What is a hipster? Look at this fucking hipster...

Yesterday, Camden cabaret magnate, Alex Proud, took to the these pages to slate the 'Shoreditchification' of London’s decaying urban neighbourhoods.

The process he described is the same one seen in areas of East Berlin and New York: crack houses get turned into gluten-free vegan microbreweries and knife crime is replaced with sneering at people who shop in Urban Outfitters. In other words: the hipsters take over.

I am part of Mr. Proud's problem. He directs his frustration at the beards and pop-up restaurants that are flooding into London via the Shoreditch sluice gates. Well, that's me. I'm proud to be part of the millennial creative class that's apparently colonising the city. 'Shoreditchification' is becoming a dirty word, so allow me to defend its merits.

It is easy to satirise hipsters by painting us as a militia of irony-drunk re-decorators, contracted by Foxtons to seduce hedge fund managers and their property portfolios.

A scourge of flannel-clad apocalyptic horsemen, riding upon the backs of fixed-gear bikes, we leave a trail of loft conversions and organic street food in our wake. While this is generally the case, it incorrectly suggests we make areas desirable for fun before cycling off to victimise another postcode for jokes.

Not true. Young creatives flock to crime-ridden neighbourhoods because we can’t afford to live elsewhere. It's not a nefarious or sinister decision, just simple financial necessity.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/10571976/In-defence-of-the-Shoreditchification-of-London.html