Picture of the Week – Bankrupt Belgravia

Most days I go to Sainsbury’s in Elizabeth Street, Belgravia. This store, situated at what some might call “the wrong end of one of Britain’s most expensive residential neighbourhoods,” is a shop where genteel locals shop alongside travelers using the frankly grotty disgrace that is the Victoria Coach Station.

Each day, I encounter a lovely old man who just happens to be homeless. He is genuinely homeless and sits there come rain or shine and I give him a bar of chocolate and a bottle of lemonade. He is thankful and though his English is poor, I often chat with him. He regularly tells me that sadly what he dislikes most is being ignored.

Yesterday, I spotted an altogether different sight on the opposite side of the road. Pictured is an image of a shirtless man sprawled out on the pavement (apparently drunk and drugged according to passerby) and totally off his face. It is a shameful state of affairs that in such a wealthy area the council, the local landowner Grosvenor and others do nothing to help such people. We live in a society which should accept that with rights comes responsibilities and it is time we all stepped up and did more to reduce homelessness.