Soho pedestrianised in time for Super Saturday – so which streets will be closed and at what times?

After receiving over 6,500 signatures in support (including from Stephen Fry and Damien Hirst), a local campaign has won the right to pedestrianise Soho in time for the much-anticipated ‘Super Saturday’, allowing restaurants and cafés to set up tables outside.

Dubbed the Soho Summer Street Festival, 17 streets including Dean Street, Greek Street, Compton Square and Frith Street (plus further streets in surrounding areas, see below), will be closed to vehicles between the hours of either 11am and 11pm, or 5pm and 11pm, allowing restaurants, pubs and cafés to arrange socially distanced outdoor seating for customers to enjoy. Staff from restaurants and bars across Soho have volunteered to martial the gates surrounding the area to ensure the roads stay clear of traffic between these times.

“We are very happy that we can close some streets to cars and get al fresco dining in the streets,” says the campaign's leader, John James, who is managing director of Soho Estates. “Helping people to connect by going out, eating and drinking is in the DNA of Soho. We want to kick-start the local economy and give people a reason to come back to the city.”

This news comes as a relief for the many businesses in the area fearful that, despite the easing in lockdown measures, footfall in many parts of central London will be at an all-time low. Recently dozens of industry leaders wrote a letter, signed by 30 high-profile chefs, to Boris Johnson and Sadiq Khan demanding action to save London’s West End from becoming a ‘ghost town’, owing in part to the complete shutdown of West End theatres, to which many restaurants and bars rely on for custom.

“BAO Soho is our smallest and tightest restaurant with only 30 covers," says Shing Tat Chung, founder of contemporary Taiwanese restaurant BAO, which has a branch on Lexington Street. "It was going to be challenging even with the two-metre distancing reduced to one metre. The availability for outdoor seating changes the dynamics of the restaurant now.”

Currently the plans will be in place until the end of September, but there is a possibility that the pedestrianisation could be extended into October. Timings will also be subject to change, with the campaign now pushing for more streets to be closed earlier in the day to accommodate daytime trade.

It is hoped that this could spark the introduction of an ‘al fresco revolution’ around the country aided by a Business and Planning Bill, which will be going through a second reading in Parliament on July 6. The Bill will allow wider use of pavements for al fresco dining, as well as relaxing planning permission to organise events like summer fetes and outdoor markets.

Pedestrianised streets and their proposed closing times

Soho

• Greek Street: Closed 5–11pm Monday to Friday, midday–11pm on Saturdays and midday–10.30pm on Sundays (except for resident access)

• Old Compston Street: Closed 5–11pm Monday to Friday, midday–11pm on Saturdays and midday–10.30pm on Sundays (except for resident access)

• Frith Street: Closed 5–11pm Monday to Friday, midday–11pm on Saturdays and midday–10.30pm on Sundays (except for resident access)

• Dean Street: Closed 5–11pm Monday to Friday, midday–11pm on Saturdays and midday–10.30pm on Sundays (except for resident access)

• Bateman Street: Closed 5–11pm Monday to Friday, midday–11pm on Saturdays and midday–10.30pm on Sundays (except for resident access)

• Berwick Street: Closed 5–11pm Monday to Friday, midday–11pm on Saturdays and midday–10.30pm on Sundays (except for resident access)

• Moor Street: Closed 5–11pm Monday to Friday, midday–11pm on Saturdays and midday–10.30pm on Sundays (except for resident access)

• D'Arblay Street: Closed 5–11pm Monday to Friday, midday–11pm on Saturdays and midday–10.30pm on Sundays (except for resident access)

• Upper James Street, Upper John Street and Golden Square: Closed 5–11pm Monday to Friday, midday–11pm on Saturdays and midday–10.30pm on Sundays

• Broadwick Street: Closed between Wardour St and Berwick St and Carnaby St and Marshall St 5–11pm Monday to Friday, midday–11pm on Saturdays and midday–10.30pm on Sundays

• Marshall Street: Timed closure is undecided

• Lexington Street: Timed closure is undecided

• Brewer Street: Timed closure is undecided

• Denman Street: Timed closure is undecided

• Poland Street: Timed closure is undecided

Covent Garden

• Henrietta Street: Closed 11am–11pm, with restaurant and bar seating in street

• Maiden Lane: Closed 11am–11pm, with restaurant and bar seating in street

• King Street: Closed 11am–11pm, with restaurant and bar seating in street

• Floral Street: Closed 11am–11pm, with restaurant and bar seating in street

• Southampton Street: Closed 11am–11pm, with restaurant and bar seating in street

• Burleigh Street: Closed 11am–11pm, with restaurant and bar seating in street

Leicester Square/Chinatown

• Irving Street: Temporary timed closure of road – with restaurant and bar seating in street outside the National Portrait Gallery

St James's

• Panton Street: Temporary timed closure of road – between Oxenden Street to Haymarket for more restaurant and bar seating in the pedestrianised street

Information and maps of the pedestrianised areas can be found by visiting saveoursoho.co.uk.