Soho Radio: turn on, tune in, don’t go out
‘I can hear the birds’ says presenter as she broadcasts to ‘eerily quiet, ghost town’ streets
Friday, 27th March 2020 — By Helen Chapman
Radio Soho’s Clare Lynch has set up a studio at her home in Brewer Street PHOTO: Andy Parsons
THE usual hustle-bustle of Soho’s streets has quietened since the coronavirus outbreak, but one resident is determined to make some noise with her daily radio show.
Producer, presenter and artist Clare Lynch has set up a radio show that will be broadcast from a studio she has built in her home in Brewer Street.
The move is in addition to her regular weekly Thursday slot on Soho Radio called SohoHour.
Ms Lynch, who has been a Soho resident for 20 years, said: “We are used to hearing a very loud soundscape in Soho and it is very strange for us.
“It is eerily quiet – I can hear the birds, I can hear vehicles from a long way away.
“I live opposite the skateboarding shop and there’s usually a queue and now it is all shut. It’s a complete ghost town. The strangest thing is in Old Compton Street and Dean Street – it looks like a storm is about to arrive. The boarded-up businesses I found quite unsettling.”
The empty streets of Soho this week
Ms Lynch, a member of the Soho Society, added: “I suppose there is a kind of freedom when we walk around now. We can walk in the middle of the road now and the sun is shining so it is nice in that way.”
She said she had been staying in contact with her neighbours through WhatsApp groups and on Twitter – sharing details of local shops that are open for business during the crisis.
Ms Lynch said: “I am so pleased we have technology and we are able to share. People are coming together to help each other and it is important to keep in contact. We all want to feel useful at the moment and one way for me is the radio show I am doing.”
A founding member of the House of St Barnabas, a members’ club in Soho raising money to help homeless people back into work, Ms Lynch said she is most worried about those without a home during the virus outbreak.
“From people who have babies to people in their 90s, many people who live here are used to being out and about every day so it is more important than ever to keep in contact.”
She is now doing a radio show every morning, Monday to Friday, from 9am to 10am in addition to her weekly Thursday slot.
Ms Lynch said: “I’d like to hear from anyone who has anything they would like to share, information or cooking tips, whatever it is.”
For more information go to www.sohoradiolondon.com/ or contact Clare Lynch via Twitter @clarelynchred
