In my post of June 11th, when London was like a ghost town under complete Lockdown, I featured the dramatic and perceptive portraits of Soho residents and workers by photographer, Richard Piercy, in his Someone oF Soho Exhibition, shown on the sadly boarded up- restaurants of Soho.

Today, walking down Oxford St., I was confronted, once again, by his portrayals of our neighbours and friends on the video wall of the clothing store Flannels, at number 161-167 Oxford St..

I’ve always felt that the brilliant and expensive technology of this huge video wall has never quite found anything as exciting as itself to display. The medium has always eclipsed the message. But now, on a dark and rainy December day, it has finally come into its own.

We Soho-ites spend a great deal of time complaining that the heart is being torn from our distinctive corner of London – by Crossrail, Covid and expensive developments that drive out the creative industries, music venues, fabric shops and brothels for which Soho was famous – so it’s heartwarming to see that, in these portraits, Richard Piercy has captured what looks like a bunch of interesting, distinctive people whose individuality appears, for now, to have survived the attempted homogenisation of Soho.

As Piercy says, ” A neighbourhood’s landscape may change but it’s the people who define its character.”

Given that the landscapes of our High Streets are already undergoing great change, Piercy’s work carries an optimistic message.

The exhibition is on 24 hours a day up to and including December 13th.

**************************(************************************************

A quick catch – up to my post of November 29th about trees being planted along London’s Regent Street. Most of the planters are already filled and by Christmas the tress have reached the full length of the street.

Shame there won’t be a job for this jaunty scarecrow we spotted almost at the entrance to Queen Mary’s Rose Garden in Regents’ Park.