Seven Dials Covent Garden is a unique quarter of London whose star-shaped layout remains as constructed in the early 1690s. It was brought back to life largely through the dedication of the Seven Dials Trust, working in partnership with the local authorities and landowners for nearly forty years.

Eccentric front-man of the phenomenally successful rock group Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett was the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter during the band's psychedelic years, providing major musical and stylistic direction in their early work, including their name.

Seven Dials' most famous and successful chapbook and broadsheet seller, James 'Jemmy' Catnach founded his business in the now disappeared Monmouth Court in 1813. He paid writers, usually anonymous, a shilling for words, which were then normally set to a well-known tune and vividly illustrated. The cheap, lively publications were sold on the streets by 'patterers'.

The Cave of Harmony was a popular meeting place for London intellectuals, including H G Wells, Aldous Huxley and Evelyn Waugh. It was founded by the young Elsa Lanchester (later famous in films as The Bride of Frankenstein) and her then partner, Harold Scott. 

Max Reinhardt's successful fifty-year career in British book publishing culminated in The Bodley Head Press which he bought with a loan from the actor Ralph Richardson and  persuaded J. B. Priestley and Graham Greene to join his board of directors. 

Melodisc Records was established by Emil Edward Shalit (24 December 1909 – 23 April 1983) in London from the USA in 1949 as one of the first, and at the time, the largest independent record label. The label, and then its subsidiaries ‘Blue Beat’ and ‘Fab Records’ introduced Afro-Caribbean music to the UK and thus played a key role in the development of popular music.