After much thought we’re moving from Medium and continuing our Walk on the Wild Side project over on Substack. We think that the move will allow us to develop the project further, engage with our readers more and — in particular — allow us to develop podcasting alongside our regular posts. Over the next few weeks all the content here will transfer over to Substack — but we are taking this as an opportunity to revise the stories and add more of Jackie’s photographs to them. We also have some fascinating new stories to share, some arising from interviews we have been doing.

This is part of the Walk on the Wild Side project by Jackie Hopfinger and Mike Press. Read more at the project publication page. Within little more than two decades, Soho was surrounded. And transformed. The roads came first. In the late nineteenth century Charing Cross Road and Regent Street…

This is part of the Walk on the Wild Side project by Jackie Hopfinger and Mike Press. Read more at the project publication page. “I loved taking part in Walk on the Wild Side. The diverse musical history of Soho was brought to life with vibrant story telling! Our group…

This is part of the Walk on the Wild Side project by Jackie Hopfinger and Mike Press. Read more at the project publication page. How can medieval field patterns determine the nature of a 1950s dance craze? We find the answer to this question most vividly in the basement of…

This is part of the Walk on the Wild Side project by Jackie Hopfinger and Mike Press. Read more at the project publication page. “What happened was simply this. After I left you yesterday evening, Harry, I dressed, had some dinner at that little Italian restaurant in Rupert Street you…

This is part of the Walk on the Wild Side project by Jackie Hopfinger and Mike Press. Read more at the project publication page. And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon Englands mountains green… William Blake They walked upon Soho Square too. Indeed, as a Soho resident for…

This is part of the Walk on the Wild Side project by Jackie Hopfinger and Mike Press. Read more at the project publication page. “He conducted us to Gerrard Street, Soho, to a house on the south side of that street. Rather a stately house of its kind, but dolefully…

This is part of the Walk on the Wild Side project by Jackie Hopfinger and Mike Press. Read more at the project publication page. London has a long-established Jewish community which grew substantially in the latter part of the nineteenth century with refugees from Eastern Europe fleeing persecution, many of…

This is part of the Walk on the Wild Side project by Jackie Hopfinger and Mike Press. Read more at the project publication page. Have you heard the one about the Welshman and the German who walked into a bar and changed the course of popular culture? Probably not. It’s…