{"id":2511,"date":"2010-10-22T10:00:24","date_gmt":"2010-10-22T09:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/?p=2511"},"modified":"2010-10-22T11:24:31","modified_gmt":"2010-10-22T10:24:31","slug":"lice-sex-shop-and-other-autumnal-london-street-scenes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/lice-sex-shop-and-other-autumnal-london-street-scenes\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Lice Sex Shop,&#8217; bookshops, old hospitals and autumnal London street scenes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/lice-sex-shop.jpg\" alt=\"'Lice Sex Shop' and other West End scenes\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Amusingly damaged neon sign in the window of a Licensed Sex Shop, Charing Cross Road, W1.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/london-photos-october-2010.jpg\" alt=\"Autumn photos around London's west end, October 2010\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Empty deck chairs, Green Park in the Autumn.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/london-photos-october-2010-1.jpg\" alt=\"Autumn photos around London's west end, October 2010\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The distinctive shape of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.urban75.org\/london\/centrepoint.html\" target=\"_blank\">Centre Point<\/a> tower,\u00a0looking over the busy Oxford Street and Charing Cross Rd junction.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/london-photos-october-2010-2.jpg\" alt=\"Autumn photos around London's west end, October 2010\" \/><\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s now a huge hole where Middlesex Hospital once stood.<\/p>\n<p>The original Middlesex Infirmary &#8216;for the Sick and Lame of Soho&#8217; was opened in 1745, and moved to its purpose-built premises in Mortimer Street in 1757.<\/p>\n<p>Several extensions and rebuildings took place \u00a0over the years, with the hospital closing in 2006 and all services moving to the new \u00a3422m PFI-built 16-story\u00a0University College Hospital (UCH) in Euston Road.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/london-photos-october-2010-3.jpg\" alt=\"Autumn photos around London's west end, October 2010\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The cleared\u00a0hospital\u00a0site has remained empty for some time now, as its <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Middlesex_Hospital\" target=\"_blank\">Wikipedia entry<\/a> explains:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<div id=\"_mcePaste\">The planned redevelopment of the Mortimer Street site is now in limbo after the withdrawal of the consortium led by the Candy brothers. The site is now in the hands of the nationalised Icelandic bank Kaupthing Bank. Candy and Candy had planned to redevelop the site into a 273-apartment luxury accommodation complex, named &#8220;NoHo Square.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div id=\"_mcePaste\">In the latest installment in a long running saga, control for the development of the site appears to have been handed to Stanhope PLC, in a sale valued at a third of the price paid for the site by Kaupthing Bank. It appears that the plans for the Noho Square development have been shelved, but quite what will be built in its place remains to be seen.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/london-photos-october-2010-4.jpg\" alt=\"Autumn photos around London's west end, October 2010\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The 189m (620ft) <a href=\"http:\/\/www.urban75.org\/london\/telecom.html\" target=\"_blank\">BT Tower<\/a> looms over the old\u00a0hospital\u00a0site.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/london-photos-october-2010-5.jpg\" alt=\"Autumn photos around London's west end, October 2010\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Cecil Court,\u00a0Leicester\u00a0Square remains a popular haunt for book lovers.<\/p>\n<p>A\u00a0late Victorian thoroughfare linking Charing Cross Road and St Martin&#8217;s Lane, it has a relaxed and timeless atmosphere and is a great place to browse for old books, prints, antique maps and railway books.<\/p>\n<p>[<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cecilcourt.co.uk\/history_of_cecilcourt.php\" target=\"_blank\">Read more<\/a>]<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/london-photos-october-2010-6.jpg\" alt=\"Autumn photos around London's west end, October 2010\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/london-photos-october-2010-7.jpg\" alt=\"Autumn photos around London's west end, October 2010\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The vast lobby at the Cumberland Hotel, Marble Arch also serves as a\u00a0contemporary art gallery. We were here for a press event, so were a little &#8216;lubricated&#8217; by the time I got to take these photos. But I managed to get it in focus!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/london-photos-october-2010-8.jpg\" alt=\"Autumn photos around London's west end, October 2010\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/london-photos-october-2010-9.jpg\" alt=\"Autumn photos around London's west end, October 2010\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The striking\u00a0fa\u00e7ade\u00a0of the famous Selfridges store on Oxford Street.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/london-photos-october-2010-10.jpg\" alt=\"Autumn photos around London's west end, October 2010\" \/><\/p>\n<p>End of the night, 100 Club, Oxford Street.<\/p>\n<p>On this very stage has stood bands like The Sex Pistols, Muddy Waters, The Clash, Lonnie Donegan and The Rolling Stones. I felt suitably &#8216;umbled.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/london-photos-october-2010-11.jpg\" alt=\"Autumn photos around London's west end, October 2010\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The 12 Bar Club and Cafe in Denmark Street W1 &#8211; one of my favourite music\u00a0venues in London! \u00a0See: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.urban75.org\/music\/12-bar-club-london.html\" target=\"_blank\">12 Bar feature<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/london-photos-october-2010-12.jpg\" alt=\"Autumn photos around London's west end, October 2010\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Around the corner from the 12 Bar is this wall covered in adverts for musicians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Amusingly damaged neon sign in the window of a Licensed Sex Shop, Charing Cross Road, W1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[194,17,193],"tags":[274,345],"class_list":["post-2511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-london-features","category-photos","category-places","tag-green-park","tag-west-end"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/lice-sex-shop.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pQI7P-Ev","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2511"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2514,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2511\/revisions\/2514"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}