[HN Gopher] The Trouble with Soho
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       The Trouble with Soho
        
       Author : paulpauper
       Score  : 37 points
       Date   : 2024-05-05 16:17 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.edwest.co.uk)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.edwest.co.uk)
        
       | rkique wrote:
       | > The residents group even stopped a comically ugly post-war
       | Tesco from being demolished, pressuring Westminster City Council
       | to designate the Dean Street store an 'Asset of Community Value'.
       | 
       | Seems like there's a conflict here between the interests of the
       | residents and the general public. I can't imagine eating out
       | every night is something affordable or desirable for the locals.
        
         | junto wrote:
         | It's a typical classical gentrification problem.
         | 
         | People move in to areas that are famous for their grubby
         | nightlife and "liveliness" only to then whine and protest about
         | the nightlife and associated noise. Not moving there in the
         | first place never crosses their minds.
         | 
         | It's a wonderful hodgepodge of bars, restaurants, clubs, queer
         | life, sex clubs, prostitution and general seediness. May it
         | remain so.
        
           | parpfish wrote:
           | some gentrifiers are pulled into 'grubby, lively'
           | neighborhood because they're attracted to those qualities.
           | these gentrifiers won't complain and will likely try to
           | preserve those attributes.
           | 
           | but there's another class of gentrifiers that aren't pulled
           | into these neighborhoods. rather, they are pushed out of the
           | places they'd like to live and have to settle for the grubby
           | lively neighborhood. these are the ones that complain because
           | they don't really want to be there in the first place.
           | 
           | people don't like to talk about this distinction because it
           | they like to treat all gentrifiers as invaders/colonizers
           | without realizing that many of them are also displaced from
           | their neighborhoods
        
       | KaiserPro wrote:
       | I know a lot of tech people in london worked in old street and
       | dalston, but Soho was actually real. One of the nice things was
       | that real people lived and worked _in_ soho. Mostly it was people
       | to do with clothing or restaurants.
       | 
       | Soho never really had the influx of twats marvelling at the
       | quaintness of poverty, you lived there because you either had a
       | workshop, were astronomically rich, had a council house, or
       | worked in either sex, drugs, food or booze.
       | 
       | Berwick market is a husk of its former self, and shop rents are
       | way to fucking high to allow experimentation on a new idea.
       | Moreover all but one of the big VFX shops have moved away.
       | 
       | its a husk of its former self.
       | 
       | It doesn't help that a bunch of rich twats have moved in and gone
       | "gosh, its terribly noisy at night".
       | 
       | > The residents group even stopped a comically ugly post-war
       | Tesco from being demolished
       | 
       | I suspect the reason for that is because when they did crossrail,
       | they knocked down the top end of dean street and replaced pub,
       | flats and office blocks with a massive souless glass mega shop.
       | which kinda defeats the purpose of soho really. If there was 50
       | council flats in the top, then it would be more appealing.
        
       | throwaway22032 wrote:
       | My personal view is that local residents and businesses should
       | have roughly equal say in how an area is used. People outside the
       | area I think should have very little say outside of e.g. national
       | regulations on pollution, building standards etc.
       | 
       | In London's case it's weighted too far towards local residents
       | IMO which is why Soho and similar areas are turning to shit -
       | everything interesting gets pushed out.
       | 
       | The idea I hear espoused a lot though, is the idea that someone
       | who lives in Wimbledon should be able to tell residents and
       | businesses of Soho how to build, just because they like to visit
       | or they'd like to move in. They don't owe you anything, find
       | somewhere else.
        
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       (page generated 2024-05-05 23:00 UTC)