The stage of Soho Place, which has replaced the Astoria

THERE is going to be a lot of pressure to be the first for 50 years of anything. But Soho Place took on that unenviable mantle recently as it became the first theatre to open in the West End for half a century.

Of course, it follows the demolition of the Astoria for the Elizabeth line works.

The venue, just behind Tottenham Court Road station, had hosted some of music’s best known bands, having started life as a cinema, with Metallica, the Arctic Monkeys and Nirvana playing to audiences.

I went along to Soho Place for the first time on Saturday, which has a production of Marvellous on at the moment – about Stoke City kitman, former clown and friend to the great and good, Neil Baldwin.

First I called in at a Covent Garden classic, Le Beaujolais in Lichfield Street. It is the sort of place that you would walk past without thinking too much about, but has developed a cult following.

Customers and staff seem to know each other, many ordering a wine I thought I had misheard as Le Fat Bastard, but it turns out that my hearing aid was working perfectly.

The ceiling is cluttered with ties and tankards and other knick-knacks hang off the walls. The wine is ordered from a waiter who has the same commitment to attendance as a hospital consultant, blink and you’ll miss them, and most communication from staff is delivered with a warm series of grunts and shrugs. It couldn’t be more Gallic, from a country that coined the phrase joie de vivre.

The Astoria

From there to Soho Place. As you would expect for somewhere that is brand new, it has the aroma of a car that has just returned from being valeted. Nobody knows quite what that smell is, but a week of patrons hadn’t changed it. The bar downstairs is a destination in itself, well poised and classy, although if you’re tall you’ll have to duck to make eye contact with the bar staff… unless you want to look through the rack of glasses that blocks your gaze.

The theatre itself can be opened up to accommodate more than 600 people, but was reined in for its night when I visited. Perhaps just testing the waters.

As the first theatre to open for 50 years, it doesn’t feel lived in, and it will need time to develop its own history.

The play was, predictably, marvellous. A cast of seven play Neil Baldwin, including one pretending to be the actual Mr Baldwin himself (the real Neil Baldwin has been at several performances himself, in his wheelchair). It shows him passing through life, struggles with his disability as a child, before going on to unofficially work at Keele University, singing in its church choir, managing a football team, being a clown and somehow managing to wangle a job as kitman (often in fancy dress) under manager Lou Macari.

Don’t let the slapstick lull you into a false sense of security, the relationship between him and his mother packs a punch that will leave you emotionally winded.

The play is a great one to open with, at a theatre that will become a staple of the West End scene. Being the first for 50 years is difficult, but Soho Place achieves it well.