Little Marlborough Street

Little Marlborough Street sits in the north-western part of Soho, close to Carnaby Street and the lanes around it. It was the south-western arm of Great Marlborough Street, and in early records it sometimes appears as part of Carnaby Street. By 1706 eleven houses had been built in this stretch.

The wider development took its name from John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough, and Great Marlborough Street was laid out around 1704, the year of his victory at Blenheim. The address was fashionable in the eighteenth century, but by the end of the nineteenth its character had turned to commercial and retail use, in step with the trade that grew up around neighbouring Carnaby Street.

That trade is what the area is best known for today. Carnaby Street became a centre of fashion retailing in the 1960s, and the surrounding streets, Little Marlborough Street among them, carry the shops, cafes and small businesses that serve the same crowds. The street is a short walk from Great Marlborough Street and the shopping around Carnaby Street.