Episode 8 Oxford Street Revealed

It's the most famous shopping street in the world

in the heart of Britain's capital city.

A mile and a half long with 30 million visitors each year.

With some of the world's most famous shops...

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING ..biggest stars...

Kate Moss.

..and busiest stations.

Sorry, guys, stand back for me.

What does it take to keep it running 24 hours a day...

Busiest street in the world so it needs constant attention.

-..seven days a week?

-Oi! Clear off!

You're going to be arrested on suspicion of attempted theft.

Are you ready, London?

A street that never sleeps.

This sort of thing wouldn't happen anywhere else.

-Coming up... CHANTING:

-Save the 12 Bar!

..squatters take over a building in protest

of an Oxford Street development.

Don't let the music die!

-The developers want them out...

-What the heck?

..but the squatters aren't going quietly.

A celebrity chef's cooking up a storm in a department store

but there's a problem with the oven.

Good news? Not quite.

There's trouble on the Tube.

And things are hanging by a thread at a local gallery

that's trying to bring in its biggest ever work of art.

Oh, mate. My heart's going boom, boom, boom, boom.

In the shadow of Centre Point tower at the east end of Oxford Street

is Denmark Street.

This little stretch of Victorian shops and offices

is a world away from the bright lights

and big brands of its neighbour.

But as the heart of the British music industry for over 80 years,

it's made a name for itself, literally.

Welcome to Tin Pan Alley.

It's the only street of music of its kind in the world.

It is exclusively dedicated to music retail and music business.

Henry Scott-Irvine is a music historian and writer.

Number six just on the right there

was the Sex Pistols' first rehearsal space.

The Rolling Stones recorded at Regent Sounds

at the end of the street.

Central Sound Studios, David Bowie did his very first records

for Deram there.

But this end of Oxford Street is changing dramatically.

In 2018, to coincide with the opening of a new railway station here,

instead of ending in a traffic junction,

Oxford Street will open out into a massive new public piazza,

one that will back on to Denmark Street.

Many fear the rapid redevelopment of the area

will commercialise the unique shops and businesses

on Tin Pan Alley and surrounding Soho.

Developers, the Consolidated Group, overseeing the work dispute this,

saying they plan to keep Denmark Street's unique identity.

The shops, we will keep trading during the whole of the development.

In fact, we've actually got a long-term plan with the traders

to make sure that they can all keep trading

during the whole of the three years while the development happens.

But something's rotten in the street of Denmark.

A month ago, the street's famous live music venue, the 12 Bar,

was closed by the developers.

-CHANTING:

-Save Soho! Save Soho!

And a week ago, a group calling itself Bohemians 4 Soho

moved in to squat in the 12 Bar.

Don't let the music die!

They say they're determined to fight the creeping commercialisation

of one of the city's bohemian quarters

-by the Oxford Street development.

-Save the 12 bar!

Acting as a spokesman for the squatters is Phoenix.

-CHANTING:

-Save the 12 bar! Save the 12 bar!

There should be a blue plaque outside saying Jimi Hendrix

and the Rolling Stones and David Bowie and The Who played here.

And it should be kept as a grassroots venue.

Tin Pan Alley - save it.

It's going to be knocked down for what?

Starbucks or Wasabi or whatever?

It's all like, "What is going on in Denmark Street?"

The developers have been granted an interim possession order

to evict the squatters which they served this morning

but the squatters have refused to budge.

-CHANTING:

-Save the 12 bar!

They've been watching the bailiffs circling

and fear they're going to try and evict them any moment

with police help.

-CHANTING:

-Save the 12 Bar!

The bailiffs have rung, obviously speaking to the police at the moment

and they're waiting on a decision from Westminster Police, OK?

So I need everybody on standby, OK?

-CHANTING:

-Don't let the music die!

Don't let the music die!

After several hours of concerted demonstrations,

the squatters think the threat is receding.

They're waiting for the police to see

whether they will back them up and enforce them

but it doesn't look like they're going to do it.

So the police, even the police support the 12 Bar.

-One, two, three.

