Anyone visited the site of the actual shop?
I had a go, and I might be wrong -street numbering may have changed - but it looks like it's a Pizza Hut now.
Anyone confirm?
The building I think it is is on the corner of CCR, opposite a theatre.
"I know you love one person, so why don't you love two?"
Yes, I have been to the site. It is a pizza hut. Actually, there isn't an 84 per se anymore -- the old site was torn down and new storefronts built around it. There is a bronze plate on the facade where the old building stood and it commemorates the book and the correspondance between Helene and Frank. It is a little bit of a let down, but still nice to know that it's there.
shareThanks a lot. Next time I'm in London I'll take a proper look.
Without being unkind to Pizza Hut, it's outrageous that the site is no longer a book shop. It's sweet that at least a plaque marks the spot. Progress, eh?
"I know you love one person, so why don't you love two?"
Actually guys, its not a pizza hut,
I thought it was when i went looking for it, but its actually across the street from there,
the numbering of the buildings tells you that the pizza hut *should* be 84, and the windows at the top look the same as the photos of Marks and Co
but if your standing infront of the hut, facing it, look left, go across the street and quite high up on the building there (i think its a record shop now) is the plaque,
I thought it was the pizza hut for y-e-a-r-s but it really bugged me that i couldnt find the plaque,
so now you know!
EJ
Thanks a lot. Next time I'm down there I'll take a look. I'd rather it was a record shop than a Pizza Hut - again with all the respect that's clearly due to Pizza Hut.
"...hold me too tightly, and when you look at me you actually see me..."
I was there in 1994 and it was a record store. There were some good bookstores in the area, but better used book stores were found on Portobello Road. I brought home a hundred pounds of books.
I watch this movie every time it's on.
Lee Stamp
Mobile, AL
I have a pic of myself in front of that platte :)
The imaginary friends I had as a kid dropped me because their friends thought I didn't exist
I got off a quick snap of the 84 as I was being tossed about violently by one of those quintessentially British double-decker busses.
"If you don't know the answer -change the question."
Yeah, I was there in 1989 or so and it was a record shop. I went inside and wandered around a bit. It was sort of depressing. No trace of the old 84 Charing Cross Road. A nice large banner sign out front with the address, though.
_________________________________________________________
"I'm running this monkey farm now, Frankenstein!!!"
Pounds of weight or pounds of cash, or both, stamplaw?
shareHi,
The last post was a couple of years ago, but I went to 84 Charing Cross Road on 6 December 2008. It is across the road from Pizza Hut opposite the pub. It's now a coffee shop/cafe which has merged with next door and called Med Kitchen. I went in there for a cup of tea with my boyfriend and we sat in the part of the cafe that would have been Marks & Co. It was very strange to think that Frank may have walked the exact same steps!
Louise
thank you for the information. I will be there next month. It is on my list of things to do. I can identify with the characters of this movie in so many ways. I will report back to let you know what I find.
shareYou are correct. The place is now a Pizza Hut. Have eaten there a few times.
share"You are correct. The place is now a Pizza Hut. Have eaten there a few times. "
it is not.
read my above post
and if your still not convinced then go to CCR yourself and try to find the plaque on the pizza hut wall, cos it aint there,
its across the road
"you gonna bark all day little doggy?? or are you gonna bite?"
Thanks fort the info everyone! I'm going to London (for the first time) - leaving on Friday. Even if there is nothing but a plaque left, I'm still going to go to CCR.
share If you left the Friday before last, Lucy, this will be too late for you; but, if anyone else is interested;
Walk South down Charing Cross Road from Tottenham Court Road. After about 300 yards, you will reach the crossing with Shaftesbury Avenue. Immediately before the crossing on the left (East) side is a bar called All Bar One. Until a few years ago, it was a record shop. On the Western wall of the exterior are some lamps; and, beneath one of these, is a plaque which reads:
"84 Charing Cross Road. The booksellers, Marks & Co., were on this site which became world-renowned through the book by Helene Hanff."
Ignore the Pizza Hut, which is on the opposite (S.E.) side of Shaftesbury Avenue. It might be worth taking a glance to your right (West) across Cambridge Circus to the Palace Theatre. Until a year or so ago, the theatre there had been staging Les Miserables for well over a decade. At the moment, it is showing Whistle Down the Wind by the revolting Lloyd Webber, but this is shortly to be replaced with Spamalot!
Anybody wishing to know some history of 84 Charing Cross Road site can do no better than visit the web site at :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A710056
Very interesting. Thank you for the link.
shareOn one of my parents' trips to England, my mother strolled down Charing Cross Road in 1968. She and her friends stopped at every bookstore along the way (she said there were perhaps three); she obviously had to nip into 84! Mom might have even seen Frank Doel, who knows? She said there were staff members in each shop, so she didn't really know who was whom, but how exciting to think that she almost assuredly went into Marks & Co. in the spring of 1968. May Frank Doel, Helene Hanff, Anne Bancroft...and my beloved mother, rest in peace.
shareThat's a lovely thought, beetiesmom.
shareThat was a very lovely post. Here's to the great influences in our lives who are no longer with us, whether they be writers, actors or family members. And here's to the books that keep their memory alive!
shareLooking at various websites, Google Street view, and taking into account the comments on this thread, the current address of the former Marks & Co bookshop appears to be 24 Cambridge Circus.
The 84 Charing Cross Revisited website displays a photo of the site as vacant in 1996. From the late 1990s to late 2006 it was a bar (one of a chain) called All Bar One. All Bar One at Cambridge Circus appears to have closed by August 2006.
The site then became a restaurant called The Med Kitchen (another chain) which closed in late 2011.
In January 2012 the site became the London outlet for Leon de Bruxelles (a Belgian restaurant chain). It appears still to be open as Leon de Bruxelles as per Google Street view (image date July 2012). The image on Google Street view appears to show a spot where a plaque was, but the plaque seemed to be absent at July 2012. I hope it has been replaced and I wonder if any London based imdb users can confirm this.
Thanks for the details, and I also hope a Londoner can confirm the location. It seems the site of the bookstore has been rezoned to serve food and alcohol.
As an aside: Isn't the Med Kitchen a horrible name for a restaurant (a chain, no less), or does "Med" have some savory significance to Britons?
I am leaving for London on May 6th; I have particularly put in a request to go to Charing Cross Road in an effort to see the plaque dedicated to Helene Hanff and her book. My mother, on one of her trips to Europe in the 60s, 70s and 80s, remembers clearly walking down Charing Cross Road and stopping in at several bookstores----but never could recall if one of these was Marks & Co, though she has little doubt that it very well could have been. If only.....
share
I didn't get to see it on a visit to London years ago but did use google street view to get a modern day look. Both of it and what was around it.
I don't know everything. Neither do you.
[deleted]
2015. It is now (sadly) a 'McDonalds' :(
shareNow it is a McDonald's....not sure if that is better or worse than a Pizza Hut...
There are a few other bookshops on Charing Cross Rd though that may warrant a stopover. I ducked into Foyles one afternoon and even though it has transformed into a modern, multi-level complex, it was still a nice place to browse and wait out the rain.
I think there are a couple more smaller, 2nd-hand bookshops along that street too. I only remember Quinto though (72 Charing Cross). http://quintobookshop.co.uk/
I find delightful little bookshops all over London and wish my trips were longer each time so I could explore them.
Foyles was probably nearest to being the the kind of shop like 84 Charing Cross Road, although Foyles was bigger and in recent years, transformed.
It's that man again!!