Crying All The Way To The Chip Shop: The Tribes of Britain

Thursday, August 6

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7 Comments:

At 3:45 PM, Duncan said...: It's interesting to see the old photo of Piccadilly Circus with a department store 'Swan & Edgar' in what I always think of as the Tower Records site, but was until recently a Virgin Megastore, and for a short while a Zavvi. The site has been empty now for about 6 months, although TK Maxx put in a bid for the site and were turned down by the Crown Estate for not being appropriate for the site, now that Regent Street has gone trendy (and not just stores selling tweed and tartan rugs to tourists). I'm of course too young to remember Piccadilly Circus when it was all porn cinemas in the 70's, which was probably when this photo was taken. Why do people (especially tourists) congregate at Eros? It must be very disappointing for visitors. A toy village version of Times Square, smelling of Hot Dogs and sewers. Anyway, at least there's no skinheads or peacocks punks charging £1 to have their photo taken anymore.
At 3:59 PM, londonlee said...: No drug dealers either, at least not since they moved Eros away from the middle and got rid of the porn cinemas. I think the area has just been ruined by traffic, you used to sit on Eros and feel like you were in the grand middle of London, now all you see are bloody cars, buses and trucks.

I cropped out of the photo a group of hippies the skinheads are staring at.
At 8:55 PM, Steve Harkonnen said...: Funny, at first glance I thought the top picture was Slade....
At 8:37 AM, Duncan said...: I also remember watching a documentary about Heroin. And they were saying that Piccadilly Circus was a popular meeting place because the chemist that gave out methadone was there, and that at the beginning of the 60's there was a group of about 5 or 6 people who'd meet, and as the 60's progressed and the drug became more popular, there'd be a couple of hundred hippies waiting for their drugs to arrive - which could explain the hippies in the picture. In the 60's there also used to be a cinema in Piccadilly Circus which had no seats, and would show Easy Rider on a 180 degrees projection screen, with all the hippies lying on the floor. Sounds good! I think it was where Burger King / Wimpy was for the last 30 years and is now an interactive Barclays Bank :(
At 9:38 AM, ally. said...: quite marvelously the hilarious punks are back green mohicans and all.
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At 4:39 AM, Duncan said...: Credit crunch mohicans (still asking for a £1 a photo?)
At 6:08 AM, ally. said...: i'd have my picture taken with someone who loked like a buzzcock or a subway secter or even an undertone but that exploited business is a mystery
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