-ALL CHEER

Although the bailiffs call it a day, the risk of eviction remains.

People power!

Direct action wins the day!

It's these little things that keep us going and, you know,

beautiful, just beautiful.

Although the developer's possession order still stands,

the squatters have arranged for an emergency court hearing

to challenge it.

Save Soho!

See you in court Friday, February...

Good. Friday, February 2nd. Hey!

If they can overturn the order, they hope to remain in the building.

Until the hearing in five days' time,

they plan to stay barricaded in the venue in force.

Later, while the squatters pin their hopes

on their court hearing...

-CHANTING:

-Don't let the music die!

..the developers concentrate theirs on the morning before.

LOUD BANGING

What the heck?

It's Thursday afternoon at Debenhams Oxford Street and in the bistro,

manager James is getting ready for the afternoon sitting.

Wonderful. Canapes are ready, Prosecco's good to go.

Except this afternoon, things are about to go distinctly cordon bleu.

That's because on his way to the store

for a special live cooking experience is a true gastronomic star.

Two Michelin stars, to be precise.

Michel Roux Jr is coming over.

He'll be doing a live demonstration of two of his signature dishes.

We're going to be sort of announcing that to our customers soon

to get everybody down.

Treat them to a free glass of Prosecco

and some freshly made canapes, as well.

It falls to James to make sure everything goes to plan

in his bistro.

We've got just under an hour until he arrives

so getting slightly nervous.

I'm sure the teams will be fine with it, though.

Nothing can go wrong. Nothing can go wrong.

It's all about the preparation.

The bistro was redeveloped recently

as part of a £25 million overhaul of the shop.

The store is hoping events like today will help to showcase it

as well as providing entertainment for customers.

I'll probably bring the canapes out at about five to five.

The event also coincides

with the launch of Michel's new cookware range.

And at five o'clock on the dot,

Michel and assistant chef Angus arrive at the store's back door.

Thank you so much, lovely to see you.

Thank you.

Michel's restaurant Le Gavroche is one of only a handful

with two Michelin stars in the UK.

So where am I?

But today, he'll be contending

with very different cooking conditions.

Is that just a regular oven?

For his demonstration,

Michel will be pan-frying duck breasts on a hob live in the store.

His second dish, a tarte tatin is being prepared

by assistant Angus using Debenhams' own oven.

While they check it out,

James concentrates on looking after the customers.

We were VIP a minute ago.

Very exciting, as you can see

we're sort of filling up quite quickly.

Loads of people have turned up which is fantastic.

But while the canapes are arriving on time,

other things aren't going so well.

It literally just says, "Enter password."

-And it says...

-James is called back to the kitchen.

Debenhams ovens are set to specific temperatures

to ensure consistency throughout their stores.

But assistant chef Angus needs a higher temperature

for the complex dishes he's preparing.

To change it, they need a special code.

I tried Merrychef, didn't work.

I tried the normal one, two, didn't work.

Do you know who's got it at all?

'He wants to change around a few of the settings on the oven

'to his sort of personal taste.'

So I'm just going to find out how we actually do that,

which won't be a second on.

James gets to work trying to get hold of his tech team.

Would help if I could get hold of somebody.

Well, I do like that.

While James tries to crack the oven code,

out front, Michel is getting on with the demonstration.

Lauren, it's James, hello.

On the Merrychef ovens,

do you know what the passcode is to unlock them?

Michel Roux's cooking and needs the pass code to unlock the oven.

Would you mind calling?

I had it but I've lost it.

-Good news?

-Not quite.

HE LAUGHS

But we will be in a second. We'll get it sorted.

The success of the demonstration now rests on James' shoulders.

Just a quick one.

A little bit of an oversight on the planning part.

We'll see how he gets on later.

Down an alley just off Oxford Street, there's one institution

that wants the area to become famous for something other than shopping.

This is The Photographers' Gallery.

It relocated here four years ago,

hoping to bring a little bit of culture

to the heart of UK retail.

Although we have millions of people crossing Oxford Street every day,

the challenge for us is to get those people

to actually step off Oxford Street

and to slow down enough to come and look at some art.

