London CyberPunk Tourist Guide

As promised on the Hacking the Gibson, in London! discussion thread, here is my personal guide to some of the "CyberPunk" and other locations of interest to me in Central London.

I hope it will be was of some use to the readers of the official William Gibson Books discussion board,, and to any readers of this Spook Country blog, who are were swarming to London for the William Gibson Spook Country book promotional events this in August 2007, and into the future:

• "Evening with William Gibson" event - book signing, reading, questions and answers etc. on Tuesday 28th August 2007, 7pm at the Trades Union Congress conference centre in Great Russell Street (tickets £7 via Blackwell's Bookshop - telephone line +44(0)845 456 9876 Mon - Fri, 9.30am to 6.00pm)

• There is also a book signing event to be held at the Forbidden Planet Megastore bookshop, at 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, the next day, Wednesday 29th August 2007, from 1pm to 2pm.

Hopefully people will find this little guide an interesting and useful adjunct to the normal maps and tourist guides - please email blog@SpookCountry.co.uk or blog@CyberPunk.org.uk with any corrections or suggestions, or else leave a (moderated) comment on the blog entries.

N.B.If you feel like disclosing any secrets, then you can use this published public PGP encryption key. or look it up on a public PGP keyserver.

If you doubt that we live in a Surveillance Society, then start counting the vast number of Closed Circuit Television spy cameras visible on the streets and buildings and on public transport in London. Then ask why yourself why there is still so much crime and such an apparent threat from terrorists.

Go further north up Charing Cross Road and cross over Cambridge Circus - be careful and obey the Pelican crossings - Shaftesbury Avenue is very busy with traffic and the pavements can be very crowded, so there have been numerous pedestrian traffic accidents here over the years.

Charing Cross Road Cambridge Circus to Centre Point - map via streetmap.co.uk

On your right you will see the distinctive blue livery of Blackwell's bookshop, which is organising the "Evening with William Gibson" event, You should be able to get tickets there @ £7 (£5 concessions).

Across the Charing Cross Road from Blackwell's is the Montagu Pyke pub, which occupies most of the site of the former Marquee Club music venue (circa 1988 to 1995). The pub itself is very large inside, with (relatively) cheap drinks and food (remember that this is the West End of London), so it is a candidate for the William Gibson Board posse pub crawl.

Folyes bookshop at 113-119 Charing Cross Road

and the former US chain Borders bookshop at 120 Charing Cross Road {N.B. this closed in December 2009]

are almost on opposite sides of the Charing Cross Road from each other.

Borders is on the corner of Denmark Street, which is full of music industry related instrument shops, studios, former printed sheet music publishers etc. which gave it the nickname of Britain's "Tin Pan Alley". In the 18th and 19th centuries it was part of the notorious slum the Rookery in the parish of St. Giles church (at the far end of Denmark Street), infamously depicted by WIlliam Hogarth in his Gin Lane engraving.

As will become clearer, not that much has changed over the years !

Denmark Street is also mentioned by William Gibson in Spook Country

Cambridge Circus is the cross roads of the Charing Cross Road (north south) with Shaftesbury Avenue (east west). It is also the widely assumed fictional setting of "the Circus" - the headquarters buildings of "British Intelligence", as portrayed in the espionage thriller novels (and their resulting films and TV series) by John le Carré, e.g. Tinker,Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley's People etc.

GPS grid coordinates:
Latitude: (WGS84) N51:30:47 ( 51.513116 )
Longitude: (WGS84) W0:07:44 ( -0.128802 )

See also this semi-live BBC Jam cam traffic camera image (usually updated every few minutes, unless there is actually some interesting incident, when the feed is censored) from the Charing Cross Road / Cambridge Circus camera, which usually points west along Shaftesbury Avenue towards Chinatown on the left.

N.B. it does not appear that "British Intelligence", certainly not the Secret Intelligence Service MI6, was ever really based at Cambridge Circus.

However, passages from Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, perhaps point to a more likely candidate building, just north of the actual Cambridge Circus cross roads itself:

Allowing for some artistic licence, and the author's natural caution and espionage tradecraft, there do not seem to be any buildings actually on the crossroads of Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road which fit the descriptions in the novel, which makes several references to the "fifth floor", where the senior members of the organisation had their offices.

[via Microsoft maps.bing.co.uk]

In John Le Carré's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, the chief protagonist George Smiley on his way to Heywood Hill antiquarian bookshop at Number 10 Curzon Street, Mayfiar, bumps into Roddy Martingdale, coming out of "Trumper's" (Geo.F.Trumper) the gentleman's barber's next door at Number 9.

Latitude: N51:30:26 (51.507087)
Longitude: W0:08:48 (-0.146673)

In the classic fictional espionage novel and TV series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy by John le Carré, the central character George Smiley, has a London flat at Number 9 Bywater Street, just off the King's Road, Chelsea, which features in several important parts of the story. The neighbouring Number 10, was actually used in the filming of the BBC TV series (source: IMDb.com).

