Diary: the last days of summer

Camden Council’s “Keep Fitzrovia Clean” campaign — launched in the spring — has been a complete failure. In fact, the amount of rubbish hurled onto the streets and fly-tipping in our sorry-looking district seems to have increased. Why anyone wants to eat and drink al fresco surrounded by leaking bin bags, discarded catering equipment and the smell of sewage is beyond me.

Despite an apology given by The Fitzrovia Partnership for early morning noise from dismantling its rabbit hutch installation outside the tube station at Warren Street and a promise that it wouldn’t happen again, contractors could be heard the following morning moving scaffolding around at 7.30am.

In early July I wrote that Derwent London had put its 90 Whitfield Street “Qube” building on the market. But only a few days later the FT reported that Derwent was asking for about £120mn, but only “received bids that fell short of the landlord’s expectations”, according to its sources. GPE has a similar problem trying to flog 1 Newman Street for over £200mn. Large office buildings are proving difficult to sell says the FT.

Holiday let scams are rife warns The Telegraph in an advice column. Fake adverts generated by artificial intelligence (AI) are driving a holiday crime wave. Its travel writer managed to “generate a well-written advert for a fictional holiday let in Fitzrovia, with ChatGPT able to fill in accurate details about the local area. Both templates were clear, professional and very persuasively written”.

Short-term letting is a damn nuisance for many residents in Fitzrovia, with comings and goings at all hours and rubbish been dumped in the street at whatever time is convenient for a fly-tipper. But those taking advantage of a brief stay in the neighbourhood’s nasty lets might also be getting more than they bargained for. CNN reported in July that “Airbnb has known some of its hosts have used hidden cameras to secretly spy on guests, invading their most private and intimate moments.”

I was delighted to read this article in The Fence about a sex club near Warren Street.

You might want to watch The Union on Netflix where spy characters played by Halle Berry and Mark Wahlberg have their headquarters in the BT Tower. The action-packed movie was originally titled Our Man From Jersey and there are other fleeting glimpses of the neighbourhood filmed in 2022.

Universal were filming and causing an obstruction at various locations along Tottenham Court Road on Friday 23 August and another production company was makng an advert in Fitzroy Square on Thursday 29 August. A film shoot is due to take place outside 55 Whitfield Street on Friday 13 September.

Soho Housing Association, which manages a number of affordable homes in Fitzrovia, is having a soft launch of its new art gallery at 6pm on Wednesday 4 September, at 36 Great Pultney Street. Artist Mary Yacoob will present a special display of drawings and prints entitled “Constellations”. The venue is a venture to generate income to maintain and develop more affordable housing.

The Anarchist Communist Group have a guided walk of the neighbourhood’s lesser known radical history starting from Great Portland Street Underground Station at 11am on Saturday 7 September.

Almost 200 years of a daily London newspaper will grind to a halt this autumn. The Evening Standard, which has only been printed three days a week over the summer, is to go weekly with the first edition of the London Standard due to be dumped on the streets on Thursday 26 September. Private Eye wonders if there are enough staff left to actually produce the new paper due to “a brutal restructure, in which half the journalists are being let go”.

The smell of exhaust pipe emissions from non-Ulez compliant cars will be in the air on Fitzrovia’s lower east side on Sunday 29 September. The Bedford Estate will be hosting the Distinguished Gentlemen’s Drive. Around 100 pre-1984 cars are expected to rumble into Bedford Square at around 8.00am before leaving again by 9.30am. The event raises money for men’s health.