It's Jason Welling's job to supervise the biggest event

in the gallery's calendar -

the annual exhibition of work from the Deutsche Borse photography prize.

It's one of the largest art competitions in the UK

with a prize of £30,000 for the winner,

chosen from four finalists.

But there's a problem with some of the finalists' photos.

The works are so large

that we can't actually get them through the building.

While most of the exhibits can be brought in the front door,

one of the finalists has recreated a South African skyscraper

with photographs laid on giant light boxes.

And three of these are just too big to get in.

The roof hatch opens up.

The work isn't terribly heavy

but the height of the building warrants a large crane.

But the roof hatch is six stories up and no-one has ever risked

winching an irreplaceable piece of art through it...

..until tomorrow, that is.

The fact that we've never done this before is, yeah,

it's going to make it interesting.

It's going to be a bit hairy on the day.

And as dawn breaks over Oxford Street,

Jason's plan goes into action.

The gallery have arranged to have the street closed

so the cranes can operate safely.

And to do that, they need a lot of space.

The cavalry has arrived.

And Jason has brought in a team of specialists

who will all have to be on their game to get the job done.

-This is going up there, isn't it?

-It is.

The hatch is to the right-hand corner.

If they can't get the work into the building,

there won't be an exhibition.

Once we get the hatch open,

-I'd like to actually take the lifting crew up there...

-Yeah.

..so they actually get a mental picture

of what they're actually dealing with.

The responsibility for the lift falls to James.

His company, Jayhawk, specialise in installing works of art

across the country...

But lifting three giant sculptures through a roof by Oxford Street

is unusual even for him.

He's had to bring in extra staff.

Everyone is here now that needs to be here.

We'll just get one of the vehicles in place and, yeah,

I'm pretty confident that we're going to get the job done

and it's going to be very smooth.

Famous last words.

Shall we start bringing them in now?

-Yeah, as soon as you're ready we'll sling one up.

-Perfect. Thank you.

The three giant light boxes have been air freighted from America.

They're insured for hundreds of thousands of pounds

but they're so complex, if broken, they can never be recreated.

I think we'll start with the largest one first

seeing as it is going to be the most trickiest one.

The wooden box is 12ft long and five feet high,

the works inside were six years in the making

so James knows his team simply can't make any mistakes whilst moving them.

Keep going.

Nice and slow.

When it comes to artwork, nothing can be replaced.

Possibly it can be restored but, you know, it's irreplaceable.

'So, you know, we have to take a lot of care

'in getting this job done right.'

Nice and slowly.

There we go.

Cheers.

Getting the boxes up and in is the job of crane operator John

and his banksman, Ray.

They'll work closely together via walkie-talkies to guide the works in.

How much are these units that we're weightlifting then, do we know?

Not in weight, in value.

Is it?

-Oh, right.

-Well, so Ray says.

That's going to have to come up a bit, I think.

We're just slinging the load so it's nice and safe.

And then we'll pick it up, make sure it's level

and go from there.

Could take ten minutes, could take half an hour.

Hopefully, ten minutes.

Don't let the slings drag. That's lovely.

When the wire's straight, I'll take you back on your head, John.

So far, so good.

The piece now hoisted is an integral part of the exhibition.

To get it in safely,

John will lift while Ray guides it in from up on the roof.

Yeah, this looks good. It's lovely, isn't it?

The load's slung good, we're happy with it.

It's nice and level.

So...wait till we're on the roof and then he'll take it up

and that's when the fun begins.

Later, it's high suspense at The Photographers' Gallery.

Oh, mate, my heart's going boom, boom, boom, boom.

-CHANTING:

-Save the 12 bar!

At the east end of Oxford Street,

a group of squatters have barricaded themselves in

to the 12 Bar on Denmark Street

to protest at the rapid redevelopment of the area.

Direct action wins the day!

They're waiting for a court hearing in five days' time

to try and overturn an eviction order.

But, unfortunately for them,

the developers aren't prepared to wait.

They say their court order still holds.

They want the squatters out.

And at 9am this morning, they got police assistance

to make sure it happens.

