Café culture comes at a cost
Public spaces that were once open to all are now the sole preserve of those with money in their pockets
“You have to pay for the public life,” wrote the architect Charles W. Moore in 1965 — a truth that resonates all the more loudly in our present cash-strapped times.
In the past month planning permission has been granted for a stand-alone café to be built in the precinct of St-Martin-in-the-Fields, one of the few spaces in London’s West End that is free of commercial activity.
Meanwhile, across the river at the South Bank Centre, a mooted revamp of the Hayward Gallery and the Queen Elizabeth Hall threatens to introduce more than 5,000sq m of food, drink and retail. That complex’s undercroft was originally planned as a site where artists could rent low-cost studio space. Now it looks likely to become a branch of Tesco Metro.
Given that 20 years ago it was all but impossible to find a good cup of coffee in London, the fact that much of the city centre now supports a lively, continental-style café culture offers cause for celebration.
However, the encroachment of commerce into every corner of the city’s public realm hasn’t come without cost.
Spaces that were once open to every member of society are now the sole preserve of those with money in their pockets. Emptiness has become a luxury that it seems we can no longer afford.
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Readers' comments (5)
What about the crypt cafe down below???? Good place for a cup of coffee and more!
"Spaces that were once open to every member of society are now the sole preserve of those with money in their pockets."
As much as I agree with the overall sentiment, I wouldn't say public spaces are now the sole preserve of those with money. It's apparent even in that image that there are still people sitting in the public space who aren't having coffee!
'Privatisation of Public Space' is a hot topic at the moment, but the truth is that much of it is actually the publicisation of private space. Take one example - Granary Square at Kings Cross - previously all privately owned railway land out of bounds to the public. Now it is high quality space opened for eveybody to enjoy, coffee buyer or not.
The commercialisation of the public realm can make public spaces in our cities both more and less accessible to people. Some are reassured by the presence of a potential toilet or the apparent on site regulation of the space. Yet I would support the sentiment that we should not need to pay to make use of these spaces. I would further argue that an unbalanced potential over-commercialisation of our public realms closes down access to these spaces not just for the poor, but for children who are overtly or covertly not welcome in these spaces unless very "well behaved". The best examples of vibrant public realms found at the heart of many European cities are multi-ethnic, intergenerational, cross-class sphere offering play, rest, social, political and economic engagment opportunities. Designers, regulators and wider custodians of British public realms need to expand their understandings of mixed use development if our cities are to be saved from further division and compartmentalisation.
London is an over-commercialised dump, one hot dog stand isn't going to ruin it.