and landed in the River Cocker below, including the back walls over three floors, sections of flooring and parts of the roof. In the corner was a woman singing Parisian jazz, the kind of music you’d expect in a place like this, and she had tight black curls and a tight green dress.