Excuse me, at the moment we have paperwork

stating that we have to go court on the Friday.

From what I can see...it seems to be...about to break in.

LOUD BANGING

The police are quickly through the front door

and remove the group's home-made barricades.

What the heck?

We get woken up by people, you know, battering the door down.

INDISTINCT SHOUTING

But an interior door reinforced by the squatters with wooden bars

takes more work.

The police came round and took quite a while

to smash in through the barricades.

INDISTINCT SHOUTING

Eventually they got in...

..and pulled everyone out. I think one person was arrested.

-Just stand still, everything will be explained.

-I am standing still.

Thank you very much, sir.

The aftermath of the eviction

leaves the bailiffs in control of the building

with the squatters looking for a new home.

It's a disappointing outcome for Phoenix.

You've got to respect the massive history

that has been in this street, you know?

But at the moment, we move on to the, you know,

helping more with the Save Soho campaign.

Been going through this for 25 years but it just happens.

The old eviction caravan moves on.

Most of the squatters move off.

Some, however, move into another squat

just a few yards down the road.

This, too, is the subject of an eviction order

by the developers.

A few days later, Richard Metcalfe and Laurence Kirschel

from the developers have come to inspect the site.

This has all been boarded up purely for the squatters.

The second squat, just a few doors down, is still in place.

The possession order has been served and the squatters

have been given until 3.30 today to move out.

So it's this building over here, 59 St Giles high street,

which they're occupying.

The legal action surrounding the eviction

has already cost them £50,000.

They believe the whole battle has been totally unnecessary.

There should have been a dialogue between ourselves

and the squatters beforehand.

We then could have answered those questions.

We are preserving the music industry

and they're demonstrating to preserve the music in the street

so it seems ridiculous on all fronts.

But just as we're being shown around, from an upstairs window,

someone from the new squat wants to talk.

We're from the owners.

I'm Richard.

If you'd like to.

By the front of the street.

OK. The squatters have asked to meet.

And we will have a conversation.

Seconds later, two squatters emerge.

-Hi, sir, how are you?

-Hi.

-How are you?

-Very well.

-Good.

Thank you very much for...

No, thank you. If you leave at 3.30, that's great.

No problem. We don't want any trouble.

-3.30, guys, see you later.

-Great, all right.

On behalf of me, I am sorry to have cost you £50,000.

The conversation should be around

how can we make Denmark Street the best we can possibly make it?

The thing is, it's all been resolved now,

you guys can have your property back. We'll get off. OK?

So it's all good from now on, all right?

-Thank you, Richard.

-Thanks a lot. Thanks for the chat.

-Thank you very much.

-God bless. Cheers.

-Thank you.

If you guys need us to look after your properties,

we're more than welcome to help you.

I'm sure it's all right.

You just want us gone?

Yeah, well, we would like to get on with the developments

-so we can actually...

-So we can save Denmark Street.

But Richard and Laurence aren't entirely convinced

the squatters will be as good as their word.

I don't want to be but I'm sceptical.

They promised to go out before so we'll see at 3.30 today

if they do move out.

Later, 3.30pm comes round.

-SHOUTING AND SCREAMING

-Right, guys. Run out of time now.

-It's

-BLEEP

-wrong. I'm going in.

On the Merrychef oven, do you know what the pass code is to unlock them?

At Debenhams, bistro manager James is trying to get hold of a code

to help out one of the country's best-known chefs.

Michel Roux's cooking and needs the pass code to unlock the oven.

At stake is Michel's impending live cooking demonstration.

And after several nervous minutes of trying,

he gets through to his tech team.

All right, wonderful, thank you, bye.

We have the password which is good. I'll just go and give it a go.

But even with the code, the oven doesn't want to play ball.

No, just leave it on that setting.

-Is it possible on that setting?

-No, no, no, it's OK.

You can make anything work, I'm sure.

Assistant chef Angus is going to have to modify his cooking times

in order to make the all-important tarte tatin.

Out front, meanwhile, Michel is busy whipping up a storm.

So, any questions?

Go on. You wanted to ask it, I know you did.

