Hampsdead?

Remorse & Gloom RIP.

I hate to be the voice of Doom & Gloom just before Christmas yet, with the pub of the same name being converted into another well needed estate agent's office; the Creperie de Hampstead opening only on weekends; Ye Olde White Bear - yes, I still defiantly call it that - potentially turning into a millionaire's pied de terre; The Vortex de Rosslyn Arms being left to rot indefinitely and Hampstead police station being very, very closed indeed, I think it's safe to say, Hampstead's having a rather shitty Crimbo this year.
    Yes, the Doom & Gloom hasn't been the Doom & Gloom, or even the Remorse & Gloom for some time but, whilst a public venue, there was at least a semblance of hope. Now, with it definitely turning into an estate agent's office, all hope for it - and I dare say Hampstead - is dashed.
    Having just published my first book, Hampstead Faces, Volume I, it would be a pity for my next to be titled something like Hampstead, Death of a London Village. Yet if Her Majesty's Government, Corporation of London, Scamden, Tesco and the Ministry of Cube Building have anything to do with it - that book may well yet find its way onto the shelves of Waterstones one day soon.

A Merry Christmas to you all,

Emmanuel Mustafa Goldstein,
Editor under a Hampstead Pond.