Nov 2014 - my london diary

	'Bye Bye Redrow' Poor Doors Street Party One Commercial St, Aldgate, London. Wed 19 Nov 2014
	Lisa is taken through the rich door - she and I are guests of one of the owners of a flat here On the rich side of the building the lifts are lined with mirrors the carpet is brown and the doors are a wood finish We go down the emergency stairs, but find the door to the poor side is locked - we have to go to the ground floor and take a different lift to get up to the poor flats they have a blue-grey carpet and matching painted doors but the signage is the same on both sides of the divide there are long narrow corridors for both rich and poor
	And there is a grille here on the 10th floor where we can look through to the rich We wait for the lift down The ground floor is bare on the poor side - no sofas, no concierge, no fancy lighting, no vase of flowers... and a very bare looking group of post lockers leads to a small door at the end of a long corridor We say goodbye to our guide who is taking her dog outside for a walk Tonight is a special night - because of our protest people from the rich side are using the poor door - and there is a member of Redrow staff and a security guard on duty. Normally there is just a doo, with a card entry system though for some weeks that was not working so anyone could enter. We came out just as the protest at the rich door was ending for the night.
			November main page