Don't be shy.

Yes, I am married.

AUDIENCE LAUGHS

Michel's demonstrating two dishes tonight.

The first is a duck breast cooked on a hob live in front of the crowd.

It smells fantastic.

If only I could pop over and try a little bit,

it would be fantastic.

Buy the best you can get.

The more butter puff pastry has in it, the better it is.

And Michel's popularity has outstripped Debenhams' expectations.

We've ended up making another 150 canapes

because we had way more people than we anticipated come along.

Backstage, Angus is finally able to work on the infamous tarte tatin.

I've cooked in a few places but not in a department store before.

So this is a first.

Now, that's literally just come out of the oven.

The moment of truth for James.

How has the tarte tatin fared?

-Oooh.

-AUDIENCE LAUGHS

-There we go.

-APPLAUSE

That's the vegetable tarte tatin.

Despite the issues with the oven, the demonstration's a success

and there's just a chance for a photo op for the fans.

This is a great opportunity to actually come and meet a,

you know, two Michelin-starred chef in real life.

Loved the demonstration, it was really, really good.

It tastes yummy and it also looks yummy.

For Michel, more used to the kitchens of his restaurant,

it's been a new experience.

Got a lovely crowd, people have been very responsive.

Little bit difficult with only one little hotplate

and I'm actually cooking in the restaurant

and not in the kitchen but it's worked out well.

And James can breathe a sigh of relief at a job well done.

Brilliant turnout. Couple of hiccups.

Oven didn't work exactly how we expected it to.

But great night, really good turnout.

And with that Michel can head back to Le Gavroche

and the familiarity of his own ovens.

The network that keeps the capital city moving

is the London Underground.

But the pressure on this 150-year-old system is enormous.

And Oxford Circus Station in the middle of Oxford Street

is the busiest on the network.

Guys, can you just hang back there for me?

It's one of a handful of stations that are now so busy,

London Underground have brought in a special team of operatives

to help them cope - the Special Requirements Team.

Today, Matthew is one of that team.

We're in the bullring at the minute.

As you can see, it is absolutely rammo up here.

He specialises in being parachuted into busy stations

to help customers and deal with problems.

And something always happens at Oxford Circus.

From people who are just lost.

People who have are feeling sick, people who have been attacked,

double-gaters, anything like that. All-sorts.

This is the main place for it to happen, up in the bullring.

So right now we're going to take a walk down

to the Central line platforms.

Today, I'll be covering platform number two on the eastbound.

We're doing this for about two hours just during the peak.

Keep moving down to the right, please! Move down to the right!

My job today is to make sure that the crowd in

doesn't get too much and too overloaded

and keep all the passengers running through

and make sure they get to their destination as safely as possible.

Straight down that way, guys.

This is classic Oxford Circus for you.

People coming back from work, going to work,

people coming shopping...

As a member of this elite team,

Matthew lives for the challenges a shift can throw up.

I probably shouldn't say it,

but when things do go wrong, I do like it, I do get involved so...

It makes my time go a lot quicker

and I get...I just try and deliver that first-class service, really.

But at the moment, the network appears to be behaving itself.

'The train's now ready to depart.'

It's OK, it's not too busy at the minute. It gets a lot worse.

As peak time draws on, things are starting to happen.

'..please meet their friend in the main ticket area.'

We've got someone lost, someone's lost their friend.

It happens a lot at this station. People get separated, it seems.

-WALKIE-TALKIE:

-'Are you still waiting in the main ticket hall, over?'

Two minutes later, a husband's lost his wife and kid.

But the control room is dealing with the lost people

and Matthew's hopes for an exciting incident are dashed.

However, rush hour continues

and there's still a chance of some action.

The idea was to have a train every one minute,

a train every two minutes, that's what we're definitely aiming for.

As soon as you get anything more than a four minute delay,

it is absolute chaos on this platform.

All-sorts, all-sorts can go wrong.

-Straight down there. And you're up on platform five, mate.

-Thank you.

As peak time wears on, the Tube and its passengers

continue to operate impeccably.

So, coming to the end of the peak.

