Espresso in Bohemia: Soho, Coffee Bars and Youth Culture in the 1950s

This dissertation is an exploration of the coffee bar phenomenon that emerged and operated in Soho in the 1950s. It argues that the Soho coffee bars and their occupation by young people were a product of the cultural and economic context of the 1950s. The emergence of coffee bars is considered in relation to the mental and material space of Soho and how this facilitated the emergence of the coffee bar as a space of youth culture. Special consideration is given to the Partisan Coffee House as a unique response to the emergence of youth culture and changes in British society on behalf of radical Left politics.