Willoughby Street was formerly known as both Vine Street and Wooburn Street.
Willoughby Street was laid out in the southwest of Bloomsbury, on the Duke of Bedford’s estate, running between Great Russell Street and Streatham Street.
Its line was then continued south by Charlotte Mews and subsequently by Vine Street
It was developed in the late seventeenth century as part of the development around Bedford Square (then Southampton Square) and on Horwood’s maps of 1799–1819, it is shown as Wooburn Street.
Both the St Giles parish map of 1720 and Rocque’s map of 1746 call the whole street Vine Street, from Broad Street to Great Russell Street
It was renamed after Mr Willoughby, Holborn’s Mayor, in 1904. Further into the twentieth century, it remained a quiet street with few buildings.