Two minutes to seven. So nothing major, no incidences,

good service on all lines.

It looks almost as if Matthew might have an incident-free shift

when out of nowhere...

Is there somewhere I can go? I feel sick.

Of course, darling, come with me. Come with me, darling. You...?

SRC3 to base, are you receiving?

I've just got a lady being sick...

In the hustle and bustle of peak time on the Tube,

a diabetic passenger has fallen ill.

It's Matthew's job to make sure she's OK.

I don't think an ambulance will be required.

-I'll double check in a second.

-OK, thanks, Matt.

How are you feeling now, darling? Are you OK?

Are you just feeling sick? Yeah?

-Do you want an ambulance, darling?

-No.

You sure, yeah?

People being taken ill on the Tube is not unusual

but each incident must be dealt with professionally

with the health of the passenger paramount.

Luckily, London Underground have one of their top men on the job.

Matthew takes the passenger into the station office to get her some water.

Do you want to go outside for fresh air? Yeah?

Just sit here, get some fresh air.

Cos I'm diabetic and I also got blood pressure.

I think it's my diet. I don't think it's my diabetic.

And I ate some McDonald's which I know I shouldn't have ate it.

-And I think it doesn't agree with my medication.

-It's come back up.

-It's not done that before.

-That's all right.

Don't worry about a thing, at all. Honestly, take your time.

-I'm really sorry.

-No worries, darling. Honestly, at all.

A glass of water and some consoling talk from Matthew

seem to have done the trick for the woman.

Or have they?

Fortunately it's a false alarm

and after a few more minutes, the woman says she feels well enough

to consider heading home.

I think I'll be fine. Thank you so much.

-No worries, darling.

-Thank you.

-No worries.

As soon as I get through the barrier I realised

that I wasn't going to be sick and the last thing I want

was to hold up the train but I feel a lot better now.

-I feel a lot better.

-I'll tap you through now, darling.

There's nothing more for Matthew to do

than make sure the woman makes it to the train safely.

-Here you go.

-Thanks very much, Matthew.

-No worries.

-Have a save journey home.

-I will.

-See you soon.

Just the leftovers to deal with.

Yeah, can I get a clean up in the bullring, please?

Just next to the phones.

No-one wants to see sick, smell sick or anything like that.

I mean, sometimes it even causes people

to actually throw up themselves.

And the last thing we want is five, six people being sick

at the end of the day.

Not one of my jobs to clean the sick

but it is my priority to look after someone who's feeling sick.

And with that, Matthew's day and his search for adventure

finally do come to an end.

I think the customers were happy.

She gave me a cheeky little hug at the end so...

Another day done.

But who knows what tomorrow will bring?

At The Photographers' Gallery, crane operator John

and his banksman, Ray are getting ready

to winch three irreplaceable artworks

into the building through a hatch on the roof.

Ray is up at the top to guide them in

and the two will communicate by walkie-talkie.

-WALKIE-TALKIE:

-'Whenever you're ready, brother.'

-All right, mate.

Coming up.

Further up, gallery manager Jason is hoping for a straightforward lift.

No-one has ever tried hoisting artworks in before.

Here it comes.

Dropping it would be unthinkable.

-There's no rush.

-Take it nice and slow.

-Nice and easy.

The issue for John

is once the crate's over the roof, he can't see it.

-WALKIE-TALKIE:

-'Nice and easy.' That's lovely, Johnny boy.

Keep coming round.

'He's communicating to a blind man

'cos that's basically what I am at the moment.'

So I'm relying on him to give me clear instructions for me to follow.

Strap in a minute.

Yeah, baby. Yeah, that's beautiful.

Hold your jib and just slew to your right.

Couple more foot on the hoist there, Johnny boy. That's lovely.

Lovely there, brother, you can start your slew now.

There's a tiny little bit of wind but no drama up here. It's all good.

With expert guidance by a radio from banksman Ray...

-Beautiful.

-..crane operator John

is edging the irreplaceable art into the building.

But an impact on the wooden packing could wreck the fragile glass inside.

Lovely brother, lovely motion, keep going.

