London's Soho is gentrified as seediness is swept away
Notorious as a red-light district, the property boom in the British capital is replacing Soho's prostitutes and strip clubs with hotels and wine bars
London's property wave is swamping the world's oldest profession.
The central Soho district's prostitutes and sex cinemas are being overwhelmed by upscale restaurants, bars, hotels and flats in an echo of Rudy Giuliani's celebrated 1990s transformation of Times Square in New York.
"When I started 30 years ago, there was a long run of peep shows," said Paul Giorgio, 61, who runs a fish-and-chip shop in the area. "Now people come in here and ask me, where's Soho? If you take the sex industry away from here, you take away Soho, but I suppose they've got to if they want to make the money."
Soho is the latest once down-at-the-heel area transformed by the boom. Kings Cross, where Google will build its British headquarters, shed its reputation as a red-light district. Clapton, part of which was known as Murder Mile, is dotted with wine bars and a creperie. A two-bedroom flat in Brixton, scene of race riots in the 1980s, can cost £550,000 (HK$7.25 million).
The property outfit created by Paul Raymond, the founder of the district's first legal strip club, is leading the transformation. Soho Estates Holdings is turning Walker's Court, a 50-metre alley once renowned for its sex shops and adult cinema, into a high-end enclave.
At his death in 2008, Raymond's collection of property in the area had contributed to a fortune that estimated at £650 million. Nicknamed the King of Soho, he was portrayed in the 2013 movie by Steve Coogan.
