By Jon O'Donnell
My first memory of Soho is from around 1989, heading to the Marquee Club to see Pop Will Eat Itself. For the uninitiated, PWEI (or the Poppies) were a breakthrough indie band who mashed up thrash guitars, sampled loops and beautifully terrible rap lyrics. They were pioneers in design too — every logo and album cover carefully styled, every new line of merch snapped up by eager, scruffy, long-haired fans like me (back then..).
The Poppies weren’t from Soho, they were from Stourbridge. But it’s fitting they were my introduction to the place I now work in every day. Soho is very much like PWEI: a melting pot of genres, styles, personalities and attitudes, all rubbing along seamlessly. And while it feels like that could happen anywhere, it doesn’t. It happens here. Because Soho is special.
A neighbourhood of reinvention
For over 400 years, Soho has been constantly remaking itself. From hunting fields to aristocratic squares, then immigrant workshops and cafés. The name “Soho” allegedly comes from an old hunting cry, recorded locally in the 1600s. (Sorry NYC, but that’s a far cooler etymology than a bit of geographical shorthand.)
From music halls to film offices, jazz bars to gay clubs, Chinatown to Carnaby Street, the area has always been messy, noisy, creative and rebellious. Ronnie Scott, Muriel Belcher, Laura Henderson, Paul Raymond, David Bailey, these were the original influencers.
What makes Soho tick is its density. Within a few blocks you’ll find filmmakers, musicians, designers, writers, fashion upstarts, restaurateurs, bakers and bartenders. Pavements become meeting rooms. Projects spark in chance encounters. This is cultural agglomeration at its best, a district built on collision and collaboration.
Soho’s Wall of Sounds
That same energy gave birth to Soho Radio. It literally couldn’t have been created anywhere else. Born in and of the area, it’s now a global music and culture discovery platform that embodies everything Soho stands for: eclectic, independent, authentic, rebellious. The thrill of exploring the new, alongside the joy of rediscovering the old. Many voices, endless choices.
The neighbourhood’s music heritage runs deep. Jazz found a permanent home with Ronnie Scott’s on Frith Street, while the Marquee Club on Wardour Street became a launchpad for everyone from the Rolling Stones to David Bowie. Berwick Street still lives on in pop culture thanks to Oasis’ What’s the Story Morning Glory? cover. More recently, Tyler, the Creator chose Beak Street for his GOLF fashion brand’s London store, and in 2026, the world-renowned Blue Note jazz club is opening its first London home in Soho, of course.
In my teens, as an aspiring musician, I’d spend Saturday afternoons in Soho Soundhouse, just off Soho Square, testing out the latest gear and calculating how many birthdays, Christmases and pocket-money advances I’d need to save for a Roland drum machine or Akai sampler (spoiler: a lot). Later, those Saturdays shifted to crate-digging at Blackmarket Records on D’Arblay Street, where I’d splurge what little I had on filtered French house (don’t judge).
Soho has always been the home of sound for me — from the instruments I dreamed of owning to the records that shaped my weekends.
Why Soho is now perfect for podcasting
Soho has been London’s beating creative heart for decades. Music labels, ad agencies, film editors and – yes — the bars and members clubs that fuelled them all.
Today, the formats may have shifted from vinyl pressings to TikTok clips, but the gravitational pull is the same. Creators, brands and storytellers still come to Soho to make sh** happen.
It’s only natural that this legacy now extends to podcasting, the new frontier of digital storytelling across audio and video.
At Viral Tribe, we lean into this heritage with four Soho studios, from our new Wardour Street 4K video space to our Broadwick Street podcast suites. For clients, it means you’re not just booking a room. You’re plugging directly into Soho’s cultural capital.
The magic of place
Within a ten-minute walk you’ll find ad agencies, production companies, talent agencies, editors, and artists. You’ll stumble across a thousand creative conversations happening over coffee in Berwick Street Market, or right out there on the street. No tubes required, no cabs necessary, required, it’s all right here. The creative nervous system of the UK.
Saying “we recorded it in Soho” carries a different cultural weight than “we hired a room in Zone 4.” Audiences pick up on authenticity a mile away. Location matters.
Every great city needs a district that gives permission to experiment. For London, that’s Soho. It has always been the creative heartbeat of the capital — and it still is. If you’re looking for inspiration, a place where ideas can turn into something special, there’s nowhere better to start than here.
So whilst the Marquee Club may be long gone, its spirit like so much of Soho remains. I don’t really remember a lot from that Poppies gig back in 1989 but I do recall the battle cry from the wonderfully titled “Wise Up Sucker!” still ringing in my ears as I trudged back to Euston – “Wise Up!.. Show ’Em What You Got.” If you want to impact culture with your podcast, you gotta show ‘em in Soho.
If you’re looking for a space that combines technical excellence with Soho’s creative edge, check Viral Tribe availability here.