You're just entering the hole now.

Inside the gallery, the team are hoping the wind doesn't pick up

as they wait to land the work.

Lovely, Johnny boy. They nearly got their hands on it.

They got hands on it now.

Then they're going to start pulling this load away from you

just so they can lay it flat.

-You all right?

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-WALKIE-TALKIE:

-'Excellent, ten out of ten.'

The first artwork can now be taken into the gallery space.

All right, that's lovely, that's fine.

One down. You know, don't count your chickens yet but...

you'll see us all punching the air when the last one's in.

Down on the street, the team are getting into their stride.

And the next light box is ready to be hoisted through the roof.

If it goes as easy as the last one, I'll be happy.

It's all going according to plan.

And soon enough,

the second fragile South African skyscraper artwork is up in the air.

-WALKIE-TALKIE:

-'I've got hold of that string.'

Beautiful, 15ft to go.

Entering the hole in about five seconds.

Lovely job, lovely job.

Two down, one very expensive work of art to go.

But with the team working swiftly,

the third and final piece of artwork is up.

And now in.

And the team can start to relax.

-Yeah, I'm up.

-OK.

I'm really pleased. So that's all of the artworks in.

So...very good. Good job.

-Couldn't have gone any smoother.

-Perfect.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

For crane and driver, it's a case of job done and onto the next one.

That was smooth and sweet and, no, that was nice.

All cushty.

This portion of the street can be reopened to the public.

The lunchtime rush up here, as you can see, is starting to come now.

And, you know, Oxford Street is busy as you like.

It might as well just be Christmas Day

in about the next hour.

Finally, Jason can install the work

and the exhibition gets its three giant light boxes.

And six weeks later at a gala reception,

the artists themselves,

Mikhael Subotzky and Patrick Waterhouse,

are about to find out if all the hard work's been worth it.

The Photographer's Gallery is about to announce the winner

of the £30,000 Deutsche Borse prize.

Mikhael Subotzky and Patrick Waterhouse.

APPLAUSE

The Photographer's Gallery did an amazing job.

They just, you know, they curated the show so well.

There's so many people involved in the whole process

which are often invisible.

And they're actually really what makes it happen.

To stay at the top of the retail tree,

Oxford Street has to keep itself

as attractive a place to shop as possible,

which means taking on the tidal wave of rubbish that comes its way.

But there's one sort of mess that's harder to shift than any other -

chewing gum.

Luckily, the street's clean team

have assembled their own crack squad of experts

focused on ridding the street of this menace.

Meet the gum busters.

It's 2am and the start of the shift for team leader Simon.

Tonight, we're going to Oxford Street,

we're going to be gum busting.

Remove the chewing gum with purely hot water.

The cost of cleaning up Britain's streets from chewing gum

is estimated to be as much as 150 million every year.

Chewing gum takes up to five years to degrade.

We do small sections every night and we just start at one point

and we just make our way from one end of the street to the other

which takes weeks and weeks and weeks.

The gum busters swing into action.

Do you want to get the gun out?

And they're equipped for business.

This is the jet washing unit.

MOTOR STARTS

It is quite noisy.

Different authorities use different methods to clear the gum.

Some freeze it before scraping.

Others like the Oxford Street team warm it with hot water

before blasting it with high-pressure water jets

specially designed to move even the toughest remnants.

Tonight, the team will be concentrating

on a 50-metre section of the street.

This is what the chewing gum looks like.

We clean it on average approximately every three months.

The water pressure is high enough

to shift even the most ground in of gums.

The thing is with it, as quick as we remove this, it's back again.

It's a never-ending thing.

We must remove around 320,000 pieces of chewing gum a month.

For Simon and the team,

busting gum is about more than just clearing the pavement.

It's essential to keep Oxford Street

the best-looking shopping street in the world.

I think people compare their cities to other cities.

It's the first impression that people get

and they should be presented with a clean street.

It's always dirty here. There's always chewing gum on the floor.

If you compare that to Germany,

there's way more chewing gum here than in our country.

It's a perception the gum busters are determined to change,

which is where their specialist jet washers come in.

