Soho has a way of turning one plan into five. You might arrive for lunch and find yourself browsing records an hour later, stop for a drink that turns into dinner, then realise there is still time for a comedy show or live music before heading home. Very little here requires travelling far, which is part of the appeal.
It feels different from nearby Mayfair too. Soho is busier, louder and a little less interested in everything going perfectly to schedule. Restaurants spill into the evening, music has been part of the neighbourhood for generations, and some of the best streets are the ones worth walking simply to see what turns up.
That makes it an easy place to spend time with your partner without building the whole day around reservations. A few plans are useful, particularly for a show or live music, but leave some space between them. Soho tends to reward people who turn up with only half an itinerary.
With that in mind, these are some of the best ways to spend a day or evening in Soho with your partner.
1. Start with a Walk Through Soho Square
Soho Square is one of those places that looks surprisingly calm considering what surrounds it. Oxford Street is only a few minutes away, Dean Street runs down one side, and some of the busiest parts of Soho begin almost as soon as the garden ends.
The square itself is small enough that nobody needs to make a special expedition out of it. There are lawns, benches and mature trees, with the distinctive mock-Tudor gardener’s hut sitting in the middle. It works better as the beginning of a walk than as the entire destination.
From here, you and your partner can head down Dean Street, cut across towards Frith Street, or simply choose whichever road looks more interesting. Old Compton Street, Greek Street and Wardour Street are all close enough that getting slightly lost is rarely much of a problem.
Soho is best explored on foot once you arrive. If it is only one stop in a longer day around the capital, though, you can explore luxury car hire options in London and leave the rest of the itinerary open.
2. Wander Around Carnaby and Kingly Court
Carnaby is hardly hidden, but it still deserves time if neither of you has explored it properly.
Carnaby Street itself is pedestrianised and packed with fashion, beauty and lifestyle shops. The more interesting approach is to keep wandering beyond the main stretch. Newburgh Street, Foubert’s Place and the smaller streets around it add independent shops and quieter corners between the bigger names.
Then there is Kingly Court, a three-storey courtyard tucked just behind Carnaby Street. Food and drink are the main reasons to go in, and it is particularly useful when both people are hungry but cannot agree on exactly what they want.
There is no need to decide in advance whether this part of the day is shopping, lunch or drinks. It can quite easily become all three.
If the plan continues towards another part of London afterwards, hiring a Mercedes gives you a comfortable way to move on once the bags start appearing.
3. Browse Berwick Street Market and the Record Shops
Berwick Street has been a market street for a very long time. Trading here stretches back to the late eighteenth century, and food stalls still operate alongside shops and businesses today.
Food is only one reason to walk down it.
The street became particularly well known for record shops in the 1980s, when it earned a reputation as Soho’s “Golden Mile of Vinyl”. Independent record stores remain part of the street now, so anyone who enjoys music can easily lose half an hour browsing without meaning to.
This is a good part of Soho for letting each other get distracted. One person might disappear into a record shop while the other spots a clothes store, bakery or market stall a few doors away.
There is also an obvious photo stop for Oasis fans. The cover of What’s the Story Morning Glory? was photographed on Berwick Street, which makes the location considerably more interesting to some visitors than it first appears.
4. Drop Into The Photographers’ Gallery
The Photographers’ Gallery sits just off Oxford Street on Ramillies Street, close enough to Soho that it can easily be included without turning the day into a museum trip.
Its exhibitions change, so it is worth checking what is showing rather than going purely because the gallery appears on an itinerary. Photography also tends to make for a very different kind of gallery date. There is usually plenty to discuss afterwards, especially when one person loves a picture the other cannot understand at all.
The gallery stays open later on Thursdays and Fridays, which makes it easy to fit into the afternoon before dinner or drinks.
See what is currently showing at The Photographers’ Gallery
It does not need to occupy the whole afternoon. An hour inside followed by coffee, shopping or a walk back towards Carnaby is enough.
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5. See Something at Soho Theatre
Soho Theatre is a better choice than automatically booking the biggest musical in the West End, particularly if the two of you enjoy comedy.
The programme moves between stand-up, theatre, cabaret, new writing and work-in-progress shows, so there is usually something happening that feels smaller and less predictable than a major West End production.
Check what’s on at Soho Theatre
Part of the fun is taking a chance on someone neither of you knows. Tickets are often easier to justify when the performer is unfamiliar, and finding something unexpectedly brilliant is better than spending the whole evening comparing it with a famous show.
