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Meard Street is a street in Soho, London. It runs roughly East-West (properly, East-Northeast to West-Southwest, as elsewhere in Soho), between Wardour Street to the west and Dean Street to the east. It is in two sections, with a slight bend in the middle: the west half is pedestrianised, while the east half is a narrow single lane road.
Contents
Map of Meard St, Soho, London, UK
The street is named after John Meard, the younger, a carpenter, later esquire, who developed it in the 1720s and 1730s.
It is prominently featured in photographs and postcards for the tourist trade, due to the pun with French: merde and Italian: merda ("shit").
History
The two halves occupy what were originally two separate, non-communicating 17th century courts. They were developed in two halves: the western half, Meard's Court, in 1722, and the eastern half, Dean's Court (opening off Dean Street, and renamed Meard Street) in 1731/32. As part of the redevelopment of Dean's Court, the two halves were joined in 1732/33.