Experiences of unlicenced Soho...

[max_tranmere]

Breaking the law in so far as we were buying hardcore porn that was not legal to buy in the UK, but we were not conning anyone or stealing money from them. I got ?1.00 change too much given to me in a pub not so long ago, I said to the barmaid "I think you've given me a quid too much" and gave it back to her. Otherwise I would have felt bad. Compare that to the be-permed oddballs in the caverns of Soho lying and deceving to fleece hundreds of pounds off of people every day (at the rate of ?20.00, sometimes ?30.00, per victim), knowing those people have paid tube or bus fares to get there aswell, and committed time to travelling, and who will feel pissed off and disappointed when they got home, and the people doing it had no tinge of conscience WHAT SO EVER or could care less. I genuinely wonder how people like that become like that. They were clearly brought up by savages and became savages. These people are vermin! Barely human.

[max_tranmere]

Reggie, focus in on the individuals for a second, rather than the fact I went to Soho to buy porn. Do they sound like nice people to you?

[BobB]

To be pedantic, Peter Mandelson is not an MP.
He may well be the man who is currently 'running' this country, but he is an unelected (by the electorate) politician, elevated to a position of great power by Gordon Brown.
All this despite having had to resign twice from the government, once for alleged shady business dealings with Geoffrey Robinson, from whom he bought a house whilst his department was investigating the business affairs of Mr Robinson.
His second resignation was for allegedly trying to assist in obtaining British citizenship for Srichand Hinduja, an Indian business who was at the time under investiagation in India for corruption.
Just thought I'd set the record strainght.

[beutelwolf]

The wrong content inside the box thing happened to me once too, and it was the first time I went to one of those Soho shops. It was also the last time I went there. Their loss - I spend thousands of pounds a year on porn of various ilks...

Back in those days I also had a few contacts selling the stuff by mail order, e.g. some people were putting corresponding ads in mags such as The Dark Side, or some video mags. That had a much better hit-rate, though you would still come across the odd rip-off merchant. Within that group of mail orderists most reliable were a few contacts I had established through going to film fairs when people flocked porn under the counter, and also gave you an address for contacting them at other times.

[welkram]

I made my first trip to Soho in 1971 when I came to live and work in London/UK for 6 months. This was pre video and any films you bought were 8mm, I remember being invited into the back room of a number of shops and it was plain to see there was no censorship at all in whatever films, mags or black and white photographs you may want. My guess was that if there was a Police Porn Squad then they must have been the sort we read about in "our friends from the north".

When I came back to live here in 1975 there was little change, but by 1980 Soho had seemed to clear up its act and sell only 'wholesome' porn.