Manette Street is a small street in the

Soho SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

area of London, linking the

Charing Cross Road Charing Cross Road is a street in central London running immediately north of St Martin-in-the-Fields to St Giles Circus (the intersection with Oxford Street), which then merges into Tottenham Court Road. It leads from the north in the direc ...

to Greek Street. Dating from the 1690s, and formerly named Rose Street, it is now named after the fictional character of Dr Manette in

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

's ''

A Tale of Two Cities ''A Tale of Two Cities'' is a historical novel published in 1859 by English author Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long impr ...

'', who is described in the book as living on a quiet street corner "not far from Soho Square". Buildings on the street include the

Pillars of Hercules The Pillars of Hercules are the promontory, promontories that flank the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. The northern Pillar, Calpe Mons, is the Rock of Gibraltar. A corresponding North African peak not being predominant, the identity of ...

pub. The House of St Barnabas has a chapel and garden facing onto Manette Street, and an entrance to The Borderline nightclub is accessed from Manette Street. The street was home to the now-demolished

Foyles Building The Foyles Building at 111–119 Charing Cross Road and 1–12 Manette Street, London, was the flagship store of the Foyles bookshop chain from 1929 to 2014, and at one time, the world's largest bookshop. The business moved next door to 107–10 ...

and also Goldbeater's House, which had an arm-and-hammer sign outside it, a replica of the original described by Dickens in ''A Tale of Two Cities''. The street was associated with

anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

in the 19th century, in particular in association with the Rose Street Club, known for its popularity with radicals of all nationalities.

References

External links

View down Manette Street from the Greek Street end

View of entry to Greek Street from the Manette Street end
{{coord, 51.51475, N, 0.13050, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Streets in the City of Westminster Streets in Soho 1690s establishments in England