Dean Street also puts dinner almost everywhere around you when the performance ends.
If the show is only the first part of a longer evening elsewhere in London, hiring a Maserati can make the journey between the two feel slightly less ordinary.
6. Spend an Evening at Ronnie Scott’s
Ronnie Scott’s is one of the places that gives Soho some of its musical identity.
The jazz club has been on Frith Street since 1959, when saxophonists Ronnie Scott and Pete King founded it. Over the decades, the stage has hosted musicians ranging from major jazz names to artists from rock, soul and popular music. It still operates as an intimate live venue rather than a giant concert hall.
That scale matters on a date. The stage feels close, the lights stay low, and there is little temptation to spend the performance looking at a phone.
The programme also goes well beyond one narrow definition of jazz. Depending on the night, the music may lean towards soul, R&B or other styles alongside more traditional jazz.
See what’s on at Ronnie Scott’s
Dinner before the show makes for an easy evening, but there is also something nice about letting the music be the main plan and deciding what happens afterwards once you step back onto Frith Street.
7. Eat Without Committing to Just One Part of Soho
Choosing somewhere to eat in Soho can become a problem simply because there is too much choice.
Italian restaurants sit a few streets from Japanese counters. Chinatown begins almost immediately to the south. There are long-established places, tiny dining rooms, fashionable openings and restaurants where half the tables seem to be outside despite the weather.
Rather than choosing the restaurant with the longest waiting list, decide what the two of you actually feel like eating.
Another option is not choosing one place at all. Start with something small, wander for a while, stop somewhere else for another dish, then find dessert later. Soho and Chinatown sit close enough together that a loose food crawl requires very little planning.
Dinner can also be the point where the day changes pace. If lunch and shopping have been casual, arriving later in a luxury Bentley can make an evening reservation feel like a different occasion altogether.
8. Stay for Cocktails at Swift Soho
Old Compton Street has no shortage of places to drink, but Swift is worth knowing before the evening starts.
The bar has two quite different levels. Upstairs is brighter and better suited to stopping in without making too much of an occasion of it, while downstairs is darker and slower, which tends to suit a later date much better.
Swift also runs live music sessions alongside its cocktail menu, which can make an ordinary stop for drinks stretch into a longer evening.
Cocktails have a habit of changing the transport plan for the evening. If neither of you wants to think about driving afterwards, chauffeur service in London makes it easier to let dinner turn into another drink without watching the clock.
9. Look for the Seven Noses of Soho
This one sounds ridiculous until the first nose is found.
Small sculpted noses are attached to buildings around Soho, the remains of an art project by Rick Buckley. Several still survive, and hunting for them has become one of the neighbourhood’s stranger unofficial sightseeing activities.
There is no grand reward for finding them all. That is probably part of why it is fun.
Instead, the search gives you and your partner an excuse to look more closely at streets you might otherwise walk straight through. Even if the noses prove difficult to find, plenty of pubs, shops and cafés will appear along the way.
It also costs nothing, takes as long as you want, and produces the sort of slightly pointless competition that can make an afternoon much more entertaining than another formal attraction.
10. Turn Soho Into a Chauffeur-Driven Night Out
Driving around Soho itself is rarely the enjoyable part of a night out. The streets are busy, much of the area is easier on foot, and once dinner and cocktails enter the plan, leaving the car behind starts to sound sensible anyway.
A chauffeur becomes more useful at the edges of the evening.
You might be collected from a hotel, arrive in Soho for dinner, walk to Ronnie Scott’s or Soho Theatre, stop somewhere for cocktails and then have a car ready when the night finally finishes. There is no need to interrupt each part of the evening to arrange the next journey.
STARR Luxury Cars can organise that around your plans. An Audi chauffeur keeps the journey discreet and comfortable, while a Rolls Royce with a chauffeur suits a birthday, anniversary or evening that deserves something more memorable.
The useful part is not having to decide exactly when the night ends before it has even started.
Plan a Date in Soho with STARR Luxury Cars
Soho is one of the easiest parts of London to enjoy without overplanning it. You and your partner can start with shopping or a gallery, end up eating somewhere neither of you had considered, then keep the evening going with live music, comedy or cocktails. STARR Luxury Cars can help with the journeys around that day, whether you want the flexibility of a self-drive car elsewhere in the capital or a chauffeur waiting when the Soho night is over.
If you want to make more of the trip, there are plenty of luxury things to do in London that can work alongside a day in Soho. First-time visitors can also explore the best places to visit in London when planning the rest of their stay.
