Editing Old Compton Street (section)

==History==
[[File:Old Compton street and Little Compton Street traffic island.jpg|thumb|Charing Cross Road at the junction with Old Compton Street, with traffic island and grate through which a Little Compton Street sign is visible]]
[[File:Little Compton Street indication.jpg|thumb|Little Compton Street sign visible in a utility tunnel]]
[[File:Old Compton Street. Fortepan 85093.jpg|thumb|The street in 1960, showing the [[Prince Edward Theatre]] while it was operating as the ''Casino Cinema'']]

The street was named after Henry Compton who raised funds for a local parish church, eventually dedicated as [[St Anne's Church, Soho|St Anne's Church]] in 1686.{{citation needed|date=October 2014}} The area in general and this street, in particular, became the home of [[Huguenot#England|Huguenots]], [[France|French]] [[Protestant]] refugees who were given asylum in England by [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] in 1681.

The street was known simply as Compton Street until being renamed to Old Compton Street in 1896.<ref name=surveyoflondon>{{cite web| url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41080 | work=Survey of London: volumes 33 and 34: St Anne Soho | title=Portland Estate: Old Compton Street | editor-first=F. H. W. | editor-last=Sheppard | publisher=[[English Heritage]]/British History Online | date=1966 | accessdate=3 October 2014 }}</ref> By the end of the eighteenth century and until that renaming, the east end of the street between [[Greek Street]] and [[Charing Cross Road]] (at the time, Crown Street) was known as Little Compton Street.<ref name=surveyoflondon /> A street sign for Little Compton Street remains on the wall of a [[utility tunnel]] that runs beneath Charing Cross Road, and is visible through a street grate on a traffic island.<ref>{{cite web | title=GES215 – Cambridge Circus Utility Tunnels, London | work=Guerrilla Exploring  | url=http://www.guerrillaexploring.com/newsite/index.php/categories/18-subterranean/295-ges215-cambridge-circus-utility-tunnels-l0ndon | year=2012 | accessdate=7 April 2022}}</ref>

By the end of the 18th century, fewer than ten of the houses were without shop fronts.{{citation needed|date=October 2014}} An 1818 trade directory shows that the businesses occupying premises in the street included several watch and clock makers, a bookseller, a straw hat maker, a surgeon and [[wiktionary:accoucheur|accoucheur]], an undertaker, a mathematical instrument maker, a bedding warehouse, several grocers and two "dealers in curiosities".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Johnstone |first=Andrew |date=1818 |title=Johnstone's London Commercial Guide, and Street Directory; on a New and More Efficient Principle Than Any Yet Established. In Four Parts. I. Names of Streets ... II. Names of Individuals, Firms ... III. All Professions and Trades ... IV. An Accurate List of Coaches ... To which is Added, Much Miscellaneous and Useful Matter, with List of Foreign Bankers and Negociants ... and Explanatory Indexes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZpVgAAAAcAAJ&q=london+directory |access-date=2022-06-02 |publisher=Barnard & Farleg |language=en|page=137}}</ref>

[[File:Algerian Coffee Stores.jpg|thumb|The [[Algerian Coffee Stores]] in 2015]] 
In the middle of the 19th century, while there were some workshops too, as well as restaurants and public houses, the ground floors of most of the houses were still used as shops. The number of people of overseas descent continued to grow and the street became a meeting place for exiles, particularly those from France: after the suppression of the [[Paris Commune]], the poets [[Arthur Rimbaud]] and [[Paul Verlaine]] often frequented drinking haunts here. [[Richard Wagner]] also spent time living on the street: more generally it became a home for artists, philosophers, bohemians and composers.<ref name=cellarful />
In 1887, M. Siari, an Algerian, established the [[Algerian Coffee Stores]] at number 52, still known as among the world's best leading suppliers of tea and coffee, which remains up to now one of the oldest shops in the street.

The street's radical and artistic traditions continued after [[World War II]], with it being frequented by communists, proto-[[beatnik]]s and [[Existentialism|existentialists]], and it became a centre for [[Modern jazz|modern]] and [[trad jazz]].<ref name=cellarful />

Between 1956 and 1970 the [[The 2i's Coffee Bar|2i's Coffee Bar]] was located at number 59. Many well-known 1960s pop musicians played in its cramped surroundings.<ref name=cellarful>{{cite magazine |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=A Cellarful Of Noise |url=https://recordcollectormag.com/articles/a-cellarful-of-noise |magazine=[[Record Collector]]|date=8 October 2007 |access-date=6 September 2021}}</ref>