Latitude: N51:29:25 (51.490249)
Longitude: W0:09:51 (-0.164137)

From the summer of 2009 onwards, a couple of the places mentioned in the original London CyberPunk Tourist Guide have been demolished as part of the re-development of Tottenham Court Road Tube Station

Between Denmark Street and St. Giles Circus, which is where the Charing Cross Road meets Oxford Street and becomes the Tottenham Court Road, there is was a cheap Internet Lounge at 138 Charing Cross Road

This offers offered cheap internet access, and mobile phone unlocking and accessories, and cheap long distance phone calls. Be very careful with your bags, mobile phones,purses, wallets etc, as these are a target for the local thieves. The internet PCs are also rife with various bits of spyware and password sniffers, so do not log into something sensitive or valuable. The internet traffic also appears to be "known to the Police"

Note one of the local "stinkies" peering into the window.

Go past the Internet Lounge, past a locked courtyard entrance marked "Sin" (the main entrance to which is round the corner) and you will pass a basement Comic shop called Orbital Comics at 148 Charing Cross Road,

The subway on the corner, leads into the Tottenham Court Road Tube station, and is ok during the day time, but this whole corner of Andrew Bordes Street is somewhere to avoid if you are on your own at night, as the "Stinkies", crackheads, drunks , and other addicts, trend to gather, just as their ancestors did during the time of William Hogarth.

Opposite the subway is the Astoria music venue, which also has a rich musical history of live performances by famous or soon to be famous bands.

However the whole of the block between Andrew Bordes Street and the Denmark Place alley on the east side of Charing Cross Road in the shadow of Centre Point, and the whole of the block of the Astoria Theatre punk /rock / other music venue on the western side have been demolished.

A couple of views from 10th November 2009:

Internet Lounge demolished.

Andrew Borde Street to Denmark Place alley.

Where the Astoria Theatre used to be.

The Tesco Extra superstore in Southall / Hayes, Middlesex, just north east of Heathrow Airport, has a couple of high tech waste re-cycling machines from the Norwegian company Tomra S.A.. which claims to crush or shred and sort metal cans and glass and plastic bottles and jars etc.

They resemble bank Automated Teller Machines, but with loud verbal as well as visual instructions, and multiple CCTV surveillance cameras - the prevention of "fly tipping" seems to require extraordinary technological security measures.

Southall Hayes Bulls Bridge Extra
Bulls Bridge Industrial Estate
Southall
Greater London
UB2 5LN

Latitude: N51:29:56 (51.498821)
Longitude: W0:24:19 (-0.405272)

This installation appears to have cost Tesco around £150,000.

A proximity sensor triggers loud audible instructions and warnings as you approach these machines.

Note the row of CCTV surveillance cameras along the top of this installation.

Latitude: N51:22:42 (51.378301)
Longitude: W0:06:10 (-0.102663)

Turn left out of the exit from the West Croydon railway station and Maplin Electronics is immediately on the corner of North End and Station Road.

This is a normal sized Maplin store, with the usual range of computer, radio, hi fi etc, equipment, tools, spares, components and technical gadgets.

Latitude: N51:22:40 (51.377822)
Longitude: W0:06:11 (-0.103071)

The Forbidden Planet comics and sci-fi bookshop is on the opposite corner of North End and Derby Road, from the Maplins electronics store, next to the West Croydon railway station exit.

175 North End
Croydon
London
CR0 1T

This is a much smaller shop than the Forbidden Planet Megastore at 179 Shaftesbury Avenue in central London, which hosts most of the CyberPunk and Sci-Fi author signing events.

Latitude: N51:22:43 (51.378522)
Longitude: W0:06:11 (-0.102941)

The High Speed Access Internet Cafe is just a couple of doors along at

170 North End,
Croydon,
CR0 1UF

when you turn left out of the main exit from the West Croydon railway station

The front of the shop sells music CDs etc. with a few secluded PCs well out of public view in the back, however with plenty of CCTV and web cameras.

A couple of doors south is the Maplin Electronics store and the Forbidden Planet sci-fi and comics store is across the main road from that.

Further north up the London Road, and especially south down the pedestrianised North End are several mobile phone unlocking / second hand mobile phone concessions counters / stalls within other shops (as well as multiple official mobile phone shops)

Time*Bomb - "Emo, Punk and Rock Clothing, Gothic Emo Punk Rock Clothes & Accessories."

31 High Street
Croydon
Surrey
CR0 1QB

This seem to be the place to get your cyber-goth accessories such as day-glo "womble fur" leggings and also the now notorious Shag Bands.

