West End rubs it in - East End doesn't have marathon finish
Money talks. The East End managed to scrape together £10million to brush up its High Street for the 2012 marathon. Now the West End shows what really pulls in the likes of SebCo and his corporate buddies at Locog with a £1billion scrub up. Meanwhile threats of East End legal action have fizzled out as Tower Hamlets finally accepts its position at the back of the field.
In all sports there have to be losers as well as winners.
Submitted by Julian Cheyne on Fri, 26/11/2010 - 03:23.
Blog | 2012 Sport | Attractions | Coe | London 2012 | Protest | Tower Hamlets
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Facelift what facelift?
Indeed, how could the boring old East End possible compete with such high class offerings as Europe's first shop devoted to M&Ms ("will provide visitors with a fun and interactive experience") and the new Hippodrome Casino ("A World Class Casino and Much More..."). Or the dubious delights of sleeping in a "Pod" in the abandoned Segaworld in that temple of culture the Trocadero, from which even Planet Hollywood has fled.
The St John Hotel would be open now but for construction delays.
The Grosvenor Hotel refurbishment is next to Victoria Station which is hardly the West End.
Lumping this random collection of developments together and calling it a £1b Olympic facelift is stretching it even for the ES.
But fascinating how they continue to cling to the cliche that the 'eyes of the world' will be on their bit of London in 2012. I don't recall seeing anything much of Beijing on TV during the 2008 games, and we all know that there will be fewer overseas visitors in London in 2012 than in a normal August.