Swatch From The Streets is a global 'city-off' between some of the world's coolest locations. Naturally, I was intrigued to find out which was chosen for London, in collaboration with i-D magazine. This is England actress Vicky McClure is representing, and she chose Old Compton Street in SoHo. I wholeheartedly agree.
Like Vicky, I feel that this postage stamp piece of London has always had such vitality. Squashed in between the tourist-traps of Theatreland and Oxford Street, it's a rollicking, neon-strip lit, 24hour-license-corner-shop kind of a place by night. And by day, you can still catch the old guard (Brit Art, Brit Pop, Blackadder actors...) scurrying between Black's and The Groucho. It has become gentrified since the 70s, but's it's never become dull. When I was an intern at Esquire, and later at Vogue, SoHo was my after-work stomping ground. A friend of mine at the Groucho once took me on a 21-stop pub and club crawl on a Tuesday night starting at Paramount on top of the Centre Point building ( it has since opened it's doors to non-members) and ending in an Addison Lee car somewhere near Bow Church.
Vicky has cheated a little bit and she's also managed to wangle her hometown of Nottingham into the clip. I can't say I've been, but I'll take her word for it...