Latitude: N51:22:22 (51.372702)
Longitude: W0:06:00 (-0.100050)

The dual carriageway east of the main Centrale and Whitgift Centre shopping malls in the centre of Croydon, is Wellesley Road, which is the location for several large office buildings, including those occupied by the Home Office's UK Borders Agency

This is where the government bureaucrats who process asylum seekers and legal immigrants to the United Kingdom, as well as those who try to hunt down illegal immigrants, are based.

Asylum seekers, who dare not complain about the UK Government, are the test subjects for various compulsory Identity Card and Biometric technology schemes, which the Home Office is trying to inflict on the entire United Kingdom population, and on that of the rest of the European Union as well.

View north from Electric House, 3 Wellesley Road, towards Apollo House and Lunar House, the 22 story buildings flying the Union Jack flag.

Apollo House

40 Wellesley Road

This is where the more senior civil service mandarins and managers in the UK Borders Agency have their offices.

Crossing over Sydenham Road, you come to the nearby

Lunar House

36 Wellesley Road

This used to be notorious for long queues of Asylum Seekers and other Immigrants, snaking out of the building, waiting for appointments with the bureaucrats within, but these have now disappeared.

This is still the main Asylum processing centre in the UK, and, like Electric House, has a privately run short term holding facility, for people waiting to be transferred to private Immigration Detention Centres.

Latitude: N51:22:41 (51.377920)
Longitude: W0:05:57 (-0.099115)

The dual carriageway east of the main Centrale and Whitgift Centre shopping malls in the centre of Croydon, is Wellesley Road, which is the location for several large office buildings, including those occupied by the Home Office's UK Borders Agency

This is where the government bureaucrats who process asylum seekers and legal immigrants to the United Kingdom, as well as those who try to hunt down illegal immigrants, are based.

Asylum seekers, who dare not complain about the UK Government, are the test subjects for various compulsory Identity Card and Biometric technology schemes, which the Home Office is trying to inflict on the entire United Kingdom population, and on that of the rest of the European Union as well.

Home Office
UK Border Agency

Electric House
3 Wellesley Road
Croydon
CR0 2AT

Electric House is a "reporting centre" for asylum seekers and "failed" asylum seekers, who are frequently interviewed, and then arrested here and then transferred to privately run Immigration Detention Centres, before, eventually being deported.

Croydon played an important part in the history of Punk Rock, but the most famous music venues have shut down and are now only of interest to urban explorers and cultural archaeologists.

The Greyhound, later the Blue Oyster - defunct punk rock venue on Park Lane, opposite the Fairfield Halls and Croydon College.

Latitude: N51:22:23 (51.373030)
Longitude: W0:05:49 (-0.097005)

This long established (since 1996) cyber café near to the East Croydon railways station appears to have recently closed, possibly following problems with their internet connectivity.

Cyberzone Internet Cafe
1 Dingwall Road
Croydon
Surrey
CR0 2NA

opposite the Warehouse Theatre

For some reason, perhaps connected with the building site opposite, Google Street View manages to avoid the part of Dingwall Road where Cyberzone is located.

Latitude: N51:22:29 (51.374860)
Longitude: W0:05:40 (-0.094515)

The Black Sheep Bar,

68 High Street,
Croydon,
Surrey,
CR0 1NA

touts itself as the only "alternative" music venue left in Croydon.

Latitude: N51:22:17 (51.371372)
Longitude: W0:06:02 (-0.100694)

However, possibly due to the malign influence of the nearby Home Office Borders Agency offices, their decision to turn into a private club, which enforces its door policy, not just with bouncers and CCTV surveillance, but also with Photo ID and a Biometric Fingerprint scanning system and (insecure) database, makes it a place to avoid

The appalling Black Sheep Bar biometric membership web page exceeds the bureaucratic requirements of the most repressive of secret police surveillance state dystopias.

George Orwell's Winston Smith did not have to go through fingerprint scanning in order to be sold his Victory Gin !

Welcome to the Black Sheep Bar's website. We are a members only bar, if you are coming down and you aren't already a member please bring photo ID (driving licence or passport) with you to sign up.

The Intouch system is a biometric door entry system (it recognises fingerprints). In order to become a member we require that you have your photo taken and provide a form of identification (driving licence or passport).

The biometric fingerprint club / pub door entry system seems to be the inTouch system, now marketed by idscan biometrics.

The fact that it is relatively cheap (£700 for the software and one fingerprint scanner), but does not offer any built in strong encryption makes it unlikely that it will be installed with sufficient physical security to prevent the entire system being stolen or copied.

To apply for membership we require such personal data as your full name, postal address, telephone number, date of birth, a photograph of you and your finger characteristics. We will occasionally need to collect and use sensitive personal data about you, for example, your conduct in our premises to ensure a safe and pleasant environment for our customers, staff and members of the public.

