St Martin's Lane - Misplaced Pages

Street in the City of Westminster, London For the 1938 film, see St. Martin's Lane (film).

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St Martin's Lane viewed from the south with the Coliseum Theatre on the right

St Martin's Lane is a street in the City of Westminster, which runs from the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, after which it is named, near Trafalgar Square northwards to Long Acre. At its northern end, it becomes Monmouth Street. St Martin's Lane and Monmouth Street together form the B404.

History

The street was first built up in 1610 when Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury was granted 5 acres (2.0 ha) of land on the street's west side. It was originally known as West Church Lane; the current name dates from 1618.

A narrow street with relatively little traffic, St Martin's Lane is home to the English National Opera at the Coliseum Theatre, as well as two other theatres, the Duke of York's Theatre and the Noël Coward Theatre, second-hand bookshops, antique dealers and high class gentlemen's outfitters. It also has a large number of cafes and a music shop aimed at opera and theatre goers. The theatrical agency set up by Peggy Ramsay in 1953 was located in Goodwin's Court, an alley leading off the lane. Two pedestrian alleys, St Martin's Court and Cecil Court, connect St Martin's Lane with Charing Cross Road have similar usage.

In the 18th-century St Martin's Lane was noted for the Academy founded by William Hogarth and later for premises of cabinet-makers and "upholsterers" such as Thomas Chippendale, who moved to better premises there in 1753, Vile and Cobb, and William Hallett around the corner in Newport Street.

The Salisbury

The Salisbury in Covent Garden was built as part of a six-storey block around 1899 on the site of an earlier pub that had been known under several names, including the Coach & Horses and Ben Caunt's Head; it is both Grade II listed, and on CAMRA's National Inventory, due to the quality of the etched and polished glass and the carved woodwork.

Films

The film St Martin's Lane (also known as Sidewalks of London, 1938) starring Vivien Leigh, Rex Harrison and Charles Laughton, later formed the basis of the Broadway musical Busker Alley. The street is also prominently featured throughout the 1961 film Victim, which also has scenes in the Salisbury.

References

Citations

^ Weinreb et al. 2008, p. 786.
"Heritage Pubs, National Inventory". www.heritagepubs.org.uk. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 16 February 2011.

Sources

Weinreb, Ben; Hibbert, Christopher; Keay, John; Keay, Julia (2008). The London Encyclopaedia (2nd ed.). Pan Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-405-04924-5.

v t e Covent Garden
Theatres	Adelphi Theatre Aldwych Theatre Cambridge Theatre Coliseum Theatre Fortune Theatre Lyceum Theatre New London Theatre Royal Opera House Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
People	John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford Inigo Jones Betty Careless Jane Douglas John Dryden
Streets	Bow Street Drury Lane Earlham Street Endell Street Floral Street Henrietta Street Long Acre Maiden Lane Mercer Street Neal's Yard St Martin's Lane Seven Dials Strand Southampton Street Street names of Covent Garden Tavistock Street Wellington Street
Pubs, restaurants and cafes	The Angel and Crown The Harp Lamb and Flag The Nag's Head Nell Gwynne Tavern The Old Bell Rules The Salisbury The White Swan
Churches	Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane Crown Court Church St Paul's, Covent Garden
Museums	Bow Street Police Museum London Transport Museum Theatre Museum
History	Avenue of Stars, London Bedford Estate Blitz Kids Bow Street Magistrates' Court Button's Coffee House Carpenter's Coffee House The Roxy Seven Dials Jazz Club Tom King's Coffee House Will's Coffee House
Other	Anello & Davide Covent Garden tube station Holborn and Covent Garden (ward) London Film School Pineapple Dance Studios Worshipful Company of Mercers
Films, plays and publications	The Weeding of Covent Garden Every Day Except Christmas Frenzy Pygmalion My Fair Lady The Covent-Garden Journal The Covent-Garden Tragedy Murder at Covent Garden Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies The Seven Dials Mystery The First Bohemians
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