Street Sleepers

 
Back at the beginning of this century, there was only one guy sleeping out in central London and everybody knew his name.  Brian Haw.

He was an anti-war campaigner who made his protest by camping in Parliament Square, much to the embarassment of the Blair Govt.  They tried vainly to get him moved on and set the Met Police on harassing him, but he persisted and became a known political figure.

Times change.  In the first decade of the century food banks proliferated, and so did rough sleeping.   Now the streets are littered with beggars and rough sleepers.  Nobody knows their names.


Tottenham Court Rd is a main thoroughfare of the W.End,  probably best known for the Dominion Theatre at the corner with Oxford St.

A walk down Tottenham Court Rd, mid-day, mid-week, and who I passed on my way.


Grafton Way, a side street at the north (aka top) end.  Turn left at the traffic lights and you're on Tottenham Ct Rd.  There's three tents there.
Around the back of this building is UCLH which involuntarily hosts an impromptu camp site.

When I was a kid and saw a tramp I'd ask my Dad who was that and what were they up to.  His reply was they were a gentleman of the road who, for their own reasons, had chosen this mode of life for a while.
Such was a very rare sighting when I was a kid.  Now it's a commonplace.


Gentleman of the road.

Gentlewoman of the road.

Bivouac outside a "retail opportunity", of which there are so many.

This spot is considered part of the American Church or, alternatively, the WWII bomb shelter (depending on your historical perspective).
As a campsite it's a near permanent fixture.  There's always five or six tents there.

A lady begging in her sleep while her dog guards her dreams.  I've seen her there for a week.  On less sunny days, the dog curls up with her.

In the evenings, on the other side of the road, the colonnade of Heals department store is shelter to more rough sleepers.

On the few occasions I've spoken to these people, they all turn out to have been rendered homeless by circumstances outside their control.


At the beginning of September, Nadhim Zahawi (former Chancellor and tax avoider) complained about rough sleeping in Mayfair, seemingly oblivious to a commonplace in London and other cities.
Tott Ct Rd is in the constituency of PM Keir Starmer who likewise appears oblivious to this symptom of a structural problem.
"It's the economy, stupid."

For over three decades we have had an economy dislocated from the needs of the population and unrecognised by politicians.