A narrow street with relatively little traffic, St. Martin's Lane is home to the English National Opera at the Coliseum Theatre, as well as a number of theatres, second-hand bookshops, antique dealers and high class gentlemen's outfitters. It also has a large number of cafes and a music shop aimed at opera and theatre goers. The theatrical agency set up by Peggy Ramsay in 1953 was located in Goodwin's Court an alley leading off the lane.
In the 18th-century St. Martin's Lane was noted for the Academy founded by William Hogarth and later for premises of cabinet-makers and "upholders" such as Thomas Chippendale, who moved to better premises there in 1753, Vile and Cobb, and William Hallett around the corner in Newport Street.
St. Martin's Lane was the setting of a 1938 movie of the same name starring Vivien Leigh, Rex Harrison and Charles Laughton, which paved the way for the Broadway musical Busker Alley. It is also prominently featured throughout the 1961 film Victim, also featuring scenes in the Salisbury.
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