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The Toucan
If this place is haunted by anything, it’s the good times.
Carol (Margaret Nolan)
Although he was not born in London but in Poole in Dorset, director Edgar Wright has always been very attached to it. When he creates Spaced, his comedy series with his friend Simon Pegg, is set in the capital. Shaun of the Dead, his first big box-office success, also takes place in the London suburbs and many times over the years, Edgar Wright has returned to shoot in these streets that are dear to his heart. For Last Night in Soho, his first real serious horror film, the director nevertheless announces the colour very quickly and wishes to shoot as much as possible in natural settings. So he sets up his cameras in the heart of Soho. A neighbourhood to which he pays tribute.
The choice of the Toucan, the pub where her heroine finds a job, is no accident. After all, it is one of the most popular bars in the area, frequented by students, workers and tourists alike. This is also where Jimi Hendrix once met his manager Chas Chandler. We can thus consider that the Toucan plays a role in the great history of rock. For a music lover as enlightened as Edgar Wright, such considerations are important. Not content with filming scenes in front of the pub, on several occasions, he also exploits the interior and especially the basement, where Ellie works. It is there that she speaks with Lindsay during a decisive sequence. The Toucan is the perfect setting for a movie, perfectly capturing the atmosphere of Irish pubs.
Thereafter, Edgar Wright gravitated towards Soho but did not hesitate to set some of his scenes in Camden and other parts of London. The end credits of Last Night in Soho also consist of a succession of snapshots of the city. A nice way for the filmmaker to pay his tribute to the one in which he made his debut.
Actress Anya Taylor-Joy recorded three songs for the film: two versions of Downtown, a song popularized by Petula Clark, and You’re My World, an unreleased song.
The Toucan
A must-see pub in Soho, the Toucan pays homage to one of the symbols of Guinness beer and has become a meeting point for the Irish community in London.
Formerly the site of La Roca, a Greek restaurant on the first floor, and Knuckles Bar, a nightclub founded by Viv Prince, the drummer of the Pretting Things, this establishment was the scene of the decisive meeting between Chas Chandler of The Animals and Jimi Hendrix in October 1966. The first having become the manager of the second. An evening during which the virtuoso guitarist jammed with the future members of Traffic. In 1993, the bar changed hands and briefly became a sandwich shop, before being totally transformed into an Irish pub in 1994. Decorated in the colors of the Guinness Toucan, a true Irish enclave in Soho, the Toucan acquired a new fame in 2021 following the release of the movie Last Night in Soho, where many scenes were shot in front of its counter.
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London's guide to the 1000 cult locations for films, series, music, comics and novels
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Harry Potter, James Bond, Bridget Jones, The Persuaders!, Black Mirror, The Crown, Dr Who, Mister Bean, Monty Python, Sherlock Holmes, Blake and Mortimer, The Beatles, David Bowie, The Who, Amy Winehouse, Dracula, Oliver Twist…
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After New York and Paris, this third book in the collection is enriched by a new model, a revised pagination (640 pages) and for the first time original film journeys (Harry Potter, James Bond, Alfred Hitchcock, romantic comedies, superheroes), series (God save the Queen, detective series, humor series, Dr Who), music (The Beatles, the Britpop, Icones 60-70 , pop, punk), comics (Blake and Mortimer, From Hell, superhero), Victorian London, thriller, Jack The Ripper, Sherlock Holmes.
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By Gilles Rolland
Passionné de cinéma, de rock and roll, de séries TV et de littérature. Rédacteur de presse et auteur des livres Le Heavy Metal au cinéma, Paroles de fans Guns N' Roses, Paroles de fans Rammstein et Welcome to my Jungle : 100 albums rock et autres anecdotes dépareillées. Adore également voyager à la recherche des lieux les plus emblématiques de la pop culture.