Moods, atmospheres, places change. Where once there was an adult cinema, now exists Khao Bird, a buzzing, neon-lit Thai-inspired joint with crispy sea bass and curries full of lemongrass and galangal. The sex has gone, but there are other pleasures: stimulation today comes by way of cocktails and a little chilli heat, the promise that Soho remains a fruitful endeavour, a chaotic, jazzy epicentre for a city ever-changing, only tempered a little now as society dictates. Take that how you will. You can still buy a gimp suit a few doors down, so what does it matter?
More concerning — enraging, perhaps — about London today is the price of getting loose. “Sir, that will be £25”, a well-dressed man says to me far too comfortably. I imagine he’s the type of guy to have grown up in St Albans with the surname Gooch but came good in his late 20s and now “cleans up” on Hinge. Anyway, I have ordered a simple negroni… not something that should cost £25 outside The Connaught. How welcome then that this Thai-inspired restaurant sells a drink called I’m Broke for £7.90. It blends a double shot of Lidl vodka, lime juice and soda over ice (yeah, a skinny bitch). Always a refreshing, generous and fortifying medley; a savvy drink, a genius move.
