The Enshittification of Soho

This week I write about the slow death of Soho, once London’s most vibrant area for nightlife, review a couple of recent reads, and share the usual bagful of new music, plus announce an exciting new addition to In Strict Tempo. Read on!

Some not-quite-music related news in this week from The Prince Charles Cinema, who are under threat of closure from property developers. The Prince Charles is one of my favourite cinemas, showing a fantastic programme of cult and classic movies, with a deep curation not really found in any other cinema - with a couple of exceptions. It’s been running for just over sixty years, in it’s base just off Leicester Square, at the heart of London’s film & theatre district.

Ask yourself, when was the last time you went into Soho or the West End? Time was it was the happening place in London, and I don’t just mean in the sixties, even up to fifteen or so years ago there were still good nights out to be had in the area and it was a regular destination for music heads and clubbers alike. Bar Rumba soldiers on, although it seems to be catering for a meat market style crowd now, but other than the Prince Charles there’s little else to draw you to the area in search of cultural delights?

I also saw this week that the owner of long-running LGBTQ+ bar G-A-Y on Old Compton Street has put it up for sale, seemingly as a result of the (temporary) closure of nightclub Heaven who are owned by the same person. In his Instagram post he states that tougher licensing laws and a lack of late licences (in part due to pressure from local residents) have contributed to the decline of Soho’s vibrancy.

I spent seven years working on Coventry Street, in the Trocadero, right in the middle of the West End, and would go in to Soho most nights after work. Even then the majority of pubs would shut at 11 or 12, and you’d have to go South to Charing Cross for Heaven or North of Oxford Street to find a venue that was open much later than 2am, and when you did you’d have to pay for the privilege. Luckily we knew a number of people that worked in some of the few bars to have a 2am licence so we were always able to get a few post-work drinks, but returning to the area recently I noted a few of those venues had now closed, or certainly changed the clientele they were catering for.

I’m well aware of my privilege as a straight male in being able to feel welcome in pretty much any pub or bar, but the loss of some of these venues in Soho (especially G-A-Y) will be strongly felt amongst the LGBTQ+ community, those who might not feel as comfortable or as welcome in some of the more traditional Soho pubs. The fact that London - which sells itself as a diverse 24/7 city is losing these spaces is a travesty and one that it will struggle to recover from.

That said, there has been new cultural openings in the West End. The Outernet venue as part of the redevelopment of Tottenham Court Road station and the Elizabeth Line, sitting pretty much bang opposite where the Astoria used to be, opened last year, but something about it feels a bit off to me. It’s the kind of place you’d go to see a brand activation with Samsung or Vodafone rather than a place to discover a new band or see an established act play to an appreciative audience. The Outernet certainly looks impressive, if you’re impressed by big screens and LED light displays, but to me it feels like a venue made for the experience, for the Instagram video rather than for the music. A new branch of Rough Trade recently opened not far from The Outernet on Denmark Street, but that feels a little like a billionaire wearing a Ramones T-Shirt to me - another brand exercise to try and recapture the spirit of Denmark Street which was lost long ago.

Last year Amy Lame resigned as London’s Night Czar. Quite what the point of this position was I don’t think anyone really knows and I’m not even sure what it managed to achieve, but they’ve not replaced the role so you can draw your own conclusions. I think the message of the Night Czar was muddled - it was easy to get involved with high profile and ‘cool’ clubs and bars, but London nightlife isn’t just that. For every Fabric there’s a scuzzy rock night in the back room of a pub, small clubs in unfashionable parts of town, it’s shop, hotel and restaurant workers, and office cleaners wanting a drink or something decent to eat when they finish work. They don’t want to have bought a £15 ticket on RA two weeks before. The Night Czar should have existed for them as much as it existed for clubbers, but they never realised that.

Of course the Soho of old wasn’t perfect, and people will say it’s gentrification is long overdue, but in doing so we’re not only causing harm to communities but also we’re losing some of the romance of that old part of town, the Soho of Blackmarket Records, of The Perseverance, of Tomato & The Ship, of The Borderline, of Music & Video Exchange, of Robinson and Derek Raymond. The West End has always served different communities, from the suburban & small-town lads who headed to Tiger Tiger or the Leicester Square clubs hoping to spot a League Two footballer or reality TV star, the indie kids queuing up for Madame Jojo’s, going back the glamour of the New Romantics filling the Wag, the jazz cats at Ronnie Scott’s, the Balearic lovers at Shoom and not to mention the role of Heaven (just outside the typical West End area) or Bar Rumba in breaking new genres like Hardcore and DnB. Nowadays, how many young people would still have it as their number one destination for a night out?

