Things Ain’t what they used to be

Things ain’t what they used to be…..

It’s been more than 30 years since I left school at 17 years old, to take up my first job as a lowly comis chef in the pastry section of the Rubens hotel near Buckingham Palace. I was away from home for the first time living in Earls court in a large flat with 6 other chefs and feeling very uncomfortable, and a bit afraid in my new world.
That seems a far cry from my present day situation, and this was all brought back to me this week when the organisation I currently work for moved offices to cross London to Victoria Street, not 5 minutes from where I started my working life, so I could not resist a stroll around the corner to take a look at the place where I started out all those years ago. The hotel itself had not changed that much though the kitchens where I worked seemed to have been turned into one of the most successful bars in the world according to a BA Highlife survey or competition.
This got me thinking about how much things have changed, not just in this corner of London but everywhere that I have known over the years. London used to be a really dirty place in the late 70s when I first arrived in the city, and the place where we have just moved from, the Shoreditch/Hoxton area, was very run down and on the wrong side of the City boundary for any one to care, now after years in the doldrums it is being redeveloped and is becoming a very trendy and hip place to be, even Prince Charles Princes Trust has offices there, and the story of Brick Lane, the jewel in the Shoreditch crown, which has been documented at length in recent years, just goes on.
My home town of Southend and to be more specific Westcliff has under gone what I consider to be a transformation at least in the main shopping area, it has moved well up market from the place I knew when I was growing up and is looking pretty chic these days. However I have also noticed that residenital areas have not been transformed in the same way, growing up in Westcliff the streets were always neat and tidy, gardens were proudly kept well groomed in most cases, we all know there are always exceptions to the rule. But now it all seems messier, less well kept, more over crowded and less cared for, I know I’m in danger of turning into grumpy old man, I can hear you shouting from here. But its true and I have noticed it where every I have been and see it currently in the area I still live in today, it certainly is not as well cared for as it used to be, and I’ve only been there 15 years but there has been a transformation.
So there you have it, while our public spaces are being transformed into 21st century places to shop and to eat and drink, our residential areas appear to be languishing under a cloud of what appears to be indifference. Maybe it time town planners looked away from the bright lights of the shopping centres and inner city eating and drinking zones and looked towards the places where we live for the next phase of regeneration.
What of Victoria in London, where we started this musing, standing with your back to Victoria outside the Rubens hotel nothing has changed, turn around 180 degrees and it is a totally different place now, with huge office blocks a massive shopping plaza, the very model of a 21st century city entre place to be seen, however not far away there are residential streets still languishing in the 20th or possibly even ther 19th centuries, but that is London and I still love it after 30 plus years, and when I finally finish working here in 2 or 3 years to move to my country seat in France, I think I will still have to come back for my fix of London life..

Darren Porter