In message
-septem
ber.org, at 09:45:26 on Mon, 9 Mar 2015, Recliner
remarked:

I was taking some pictures outside the then very new M&S Simply Food in
the "Circle" bit of St Pancras when the bouncer on the door (why would
they need one?) got very aggressive and demanded I stop, and delete any
photos I had already taken. He seemed to be suggesting that I was
involved in industrial espionage. I must have had a pretty desperate
client if they didn't already know what goes on inside an M&S SF.

As luck would have it a BTP chap was nearby and I asked him if there was
a ban on photography there and he chuckled a bit and said "of course not".

ps Is that bit of St Pancras public or private - it belongs to LCR I suppose.

I think the whole of all railway stations is private, owned by NR, LCR,
TfL, etc.

Modulo NR being a nationalised organisation and TfL being Local
Authority owned.

Ditto with enclosed shopping malls. And, of course, the shopping
areas in St P are both.

The southern embankment near the mayor's office is also private land. I
went on a photography walk, and the guide said that, as a pro photographer,
he knew exactly where he could set up a tripod unmolested, and other areas
where he'd soon be evicted if he looked like a pro.

I think the new Granary Square is the same. You can wander around taking
pics to your heart's content with an amateur camera (I have), but set up a
tripod or start taking videos with what looks like pro gear and the private
security guards will soon approach you for a chat.

It's these various lines in the sand which I object to when it comes to
"public" spaces. After all, if you misbehave in numerous other ways the
law will deem them to be public places. In the USA it's not uncommon for
a Mall to have a dress-code. And that's not just "men must wear a shirt"
but things like "no baseball hats".
--
Roland Perry