Winnett Street

Winnett Street is a short street in the southern part of Soho, running between Rupert Street and Wardour Street near the edge of the theatre district. It is one of the narrower routes in this densely built corner of the area.

The street carries a comparatively recent name. In 1935 the thoroughfare then known as Upper Rupert Street was renamed Winnett Street, after Thomas Winnet, an eighteenth-century local glass merchant. The change is one of many tidyings of Soho's street names made over the years, where older labels were swapped for those recalling earlier residents and tradespeople of the district.

The wider neighbourhood took shape during Soho's main building period in the 1680s, when open ground around Wardour Street and Old Compton Street was developed into a mix of houses and workshops. The stretch of Wardour Street running past this point was marked as 'Old Soho' on John Rocque's map of 1746, a reminder of how early this part of the area was settled.

Today Winnett Street sits close to the cinemas, bars and restaurants of southern Soho, a small connecting lane between two busier streets near the approach to the theatres.