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Paul Raymond - the porn and property baron died, aged 82 |
Raymond death raises fears for Soho
FEARS that Soho will be transformed into a soulless corporate enclave have been fuelled by the death of the porn baron and property magnate Paul Raymond.
Mr Raymond, dubbed the English Hugh Heffner, who died earlier this week aged 82, owned more than 400 properties in Soho – sparking fears of a sell-off or rent hike that could sign a death warrant for many small businesses in the area.
Although he was most famous for founding Soho’s first strip club, the Revue Bar, Mr Raymond amassed the bulk of his wealth from his property portfolio, which included many small businesses as well as theatres and clubs.
Fiona Rhys-Jenkins Bailey, secretary of the Soho Society, said: “As a man we remember him fondly. We are very worried that the people who inherit his business might want to cash in, or raise the rents. The whole atmosphere of Soho, which has been built up over 300 years, would be under threat.”
Mr Raymond never looked back after being publicly shamed by a judge as “filthy, disgusting and beastly” in 1961 – and by 1992 he was crowned Britain’s richest man.
His empire included vast swathes of property across the West End as well as a stable of top-shelf magazines, which brought conservative estimates of his wealth at £600 million at the time of his death.
As London emerged from the Second World War, Mr Raymond is acknowledged as the man who challenged – and changed – the sexual climate, from one of prudishness to permissiveness.
When he first entered the world of nude shows in the early 1950s, the law meant that women could only appear naked on the stage if they were stationary.
By cannily exploiting a loophole and opening the Revue Bar in Walker’s Court as a private club rather than a theatre in 1958, the women were allowed to dance.
Following its success, Mr Raymond started his publishing and property empire The Paul Raymond Organisation, despite confessing to never having read a book.
His entrepreneurial skills were honoured by Margaret Thatcher in the late 1980s – a meeting that led to Mr Raymond shipping copies of his magazines out to the army in the Falklands.
In 1997 he sold the Revue Bar name and business to Gerard Simi, a former ballet dancer who had been a choreographer at his clubs. In 2000 Mr Raymond’s brother Philip Queen took control of the Paul Raymond Organisation. |
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