I walk past the entrance of the Soho Car Park in Poland Street on most days.
Although quite a nondescript opening, it deserves some celebrity as this was the UK’s first split-level car park and it has been storing the cars of Soho’s visitors for almost a century since opening in 1925. (The Building Our Past blog has an article on its history, here.)
My eye was always drawn to the two old adverts that decorated one of the entrance walls, undisturbed ghosts from ancient times, probably immediately post-war or early 1950’s.
One suggests that “Regular servicings in our modern BP Energol lubrication bay Will keep your car on the road.”
The other bids you to “Exchange your worn tyres for Regency Remoulds. Next Best To New Tyres – at half the cost.”
A year or two back I noticed a small graffiti tag on the BP Energol which you can see in the picture above.
Returning to Soho after the spring lockdown of 2020, the aerosol arseholes had been busy.
The lovely old ads were riddled with low quality graffiti.
My simple pleasure at looking at the ads was ruined and I have to admit to mumbling admonishments at the “blooming idiots” who had done this as I passed by. Under my breath of course.
The narrative arc of this article is completed by the car park owners painting over the whole lot.
All that is left now is a plain white wall.
How boring.
Or in other words, a blank canvas.
I give it a week until the graffiti starts re-appearing.
What a shame.