Since we're sharing here I remember going down to Soho one evening when I was in my teens. This would probably have been early 90s and not sure I would have been quite old enough to drink but was cultivating a nice bit of facial fuzz which (with much more lax licensing laws) was able to get into pubs. Was determined to get some sort of illicit thrill and wandered around in the early evening dark soaking in the seediness and scoping out possible opportunities.
Eventually decided upon a neon lit underground cavern probably somewhere off of Walkers Court that advertised strippers. Paid a fiver for a compulsory drink to get in (a lotta money at the time) and was confronted by a bored looking young lady likely not much older than me and probably from a similar background. The only other customer seemed to be a guy with another girl perched on his knee. My lass wanted more money from me which 1) was unwilling to part with and 2) didn't really have in the first place. Of course I was completly unaware of the concept of the Clip Joint or any sort of extortion.
Sorely disappointed I was not going to viewing any naked flesh any time soon and with the naive stupidity of the young I got stroppy and snapped something like "Oh just give me my watered down coke!". Out of nowehere a huge guy is a dark suit materialised, took one look at my spotty, scruffy, penniless self, and said to the girl in a rumbling bass "Just give him a quick dance then he's on his way" (or words to that affect". The girl stood wiggled her hips and run her hand up and down her stockinged thigh maybe twice then sat back down again. With the bouncer still watching me and reality starting to seep into through my cerebral wall of ignorance I turned tail and beat my retreat.
So my first foray into seediness and, as the decades have gone by and I have (hopefully) developed a bit of additional savviness, I now realise how close I had come to a potential thumping and count my blessings. I still miss that part of London tho
