Another day at work, a regular Friday night in Chelsea. Chelsea is having a home game for the premier league; people are out, pubs are busy and Maggies (the nightclub where I work) is getting ready for a busy Friday night. A good mix of 80s music with alcohol in a basement that can host no more than 180 people, not an easy-to-find place, with most customers living locally makes it an irresistible late-night attraction. Revealing its upper-class clientele creates an atmosphere of casual wealth that reflects the borough itself. This is where I met Savanah originally from Portugal but born and raised in Chelsea in her early twenties. After a while, this colleague realationship evolved into a really good and genuine friendship.
That lead to us spending more time together outside of work, going out for coffee and drinks. In one of those day-outs together was the moment when I realised something odd. Several times when we have been outside of Chelsea, I noticed something that motivated me to write this article. When asked by others where she lives and she mentioned Chelsea people would react impressed and make comments about Chelsea’s poshness, high-status and assumed that she comes from a high-upper middle-class background. But her reaction and response will not justify this assumption as she comes from the ‘other’ side of Chelsea that most people outside of the borough are not even aware of and are shocked to hear about a different side of Chelsea. When I asked her if she gets that reaction often her response was positive, explaining me how she does not belong on this side of Chelsea, with a feeling of alienation.
“People outside of Chelsea think that I am from a wealthy background but people from Chelsea know where I come from”
notes can be found all around the estate
Petty theft and selling drugs are a common sight in the World’s End Estate and around areas. As we walk with Savanah within the block, she mentions how drug users will often steal from local shops food and other items of consumption and go in the council estate to sell them for cheaper prices as they know families there are on benefits or on low income. This way they have a certain income for their drugs and low-income residents can eat a more “appropriate” meal, which under normal circumstances they would not be able afford, due to high prices. As we walk up some stairs, I see several Amazon parcels opened, curiously I turn to Savanah and ask her “What happened with them?” laughing she responds “they are taken from others and opened to see if they are worth taking, the ones that are worthless are dropped left and right”. An activity that mostly young teenagers engage with but sometimes adults too. On another visit to the estate with Savanah at some point we came across a childhood friend, they chatted for a bit explaining our relationship and my project, her friend proceeded to tell us that he was waiting to buy some weed. I asked him about the difficulty of accessing weed and he jokingly replied
“I don’t even have to leave the state, actually not even my floor level”.
He literally had to walk 3 minutes from his door. After staying with him while collecting the weed, I realised that the drug dealer was a guy in his early 20 who lives in the estate and went to school with Savanah and other kids from the block. Savanah eplains how her estate is the spot for more and heavier drugs for the area. She recounts once when coming home from Maggies how she encountered a customer from our workplace buying drugs in front of the estate.
“It was weird, I was surprised to see him here and f he was surprised to see me. I remember him asking me what I was doing there, he had no idea that I was living there, but then I saw him holding a significant amount of cash and I knew the reason of his visit on this side”.
World’s End Estste one of the two estates in Chelsea.
The biggest problem of the borough is that It tries to limit the residents of World’s End within their premise, so they do not bother the rich, and the council by not investing in that community re-enforces this division and segragation.
The unequal division of wealth is not a problem only in Chelsea it is global, but the unequal distribution of investment from the council is a problem that Chelsea faces like no other borough if we consider the borough being the richest in London.
The council can play a significant role on integrating both sides by creating inclusive programmes and investing fairly in every community of the borough, so every resident of Chelsea has the same access to multiple opportunities.
The contribution of funding is so bad Daisy tells me, another resident of Chelsea near World’s End, that during Christmas the road that is heavily decorated and put on lights is the main King’s Road. Interstingly, enough King’s Road extends all the way to World’s End Estate, but by the crossroad with Beautford Street there is no more decoration or lighting, “darkness” as she describes.
“Unequal distribution of opportunities and investments is a big problem in Chelsea”
Unwanted staff left all over the estate
a ring bell placed recently as outsiders would enter the estate unauthorized
