Robert Johnson, managing director of NetCollex, an adult entertainment company, offers two anecdotes that he thinks characterise the state of the industry’s decline. “One of the biggest licensed sex shops in Soho was Private in Brewer Street. It has recently become a coffee shop, which suggests people are more interested in coffee than they are in porn,” he says. “One of our clients had registered a domain called ‘wellhung.co.uk’. They were hoping to sell it for a lot of money to someone in the porn industry. In the end they sold it to a gallery in Shoreditch, which suggests there’s now more money in hanging pictures.”

Endies – which stands for employed but no disposable income or saving

Endies – which stands for employed but no disposable income or savings – have been identified in a new report  by the Centre of London think-tank, which claims they are “not just squeezed, they are trapped”.

“They cannot see how to build up assets in London while earning incomes which each month barely cover getting to work and the essentials of life,” the authors claim.