Dean Street, Soho: where to eat and drink, door by door
Tortilla at a counter that takes no bookings, half pints in the French House, Jeremy Lee's cooking where Marx wrote Das Kapital and a Sunday roast at the Townhouse: Dean Street, door by door.
By Only Soho Editorial
Dean Street is the widest of the old Soho streets and, to our minds, the best one to eat on. It runs south from Oxford Street to Shaftesbury Avenue, and between them it holds a tapas counter that has never taken a booking, a pub that serves only halves, a restaurant in the rooms where Karl Marx wrote, and a jazz club in a pizza restaurant's basement. Here it is, door by door.
A spacious street
The Survey of London finds Dean Street first named in an Act of Parliament of 1678, which set out the site of St Anne's Church, and it was in the ratebooks by 1683. Nobody knows where the name comes from. Its first builders gave it more width than its neighbours, and in 1720 the historian John Strype called it "a spacious Street". It still feels like the grand avenue of Soho.
Dean Street Townhouse, 69 to 71 Dean Street
Near the top of the street, Dean Street Townhouse has been open since 2009, a Georgian house with a restaurant on the ground floor and 39 bedrooms above. It serves British classics from 7am on weekdays until midnight, and later at weekends, with a Sunday roast and afternoon tea. Go on a Sunday, take a table by the window and order the roast.
Quo Vadis, 26 to 29 Dean Street
Quo Vadis describes itself as formerly a brothel and a home to Karl Marx, which is about as Soho as a biography gets. Today it is a restaurant and members' club, with the cooking in the hands of Jeremy Lee, who serves seasonal, regional British food. The private room upstairs is called the Marx Room. For lunch on a budget, ask for the Soho Set Menu and a table in the window.
Before you go in, look up. The blue plaque at number 28, put up in 1967, records that Marx lived here from 1851 to 1856. The family lived in real poverty, two of the children died here, and Marx worked on the first volume of Das Kapital. They had moved down the road from 64 Dean Street, now demolished, and the same years saw the birth of their daughter Eleanor Marx, who became a leading socialist in her own right.
Barrafina, 26 to 27 Dean Street
Next door, Barrafina on Dean Street is the original of the group and the only one that still takes no reservations. You wait at the standing bar with a drink until stools come free, and there is a covered, heated terrace at the front. It is open for lunch and dinner every day, until 11pm from Tuesday to Saturday. Get there at five, take a stool at the counter and order the classic tortilla, the ham croquetas and the gambas rojas, then finish with the tarta de Santiago.
The French House, 49 Dean Street
The pub at number 49 is the French House. It was the York Minster from 1891, became a gathering point for the Free French in the war and took its present name in 1984. The rules are famous: no music, no machines, no television, no mobile phones, and beer only by the half pint. As the New Statesman put it in March 2026, the draught list is plentiful anyway, from Meteor to the Kernel's London Stout, with Breton cider and a long wine list. Upstairs, the dining room Fergus and Margot Henderson opened in 1992 still does traditional French food. Stand at the bar at six, order a half of Meteor, and book the dining room upstairs for the bavette.
Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, and the jazz at number 10
Lower down, Soho Theatre has been at 21 Dean Street, a former synagogue, since 2000, with comedy, cabaret and new plays every night and a busy bar on the ground floor. At number 10, the basement of the PizzaExpress has been the PizzaExpress Jazz Club since its first ticketed shows in 1976. Book an early set and order a pizza with the music.
How to do Dean Street
Breakfast at the Townhouse, lunch at Barrafina when it opens, a half at the French House at six, then dinner at Quo Vadis or jazz at number 10. You never have to leave the street.
