St Martin's Lane

St. Martin's Lane is a street in Covent Garden in Central London, which runs from the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, after which it is named, near Trafalgar Square northwards to Long Acre. At its northern end, it becomes Monmouth Street. St. Martin's Lane and Monmouth Street together form the B404.

A narrow street with relatively little traffic, St. Martin's Lane is home to the English National Opera at the Coliseum Theatre, as well as two other theatres, the Duke of York's Theatre and the Noel Coward Theatre, second-hand bookshops, antique dealers and high class gentlemen's outfitters. It also has a large number of cafes and a music shop aimed at opera and theatre goers. The theatrical agency set up by Peggy Ramsay in 1953 was located in Goodwin's Court, an alley leading off the lane. Two pedestrian alleys, St. Martins Court and Cecil Court, connect St. Martin's Lane with Charing Cross Road have similar usage.

In the 18th-century St. Martin's Lane was noted for the Academy founded by William Hogarth and later for premises of cabinet-makers and "upholsterers" such as Thomas Chippendale, who moved to better premises there in 1753, Vile and Cobb, and William Hallett around the corner in Newport Street.

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