But for all their effectiveness, they're thirsty beasts.

Each refill is about 1,000 litres

which means possibly 6,000 litres a night.

All right.

With the hydrant doing its job,

the team are ready to start busting again.

We've now filled up and we're going back to where we finished off.

Each piece of chewing gum costs an average of 3p to buy

but £1.50 to remove.

There's a bit of technique to it.

If you don't use the right technique,

the chances are you'll end up having a really bad back.

Simon's convinced the hard work is paying off.

I've been gum busting now for the last 12 years.

This is the cleanest I've ever seen these streets.

Well, this is the section we've just cleaned tonight.

I think most people could agree that it looks 100% cleaner

than this section here which we haven't cleaned.

There's always a sense of pride in the work we do.

And with that, at the end of an eight hour shift

with several thousands more pieces of gum removed,

the team can head home for a proper night's sleep.

All done. Back again tomorrow.

In the shadow of a major new Oxford Street development,

a group of squatters are still holed up in a derelict property.

Can I come and talk to you, sir?

They've told the developers they'll be gone by 3.30pm

as per the terms of a court order.

3.30, guys. See you later.

And at just after 3pm,

the developers' team of bailiffs are on site to oversee the handover.

Knock on the door, make sure that they vacate the site.

They vacate the site, we gain entry,

start boarding up and securing the property.

All right, guys, have you got everything out?

So what are you looking to do?

They're not going to leave.

Same occupiers as 12 Bar.

Are you going to be leaving?

No, they're not.

So, as of now they should have

handed back possession back over to us.

So it's now an arrestable offence for them remaining in occupation.

One of the squatters the developers met previously is back

and he does intend to stick to his word.

Will you open the door for us, please?

-Come on, guys.

-Is Thomas there?

-Can you open the door, please?

I still need to get stuff from my room, please.

Trouble is if you open the door, that's it.

Well, the hand over day was agreed at 3.30 this afternoon, was it not?

His entry is the chink in the armour the bailiffs were hoping for.

I'm now currently inside the property.

Thank you.

All what we want is we take... Thank you.

While some of the squatters are happy to leave

and take their stuff out with them,

there's another group on the first floor

who have barricaded themselves in

and are prepared to put up a fight.

Save the street of Soho.

Black and orange would've been a good idea.

We've limited their movements only to the first floor

and ground floor as it stands.

Don't let the music die! Don't let the music die!

Don't let the music die! Don't let the music die!

Meant to be done amicably

and they were meant to be leaving peacefully

but unfortunately we've just had a few...

and they're digging their heels in.

Don't let the music die! Don't let the music die!

The bailiffs have had enough.

With the squatters refusing to leave quietly,

they take the decision to force their way onto the first floor.

-OK, let's go.

-We can do it anyway so...

-Yeah.

TRILLING AND SHOUTING

All right, guys, run out of time. Out.

It's now an arrestable offence for you to remain here.

The bailiffs feel they have no other option

but to physically remove the squatters themselves.

SQUATTER SHOUTS

Four policemen can carry you very gently

but these guys, no, they almost got a hernia.

Careful, careful.

One of the removed squatters decides he wants back in.

But the climb's a bit too ambitious even for him.

Come down, come down.

Another squatter is clearly concerned

at what he believes are strong-arm tactics by the bailiffs

on the first floor.

Who do they think they are?

-It's

-BLEEP

-wrong. I'm going in, bro.

Excuse me, who are you?

With things getting heated, finally, the police arrive on the scene.

SIRENS WAIL

Move on the pavement cos we need to clear the road, all right?

As far as the bailiffs and developers are concerned, it's job done.

They now have both buildings back under their own control

and can proceed with their plans.

We're not here to cause a breach of the peace,

we're just here to get back the property.

In fact, you can see the resistance we've had

from the squatters and occupiers

and unfortunately, the side of what they can get like.

We'll have the full possession hearing soon

and then that will seal everything off.

For the squatters, it's another battle lost.

What happens to Tin Pan Alley

when the Oxford Street piazza is complete is anyone's guess.