There’s still some of the old Soho left if you look for it, but how long that will stay before it becomes another homogenous coffee shop or burger joint backed by VC money who knows. I’m grateful I got to experience the Soho I did, even if it was in it’s death throes.

If you haven’t already, there’s a petition to help save The Prince Charles Cinema here: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-the-prince-charles-cinema

In Strict Tempo Book Club

A couple of book reviews from me this week, firstly I read the memoirs of The Grid/Beyond The Wizards Sleeve man Richard Norris. Growing up in 1970’s St Albans Norris found the fledging DIY & post-punk scene and grew to become quite a part of it. Associated with both Some Bizzarre and Creation, The Grid had a couple of big hits in the 90’s, before Norris worked with Joe Strummer and eventually Erol Alkan as the remixers of the late 00’s. Those Beyond The Wizards sleeve edits never really left my CD case during my brief DJ career at a Hertfordshire indie club.

The second one is Monsters - What Do We Do With Great Art by Bad People? by Claire Dederer. I had really high hopes for this, but it never really answers the question. To be honest, I’m not sure any of us can really answer the question, I guess we have to square our love of ‘cancelled’ artists within ourselves, and can we still enjoy their art knowing what we know about the person. It raised a few interesting questions, one being is the art they created before their offences easier to like than work that came about post-crime, but overall I struggled with this book, especially when 2/3 of the way through it seemed to change the subject into an essay on motherhood. Perhaps I just wasn’t the right audience for it.

Coming Soon: Ceremony

Something I’ve been keen to add to In Strict Tempo for a while now is a mix series. There’s already enough DJ mixes on the internet to keep us occupied until the end of time, but they’ve always been something I’ve enjoyed listening to. I’m still not 100% sure on the best way to push them, but for this first one I’m going to try sending out a separate newsletter on Monday, with the first mix in the series, which I’m calling Ceremony. I hope there’s already enough music in this newsletter to fill your ears with, and I don’t want to overwhelm. They won’t be every week, they might not even be every month. Keep your eyes peeled for that, and if you fancy doing a mix for In Strict Tempo please feel free to drop me a line.

New Music

Civilistjavel - Fojld [FELT]

I haven’t heard the full album yet, and there’s only a Bandcamp link for the digital right now (I get the impression this will be happening more and more this year), but new music from Civilistjavel is always, always worth checking out, especially when he teams up with Thomas Bush, as on this first track. Goes without saying this is probably going to feature highly in my AOTY list in December.

Actress - Solstraler [Smalltown Supersound]

I asked for the return of long tracks and Actress hasn’t let me down. Solstraler is part of a compilation inspired by the painter Edvard Munch, and it’s a face-melter for sure. Warm, and encompassing just like a techno blanket.

Midding - Synth Love [Tough Love]

Don’t expect much in the way of synth here. Midding a young act out of Cardiff who’re releasing their debut EP on Tough Love next month. A real DIY sensibility about this one, you can practically imagine yourself in the front room of a shared house while they recorded this.

Decius - Decius Vol. II (Splendour & Obedience) [The Leaf Label]

Decius are a ‘supergroup of sorts’ bringing together members of Fat White Family and Paranoid London amongst others. What do you get? An album of gothy, campy, pulsing electronics, wearing it’s 80’s influences proudly on it’s sleeve. Remember Goldfrapp? It’s a little bit Nathan Barley in places, but I think it’s meant to be. Either way, a decent enough listen.

Wojciech Rusin - Honey for the Ants [AD93]

Here’s something that’s caught me by surprise, a new album from Wojciech Rusin on AD93. Ecclesiastical and folky vocals mixed with piano, wind and strings that morphs into reverb and other electronic treatments. This is apparantly the third of a trilogy, and I’ll definitely be going back for more.

Left Hand Cuts Off The Right - Every Movement [Brachliegen Tapes]

Another Bandcamp only one here, and on a similar tip to The Wojciech Rusin album above. This one’s not out till March but there’s a preview single that hasn’t made it to Spotify (although some of their older releases have). Sparse and almost religious in it’s sound, like it was recorded in some vast Cathedral, this is music at it’s most arresting and most pure.