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West End Extra - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published: 7 March 2008

Say no to Noho

• CAN anything be done to prevent the massive new development on the former Middlesex Hospital site on Mortimer Street being named Noho Square?
It is sad enough that a distinctly fine (and perfectly reusable) building is being swept away to create this outsized mega-block, without some fake name being attached to the project.
The developers – Candy and Candy – defend their choice of name on the grounds that it sounds like New York or Los Angeles (each of which cities has a Noho district standing north of its Soho district, the names deriving from the fact that the areas lie north or south of Houston and Hollywood boulevards respectively).
But on every count this seems to be a compelling reason not to call the new development Noho Square.
London’s Soho is so named not because it is south of Oxford Street! Its origins are more obscure, deriving from an old hunting cry. The area in which the hospital site stands has for decades been known as Fitzrovia. Its ethos and character are distinctly different from Soho, and Fitzrovians (many of whom have lived in the area for generations) value those differences.
But Candy and Candy announce proudly that they are not interested in the history of the area. In Fitzrovia News Nick Candy claims that he and his brother don’t want to “hark back” to the past. They are all about “contemporary urban regeneration”.
Their major concern is to be associated with “an internationally recognisable term for sophisticated urban living” – something that sounds as though it has been transplanted from New York or LAs.
What a woeful vision. Nick Candy says that it would be confusing to call the new development Fitzrovia Square. No one is asking him to. Any number of names suggest themselves. Mortimer Square, Goodge Square, Berners Square, Newman Square, Nassau Square (from the surrounding streets); or Nightingale Square (Florence Nightingale worked in the hospital).
Cllr REBECCA HOSSACK
Conservative, Bloomsbury, Camden Council

Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, West End Extra, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@westendextra.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Wednesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld. Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number.
Letters may be edited for reasons of space.

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