Tuesday, December 13, 2005
...and, speaking of Smoke... The seventh edition of London's loveliest fanzine is now in the shops. It may have taken Matt and Jude six months to assemble this new volume of their capital tribute, and this issue may be a little less factual and rather more discursive than previous, but Smoke Seven has definitely been worth the wait. Literary, artistic and photographic gems in the latest issue include stuff about park benches, the Nightingale Estate, snooker halls, rundown subways, Brixton, lost pubs, the Beech Street Tunnel, city farms, Camden Market and assorted 'London peculiar'. I'll even forgive the editors the following Routemaster-related outburst (but only because there's a number 38 on the front cover, and rather a lot more inside):"I can’t help feeling that those who want to preserve them (a) rarely go on them and (b) are the same people who insist their local 'classic caff' continues serving them cups of watery Nescafe for 50p, even if the owner then has to work a 16-hour shift just to cover the rent while his adoring clientele jump in taxis and head off to 40K jobs in the media, writing features on classic caffs and Routemasters for the colour supplements."
Smoke #7, just £2.50 from all good retailers (and from some bad retailers, and by mail order).
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