November 2009 Archives

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

Tottenham_Court_Road_Tube_Station_redevelopment_450.jpg


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"

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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,

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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.

Charing_Cross_Road_Astoria_300.jpg


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:

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Internet Lounge demolished.

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Andrew Borde Street to Denmark Place alley.

Astoria_demolished_450.jpg

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

Tesco_Southall_Hayes_recycling_centre_gsv_450.jpg

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


Hayes_Tesco_recycling_machines_450.jpg

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

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

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

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