London at Twilight: I guess you're closed?

By Zaneta Denny

London blows its own trumpet on many a matter but starts sounding a little flat when basic services are inaccessible to people leaving work. A rudimentary visit to the bank has to be planned with military precision, likewise nursing one’s place in the Post Office queue is painful sport, a test of endurance for Londoners impatient if they are used to waiting a mere 50 seconds for a decaf-capp. My local Post Office closes at a Victorian 5.30pm. To add salt to the wound, on the eve of one of my defeated attempts to nab the bank, I was astonished to see Ladbroke’s bookies full of life with old unhurried men fixated on large plasma screens. In a city bursting with more than 8 million inhabitants, I find it nonsensical that Vegas rules apply to gambling institutions but not to others. Ladbrokes doors are unlocked for more than 14 hours a day from Monday to Friday (8.30am - 10 pm) and boasts unholy reckonings for Sundays 10 ‘til 10; longer than the capitalist kettling ground that is Westfield shopping centre.

The cataclysmic recession started in 2008 was generally agreed to be caused by frivolous speculation, a posh word for gambling. So it is ironic that our now nationalized banks are straining to extend their customer service to us, their new shareholders, while high street bookies offer egalitarian opening hours to bet on Zarkandar’s chances for the Champion Hurdle. It was only in 2010 (hey, ten years after the turn of a new century and two years after nationalization) that some High Street banks  announced with their sickly-sweet customer charter adverts their decision to open longer on Saturdays with a concessionary 'late night' eventide opening ‘til 7.  Despite these incredible concessions, dozens of customers still have to be escorted out of my local Natwest if they’re still not attended to by this time.

For me, a Generation Y-er (another term for Millenial, someone born after 1980) accustomed to deluxe 24 hour library opening times at uni, the 8pm public library closure is hell especially when the free-wifi now proves to be the umbilical cord to all life: job applications, research etc.

The real test of London’s mettle will come this summer when some 5.3 million extra visitors arrive for the London 2012 Olympics. With the average tube line retiring at a premature half-past twelve, I personally doubt the TFL will be able to handle it. The night bus I boarded last week was three-quarters full and that was a weekday.

Can anyone make any sense of this madness? The imbalance of opening hours in London seem to be indicative of certain confusion over London’s identity and direction. As the population of London expands, the combination of restrictive and broad opening hours can only go on for so long without frustrating smooth modernisation. The badge of 24 hour cities should not be the preserve of gamblers-r-us. Boris please make a change!