Modern Athenian: dishes at the creative Ampeli
(Picture: Steven Joyce)One could be forgiven for thinking that Fitzrovia is one of those names invented by estate agents — like east Bayswater being dubbed Connaught Village, or the Strand being marketed to credulous tourists as The Northbank. But despite various (ludicrous) efforts of (ludicrous) developers to rebrand it as NoHo, the quadrangle of the West End bounded by Tottenham Court Road, Oxford Street, Portland Place and Euston Road has been Fitzrovia since the 1930s.
Though the neighbourhood’s grandest address, Fitzroy Square, dates back to Georgian times, the Fitzrovia moniker was coined by the gossip columnist Tom Driberg, when the area was a byword for bohemianism. In the 20th century, the Fitzroy Tavern on Charlotte Street was the watering hole of some of arty London’s most legendary drinkers, from Jacob Epstein and Dylan Thomas to Augustus John and George Orwell. But while Fitzrovia is still home to a handful of London’s best boozers — following up the Fitzroy with the Newman Arms and The Wheatsheaf would make a fine pub crawl — the area is today more famous for eating than drinking.
