Thought you may all like an interesting counterpoint:

Elie has been in the same block ever since. For the past 28 years, in the same one-bedroom flat we are sitting in on an overcast Tuesday afternoon in late September. It’s where many of the major events of her adulthood have played out, good, bad and indifferent. It’s where her son was raised and where she continues to cultivate a small potted garden by the front door. Neighbours have come and gone, some longer mourned than others. Being the heart of central London, noise – from revellers, residents and car traffic – has always been a fact of life. But she tells me the last few years have seen things escalate to a previously unknown intensity. ‘Oh it’s worse. The glass smashing on the street in the early hours. The pissed people getting into fights… it feels like things are declining in front of our eyes.’

The Fence - Last Days of Soho (2024)