"Around seventeen years ago I stumbled upon a semi-hidden world which only truly came alive well after midnight and which existed in the heart of London, in red-light drenched basements behind unmarked Soho doors.

"It was a place and time inhabited by characters who could have tumbled from films of their own making, a sideways glance at a reimagined indefinable past; a world of modern day spivs, foot-high quiffs, lizard skin-lined cars, tooting saxophones, unlicensed speakeasies and sharp suits.

"More than a decade later I began to revisit my old haunts and companions.

"Afterhours Sleaze and Dignigty is the resulting book. It is in part a tribute to this world where I spent some of my youth and also a photographic soundtrack to the imaginary film it inspired and which has played behind my eyes ever since - an attempt to capture my own particular Soho of the mind."  

Captured by Jesse Laitinen

Jazz Player 

 In midnight shadows, he sits alone, 

Smoke gently curls and red light thrown, 

Sax by his side, like a lover held near, 

Watches crowd through haze and beer. 

Drinks in sorrow, observing laughter and pain,

 Each note in mind, like casette recording came, 

And late he plays, with slow, smoky sigh,

A song full of heartache, melancholy cry. 

Music flows, thick as New Orleans night,

Shrouded room, atmospheric half light.

And when last echo fades from room, 

Left with silence, old ghosts in basement gloom. 

A jazzman alone, on street and out of sight, 

Dreaming blues when dawn breaks the night.

"What's your favourite Soho character?

JV: There was a character called Iron Foot Jack, he had a big iron support on his foot to balance him up 'cos one leg was shorter than the other. He had a restaurant, but he would only serve fish and chips, because the restaurant was next to a fish and chip shop. If you went in there, he would just get fish and chips from next door and then put it on a plate and serve it to you and charge you extra for the privilege. He did that for years."   

'Someone of Soho' exhibition, located on the corner of Poland St and Oxford St, presented 100 portaits of people linked to Soho and the work of Photographer Richard Piercy