Spaghetti eating scrapped over health and safety, but Punch steals show at Soho Festival

PARROTS, tarot and Mr Punch landed in the gardens of St Anne’s Church, Dean Street, for the annual eccentric celebration of all things Soho.

The traditional spaghetti-eating competition had been scrapped owing to health and safety concerns, but there was plenty to keep the hordes amused, from fortune-tellings by Mystic Madame Hannah to the Human Fruit Machine and live music by artists including Adam Ant and Soho resident Old Fashioned Daisy.

Dutch duo Thom and Robert (aka the Brothers Grimm, pictured on page 1 with Hilary Penn from the French House), dropped in to welcome the deputy Lord Mayor of Westminster Michael Brahms to the fair.

For Robert the visit had a special significance – he worked in “King of Soho” Paul Raymond’s Revue Bar and Madame JoJo’s, just around the corner from St Anne’s, from the mid-1980s until 1994.

Soho Society chairwoman Kaye de Ville said she was “thrilled and delighted” with the success of the festivities.

Published: 15 July 2011
by JOSH LOEB