Marylebone Lane

Being in Marylebone Lane the other day, on the way to the Wigmore Hall, quite near Bond Street Tube Station, I was surprised to see through some plate glass some pictures of very lightly clad young ladies, without succeeding, as I passed by, in working out what they might be doing there.

Checking with google this afternoon, I find that the place is a higher grade girlie bar, the lower grade cousins of which have been largely swept away from Soho, a little to the south and rather more to the east. See reference 1.

The whole area used to be, and perhaps still is, owned by the Dukes of Portland, a lot who, according to google, came across with William of Orange and went on to make some very successful marriages, with money that is. Do they know what one of their buildings is being used for? Would it bother them?

Consulting my copy of the sixth duke's memoirs - a fascinating book picked up from I now know not where - with the duke seeming to have quite an eye for the ladies - I find nothing about Marylebone Lane, but am reminded that he also liked a good shoot, once entertaining the arch duke who was later assassinated at Sarajevo for some of the same. Also keen on horses. Clearly time that I read them again - a counterpoise to the Sitwell memoirs I have noticed in the past, with the Sitwells being near neighbours by county, not to say ducal, standards. See reference 2.

PS: punters seeking Bond Street Tube Station in gmaps should take care that they do not take directions to the one in Blackpool, actually an electrical goods shop, but handy for South Pier, a favourite spot for visiting sea anglers.

Reference 1: http://www.socats.co.uk/index.html.

Reference 2: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/osbert.html.