We always seemed to end up around Piccadilly Circus when we came down to London in the 80s. We'd meet in the Wimpy when we came down from college. Later, when we lived in London, on special days Anne and I would meet in the Criterion Brasserie after work. I remember it being slightly faded and you could get a croissant and a cappuccino for not too much money. Back when we'd never had them before.
Then we'd drift into Tower Records, which seemed to have every record in the world ever made. I used to love leafing through the jazz records and never buying any.
And we'd wonder past The Wag, though probably not go in.
Maybe we'd head to Leicester Square for the latest, rightest thing.
And we'd, inevitably, end up at the New Piccadilly.
Later in the 90s we'd also include wondering round the Trocadero. I seem to remember pitching for the launch of SegaWorld and suggesting we use 'Visions of Heaven and Hell' as the 'tonal template'. They declined and went with a bouncy Sonic instead. Fair enough.
I ended up there again yesterday. It's a bit rubbish now, in that long sad holding patterrn you get when developers have decided to force something upmarket, just subpar tourist tat filling the spaces while the fancy hotels and Militarised Coffee Boutiques migrate South.
But maybe that's what it was like when we liked it. Maybe it was just better because I was younger. That's normally the case.
