| Bar Italia | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
 Interactive map of Bar Italia | |
| Restaurant information | |
| Established | 1949; 77 years ago (1949) |
| Food type | Cafe Style |
| Location | Frith St,Soho,London, W1D 4RF, United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 51°30′48″N0°07′53″W / 51.5133868°N 0.13134839999997894°W /51.5133868; -0.13134839999997894 |
| Website | Official website |
Bar Italia is an Italian café located onFrith Street in theSoho district ofLondon.
On 26 January 1926,John Logie Baird gave the first public demonstration oftelevision at 22 Frith Street, the building where Bar Italia is located. Theblue plaque above the front door commemorates this event.[1]
Bar Italia in its present form was opened as a café in 1949 by the Polledri family,[2] and is still owned by Veronica and Anthony Polledri today.[3]
Bar Italia inspired the song of the same name by the bandPulp, which is the last track of their 1995 albumDifferent Class. The song describes the cafe as "round the corner in Soho" and "where all the broken people go."
In November 2010, it was announced thatDave Stewart andIan La Frenais were writing a stage musical about the cafe which will be called Bar Italia. Stewart was quoted as saying, "This coffee shop is very small but what goes on in there is as big as the world."[4]
In July 2011, British artist Ed Gray unveiled a painting of Bar Italia featuring patronsRupert Everett andJohn Hurt. It now hangs in the cafe's window.
In 2016Carl Randall painted the portrait of Movie ProducerJeremy Thomas standing in front of Bar Italia, as part of the artist's 'London Portraits' series, where he asked various cultural figures to choose a place in London for the backdrop of their portraits.[5][6] In an interview Thomas explained he chose Bar Italia for this portrait "because I like being there, I go there regularly, I feel comfortable there....there's a bohemianism in this place and it's full of memories of mine since I was a lad".[7][8] A print of the painting hangs on the cafe's wall.[9]
Formed in 2019, the British alternative rock bandBar Italia named themselves after the café.[10]
Bar Italia was awarded the 2010 London Lifestyle Award for London Coffee Shop of the Year.[11]