With my company’s offices caught between the business-like, uniformed City, and the funky and laid back Shoreditch area, I’m able to get a glimpse of both areas. To the right: proud signboards promoting banks and law firms opened over a century ago. To the left: colourful graffiti walls none less iconic than the bank signboards. As I go for a walk during my lunch break I can wander to either side.
The recent riots have been on everyone’s lips this week. Criticism and opinion are spewing out of our mouths, slithering like serpents, and sweeping like hurricanes though just about every aspect of our lives, leaving nothing unaffected. Whether we’re sipping our morning coffee, enjoying a well-deserved lunch break, or downing a pint at our local pub, the riots are all the rage.
The East has become the new West. Even the classic city banker with speed dial access to ‘members only’ clubs secretly wants a peek-a-boo into this fascinating area which blatantly is coolness personified. Shoreditch is no longer an oasis for fashion nonconformists; it has now become home to a new breed of hipsters who incorporate a sense of demure refinement into their attire, along with a sense of discernment.