We collect and use personal data about you for the general provision of our services, we will disclose any data if required to do so by law or to comply with a legal process or where permitted to protect and defend our rights and property and to protect the personal safety of our customers, staff and members of the public. By providing your personal data to us you agree to these terms.

As with all other fingerprint scanning systems used in public places, what about the biological infection risk from bacteria and viruses which will contaminate the fingerprint scanner ?

Fingerprint scanners never get washed or sterilised, do they, so the risk of spreading pandemic infectious diseases like Swine Flu etc. is substantial.

Cyberpunks and any other freedom and liberty loving or public health conscious people should boycott this totalitarian venue in Croydon.

UPDATE: 5th November 2009

If you look up entry Z8210589 for Bossicks's Restaurants Limited / Black Sheep Bar, on the Information Commissioner's Office Register of Data Controllers you will find only one Data Purpose which has been registered.

This was registered back in 2003, presumably before the fingerprint system was installed, and is only for the CCTV surveillance system, so technically this fingerprint system and club membership database is illegal under the Data Protection Act 1998.

Just off the Charing Cross Road, one block north of Leicester Square Tube station is Great Newport Street.

What used to be The Photographer's Gallery, is the new location of Orbital Comics, which has dozens of boxes of US Marvel and DC comics (and a few independents) in plastic storage bags for collectors.

The former art gallery extends quite far back from the main road, and is much more spacious than their old basement premises, in the now demolished block near Centre Point.

8 Gt Newport Street
London WC2H 7JA
Tel: 0207 2400591

Latitude: N51:30:43 (51.511995)
Longitude: W0:07:40 (-0.127825)

Near to Foyles and Borders (closed in December 2009), opposite the junction of Charing Cross road with Denmark Street, is a curious, advertising campaign funded ,Temporary Autonomous Zone

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite preview

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is Japan's most popular video game and with multiplayer games being played all over the streets of Japan, the game has even been described by some as a phenomenon. According to Capcom, in Japan this PSP game is bigger than Pokemon and Wii Fit!

Now Capcom, with the help of a very large advertising campaign hope to replicate that success in the UK

[...]

In London there are many places where you would not want to answer your mobile phone in public, let alone get your PSP our for a 20 minute gaming session. To kickstart online Gameplay in the UK, Capcom have setup a 'Gathering Hall', a kind of Monster Hunter drop in center where players can meet and play Monster Hunter together. They can also download exclusive quests, attend tutorial nights and maybe even meet some of the game's developers.

London Gathering Hall for Monster Hunter players

The Gathering Hall, open 7 days a week from the 3rd of July, is located in a three story building, just one minutes walk from Tottenham Court Road tube station on Charing Cross Road. Entrance is free (and exclusive) to anyone with a PSP and a copy of Monster Hunter Freedom Unite.

Address:
121 Charing Cross Road
Westminster
London
WC2H 0EW

[...]

Google StreetView / Map

StreetMap.co.uk map:

Latitude: N51:30:54 (51.515038)
Longitude: W0:07:49 (-0.130337)

It is very strange to see half a dozen "gamers" (all male, not teenagers but 20 - 30 year olds) lounging in multi-coloured armchairs, playing this Sony PSP game over WiFi, for free on the Charing Cross Road.

Do all three floors get filled with people playing this game ?

This is not even a "cyber café" - no beverages seem to be on offer.

How long will this last ?

UPDATE 10th November 2009 - the premises now seem to have reverted to a "normal" shop:

Centre Point is the 35 storey 325 foot high skyscraper office block, at the corner of Charing Cross Road, and New Oxford Street, which is the most easily visible landmark in the area.

For years after, Centre Point was was at the centre of controversy, as greedy property tycoon Harry Hyams intentionally kept it unoccupied as values soared against its potential rent yield.

It's construction cost in 1964 was £5.5 million whilst its estimated market value in 1973 was £20 million. Moreover, by keeping it empty it was not liable for rates!

GPS grid coordinates:
Latitude: (WGS84) N51:30:58 ( 51.516128 )
Longitude: (WGS84) W0:07:48 ( -0.129875 )

See also this semi-live BBC Jam cam traffic camera image (usually updated every few minutes, unless there is actually some interesting incident, when the feed is censored) from the Oxford Street / Centre Point camera, which usually points south, with the notorious "stinkie" subway corner visible in the top left..

UPDATE 20th August 2009 - everything from Andew Bordes Street to what was the Internet Lounge has been demolished as part of the new Tottenham Court Road Tube and Cross Rail station development..

The subway on the corner, leads into the Tottenham Court Road Tube station, and is ok during the day time, but this whole corner of Andrew Bordes Street is somewhere to avoid if you are on your own at night, as the "Stinkies", crackheads, drunks , and other addicts, trend to gather, just as their ancestors did during the time of William Hogarth.

Update 20th August 2009: this whole block has now been demolished as part of the re-development of Tottenham Court Road Tube Station