Oxford Street is where you go to shop. Soho is where you go to eat, and it’s closer than most tourists realise, just a six minute walk south past Soho Square.
Where Oxford Street shopping ends and Soho eating begins
Anyone who’s spent an afternoon on Oxford Street knows the food options right on the street itself are mostly chains, built for volume rather than for anyone who actually wants a proper meal. The better move is to walk a few minutes south into Soho, where the food gets noticeably more interesting the further you get from the shopfronts. Greek Street is usually where that walk ends up, and it’s worth the short detour.
Getting there from Oxford Street
If you’re walking down from Oxford Street, you’ll pass Soho Square before you reach Greek Street. It’s also within easy reach of Tottenham Court Road, Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus, so wherever you’re coming from in the West End, it’s rarely more than a ten minute detour.
What to actually look for in a Soho pizza
Pizza is deceptively easy to get wrong, and Soho has more than its share of places getting it wrong. A lot of kitchens compensate for average dough with expensive toppings, hoping nobody notices the base was made that same morning. Dough needs time to ferment properly, ideally 24 to 48 hours, before it goes anywhere near an oven. That extra time is what gives it a lighter, more open texture and a flavour that a same day dough simply can’t match. It’s the first thing worth checking before you decide where to eat.
No booking, no fuss
What keeps people coming back to the better spots in this part of Soho isn’t only the pizza. It’s the lack of ceremony. No booking, no minimum spend, no awkward wait for a table. You order at the counter, you’re eating within minutes, and if you’re in a hurry before a show at the Palace or the Lyric, that matters. Prices help too. A proper 12 inch pizza for under £8 is genuinely difficult to find in central London these days, especially with a slow fermented base rather than something knocked out quickly to keep up with demand.
Halal and late night options
Halal is worth checking for too. Soho has one of the most mixed populations in London, yet a fully halal kitchen, where every topping is halal rather than just one item on the menu, is still harder to find than you’d expect. And for anyone finishing a late shift or leaving a show after midnight, a few kitchens in this part of Soho stay open well past the point where most of Oxford Street has gone dark, serving the same food at 2am as they would at lunchtime.
Where the walk usually ends
Greek Street tends to be where this search settles. It’s one of Soho’s oldest food streets, and ICCO has been there since 1999, ticking every box above: slow fermented dough, fully halal, fair prices, and open into the small hours on Fridays and Saturdays. For the full story on why it’s become the go to spot on that street, along with what’s on the menu, it’s worth reading our piece on the best pizza on Greek Street.
So if hunger catches you somewhere along Oxford Street, don’t settle for the nearest chain. Soho is close, it’s walkable, and Greek Street is usually the answer.
