Same but different: how should London change post-pandemic?

For a year, London has been in turmoil. But amid the deaths, lockdowns, tests and vaccines, for me there has been one constant. Tony’s shop. It’s literally a minute from my house. Tony is always there behind the counter, or out the back, or putting stuff on shelves. Throughout the last year, Tony’s Daily on Deptford High Street has stayed open, a little space with fresh bread and veg and decent wine. Somewhere that isn’t a Tesco Metro. Tony Marku has never seemed out of sorts, (possibly because he came to London 29 years ago from an Albania that he describes as ‘worse than lockdown’). I’ve probably seen him more regularly over the last year than anyone apart from my partner. Today I want toast, but we’ve run out of bread, so it’s round to Tony’s. I ask him what I’ve been asking lots of Londoners over the past few weeks: ‘What would you like to see change as London reopens?’ Tony seems taken aback by the question. ‘Come back later,’ he says, cryptically. I buy some bread.

Londoners need community spaces

I’ve been asking people this question because I genuinely believe that Covid has wrought the greatest change on London that any of us will experience in our lifetimes. But maybe having this inflicted on us is a chance to rewrite a few things about our city. What should they be, though? I’ve asked people in the arts, in hospitality, local people and even the mayor. Pub landlords and queer club promoters and my Aussie-Sri Lankan hairdresser Darren. The answers have been a mixed bag (an Uber driver called Perparim just said ‘nothing’). Some people have clearly given the mid- to long-term future zero thought. But there have been plenty of constructive/barmy ideas too.

Covid has reconfigured the city. Life has been a bit like ‘EastEnders’: we’ve stayed in our personal Albert Squares, wondering if our personal Queen Vics will ever reopen. Going ‘up west’ has attained almost mythic status, like Shangri-La or the First Dates Hotel. ‘Local’ has suddenly acquired a huge significance for Londoners. In 2019 Emma Warren published a brilliant book called ‘Make Some Space’ about Dalston venue the Total Refreshment Centre and the need that people have to be able to access places where they can explore and make stuff. Her answer to my question? ‘I’d like to see people who have access to neighbourhood space collaborate with people who want to use it to do local and low-resource things.’ Her thoughts are echoed by Jenny Stiles from the currently under-threat Waterloo Action Centre, an institution that has been helping vulnerable residents since the early 1970s: ‘Londoners need community spaces. We can’t unleash the great capacity that people contain if they don’t have somewhere to do it. Once people know each other, they look out for each other.’

That sense of a future London better reflecting its people is a powerful one. Artist Camille Walala, whose public artworks have become a familiar sight on our streets, thinks that the fabric of the city needs to respond more to the needs of its inhabitants: ‘I would love for the public spaces in the city to be taken back for the people that live in the city,’ she says, ‘creating fun outdoor spaces that give pleasure and inspire creativity.’ Storyteller Vanessa Woolf agrees, extolling the sense of exploration of their own city that many Londoners have felt over the last year: ‘I really hope all Londoners will get out, enjoy and appreciate ALL our public spaces, not just the obvious ones. ’

When I wander round Soho and Leicester Square, there is a real sense of new life. With its hundreds of outside tables, Chinatown now feels like the buzziest (and busiest) place in London, and at least 80 percent of the people eating and drinking on Gerrard Street are from East Asia. But talking to business owners, the word that comes up repeatedly like a sad mantra is ‘landlord’ (‘If landlords are sympathetic…’ ‘We need the landlords to not be greedy…’). It’s the flipside to the notion of community. The unseen, be it faceless virus or remote renter, is what drives people apart. Taking back control is a key idea for many Londoners right now. Perhaps the random destructiveness of Covid feels like a symbol of our own lack of agency in our lives and that of our city. London’s food and drink businesses in particular have taken a proper battering under the pandemic. But they’re also key in many people’s eyes to rebuilding the capital. ‘It’d be great to see people support their local food spots and form real local communities,’ says the author of ‘Belly Full’, Riaz Phillips. ‘We go years without knowing our neighbours so hopefully openness can change this.’

The same kind of sentiment is heard again and again from those working in London’s nightlife, especially given the threat that Covid has posed to the LGBTQ+ community. ‘I want to see people supporting and appreciating their local independent LGBTQ+ venues, artists and businesses,’ says drag artist Carrot. ‘I would like to see queer spaces prioritised,’ agrees Cassie Leon of Cocoa Butter Club. ‘They seem to be the first to go when times get tough. Queer-led spaces are so important to the community, especially after being away from chosen family for so long.’

We need tolerance and caring for others

Not everyone is concentrating on the damage that Covid has done. Shakespeare’s Globe director Michelle Terry positively froths with enthusiasm for a future city rebuilt by creativity: ‘Let the artists loose. Pay the muses, the poets, the playwrights, the painters, the sculptors, the gardeners, the actors, the musicians to decorate our city, line our streets and fill our souls with hope.’ Jonny Banger of sardonic fashion label Sports Banger also wants (albeit slightly less theatrically) to see more creative get-togethers: ‘I’d love to see some small midweek or Sunday sessions, rolling, week in week out, pushing sounds, ideas and vibes. Five people or 100 people – see you there.’ Kwame Kwei-Armah, artistic director of the Young Vic, has a very different focus: ‘I’d like to see our attitude to homelessness change. During the pandemic, hotels that were unoccupied created space for homeless people. I would love to see that kind of initiative amplified as London reopens.’ One thing I’ve found interesting about asking this question is that people seem much more interested now in talking beyond their area of experience. It’s like we all have a much more holistic idea of what London – or any city – is: that it’s made up of the arts, and food and drink, and public transport and parks, and the NHS, and little shops like Tony’s. Most importantly, it’s made up of shared things: struggles, experiences, triumphs.

As London reopens – and beyond – I would like to see a continuation of the tolerance and caring for others that has been so prevalent during lockdown,’ says John Reiss, chairman of Peckhamplex cinema. Fellow SE15 resident Clement Ogbonnaya, owner of The Prince of Peckham pub, wants to see us looking out for each other a bit more too: ‘I’d like to see more Londoners saying “Hi” or “Good morning”, to let fellow Londoners know that we’re still here and we beat this pandemic together.’

People need help with their mental scars

So there’s a long way to go for our city. But there’s a lot of hope too, and a definite excitement about we Londoners being able to get back out there. Mayor Sadiq Khan says: ‘I’m looking forward to seeing the city begin to open up again and to feel that unique London buzz which makes life here so exciting,’ which is exactly the sort of thing that someone campaigning for re-election would say. Not that he’s wrong, mind you. Tommy Dexter of Vegan Vice Club has a more concrete idea: ‘A jubilee-type festival celebrating reopening, to show that everyone has pulled through stronger, wiser and more grateful after this thing.’ Sarah Gavron, director of ‘Rocks’, wants ‘more accessible children’s play spaces, more social housing and more bicycle lanes’. My hairdresser Darren wants ‘24/7 public transport, more outdoor dining, checking in with neighbours, supporting local businesses and free parking’. Above all, everyone wants to get on with their lives.

The next day I go back to Tony’s shop. He talks about lockdown easing as have a ‘healing’ effect. ‘People need help with their mental scars,’ he says. ‘They need reassuring.’ He hopes that a reopened London will see people better at listening, more aware of each other. He’s even discussed it with his family. His kids don’t want London just to be the same as it was. ‘They want to leave the old behind,’ he says. I buy some bread and go home to make toast.