Soho · Buildings & streets
Old Compton Street, Wardour & the southern edge
A bar preparing for service, an editing room in use and a home upstairs can share the same short stretch of street. Begin with their different working hours and access needs, then shape the repaint around the building.
Discuss your project
Hospitality and media premises need different briefs
Westminster’s audit identifies hospitality around Old Compton Street and lower Wardour Street, and film-related commercial buildings on Wardour Street. For a dining room, describe lighting, seating and cleaning needs. For a studio, obtain the technical requirements and equipment plan. A commercial address alone tells us too little about how the interior should be prepared or finished.
Sources: Westminster: Soho and Chinatown conservation area audit
Recognise the Chinatown conservation boundary
The same council audit places Gerrard Street and the north side of Lisle Street within the distinct Chinatown conservation area. For a frontage on that southern edge, check the precise address and applicable designation. Record existing ornament, signage and established finishes before proposing changes; a palette selected for another part of Soho is not an approval for this frontage.
Sources: Westminster: Soho and Chinatown conservation area audit; Westminster: conservation-area address checks
Programme around preparation and reopening
Give the proposed closure period in full, including stock movements, staff preparation and cleaning. Mark the surfaces that can be decorated independently and those that require the whole room to close. In a compact bar, repainting a counter surround can affect circulation as much as a larger wall. Include the selected materials’ drying and return-to-use instructions before settling the handover time.
Account for the home above the business
Find the residential entrance and discuss its use with the responsible building contact. Include equipment movement, waste removal and deliveries when assessing a late shift, rather than considering application noise alone. Requests for night or early-morning decoration should identify the intended tasks and remain subject to council requirements, the building’s rules and the agreed programme.
Tell us what you have in mind
A room. A frontage.
A place to begin.
Share the Soho property address and a short outline of the work. For occupied premises, add the hours the space can be released and any instructions from the person managing the building.
Introduce your project
A little about the rooms, their condition and your intended finish will help frame the conversation.