[1] This area is notable for a cholera outbreak in 1854 that led to an early application of fundamental epidemiological principles to resolve the crisis.

"[4] The genesis of Carnaby Street as a global fashion destination began with Bill 'Vince' Green, a male physique photographer.

[4] To further attract custom, Green hired pretty young men as sales assistants, one of whom was the Glasgow-born John Stephen, later to be known as 'The King Of Carnaby Street'.

"[8] According to James Gardiner, who at one stage made ties for the Vince boutique, at this period Carnaby Street "was essentially a gay thing...The clothes, including pink shirts and skin-tight white pants, were designed to appeal to gay men, but soon went mainstream.

In 1966, Harry Fox and Henry Moss opened the first women's fashion boutique, Lady Jane, and later rented Foubert's Place to I Was Lord Kitchener's Valet, their first outlet in the area.

Bands such as the Small Faces, the Who and the Rolling Stones appeared in the area, to work (at the legendary Marquee Club round the corner in Wardour Street), to shop and to socialise, so it became one of the coolest destinations associated with 1960s Swinging London.

[17] Westminster City Council erected two green plaques, one at 1 Carnaby Street, dedicated to fashion entrepreneur John Stephen, who began the Mod fashion revolution, and another at 52/55 Carnaby Street, dedicated to the Mod pop group the Small Faces and their manager, Don Arden.

To celebrate the memory of Freddie Mercury after the release of Bohemian Rhapsody, the Carnaby Street arch got a rework with Queen's logo being put up until early 2019.

Despite John Stephen closing his final business in 1975 (he died in 2004 aged 70) and the gradual movement to novelty shops with appeal to the ever increasing tourist trade, the boutique trade founded in Carnaby Street in 1957 by Stephen is still visible through the many shops of that ilk that still exist[citation needed] in the street today[when?].

One of the songs, "Carnaby Street," features the lyric: "You'll pay for the gear on display to appear on the scene/ It's no good being mean/ They'll have your every bean."