Mulligans (oxyman) |
And nearby, the internationally acknowledged wellspring of new art, Cork Street, has also fallen to the demands of commerce in a city that is a victim of its own success. It was a good party. Even if you couldn't get in. (There may well be other parties; I remember grumbles that Portobello Road wasn't what it used to be - the grumbles in 1968 -) Those tiny but densely packed streets north of Shaftsbury Avenue and Piccadilly that bred Trad Jazz/ the Blues Boom, TW3, Private Eye, a particular fame for Francis Bacon, the Two Roberts and other artists (and writers), are unfortunately bang in the middle of some of the most highly-rated estate in the world. So despite petitions and letters, and submissions from experts and interested parties, planning permission has been given to replace several key gallery-style spaces in Cork Street with shops which will be ideal for displaying designer handbags and whose inhabitants might be able to afford the new rents; but being purveyors of expensive tat, the new faces are hardly likely to keep that indefinable sum-of-the-parts alive. The picture here is not of any of the galleries, which with the bookshops were the tourist money-spinner and a regular joy for natives, but Mulligans, the Cork Street pub - which is no longer in business - in case you were wondering.
This could just be the way things are changing: after the spectacle of multinational private companies like General Motors becoming more palpable than their host countries, nation-states are rising again. (1st April '14) Just heard a programme on BBC R4: 'The Country formerly known as London'.
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Excellent piece on the subject in the Observer/guardian:http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jan/18/losing-london-we-love-eva-wiseman
ReplyDelete...and nearby Chinatown is next: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/mar/29/chinatown-restaurants-london-threat-rent-rises
Deletehttp://www.heroesofsoho.com is a good source of news and history of the Village.
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