Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. Charing Cross, London WC, as home to Gatti’s Music Hall in Villers St.

1890

Music Hall & Theatre Rev. 19 Apr. 7/2: The return of the Mannons to Gatti’s was a welcome treat to the large audiences who nightly visit [...] the ‘Cross’.

2. King’s Cross, London, the area around the mainline railway station.

1896		Bateman & LeBrunn [perf. Alec Hurley] ‘A Cockney’s Travels’ 🎵 I tramps it to St Pancras, which is just against the ‘Cross’.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 104: I jump on a train and it takes me about ten minutes into the Cross.

3. (Aus.) King’s Cross, Sydney, the one-time ‘bohemian’ area of the town; thus crossite, one who lives there.

1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 22 June 3/5: [A]n under-sized Scotchman who humped a 60lb swag from the Cross to Coolgardie in four days.
1946		D. Stivens Courtship of Uncle Henry 72: She breaks out once a fortnight. Goes round the wine bars at the Cross.
1953		K. Tennant Joyful Condemned 90: She lived in a filthy cellar up at the Cross.
1963		(con. 1944) L. Glassop Rats in New Guinea 21: Perce the Pansy, the darling of the pooftas’ parade at the Cross.
1976		D. Ireland Glass Canoe (1982) 15: It was better up the Cross. King’s, not Southern.
1982		H. Beaton Outside In Act II: That was before I went to Sydney, to the Cross.
1986		R.G. Barrett Real Thing 79: ‘big Barry’ [...] was involved with some other gentlemen in massage parlours around the Cross.
1996		(con. 1964-65) B. Thorpe Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 1: King’s Cross [...] The Cross, the ‘Irish Moss’ — or just the ’Irish’ in ‘Steak and Kidney’.
1997		L. Davies Candy 34: We could go up to the Cross and check out the nightlife.
2007		D. McDonald Luck in the Greater West (2008) 128: The Cross was alive with this sort of energy on any Friday night.
2018		G. Gilmore Class Act [ebook] Angus and some friends were meeting in a restaurant in the Cross.