Squatting for days under a busy city flyover, a sad sign of teen girls in crisis?
HUDDLED under an ugly concrete flyover, at least 50 teenage girls shiver in the relentless drizzle as lorries thunder by overhead.
With flimsy duvets the only barrier against the biting cold October night, it is hard to think of a more desperate location to sleep out. Yet most of the girls have been here for several nights on end.
Despite the bleak appearances, they are far from destitute and homeless. All of them have been braving the elements simply to get close to their idol, One Direction star Harry Styles.
Tonight, the floppy-haired heart-throb performs his first UK solo gig at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith, West London, as part of his 81-date sell-out world tour.
Although they have standing section tickets, getting as close as possible to the stage where Harry will perform, is the ultimate goal for these ‘Directioners’, the name given to superfans of the boy band when it formed in 2010.
Many have travelled from all over the world for the opportunity. Some have rented nearby Airbnb apartments or hotel rooms, which they visit briefly to shower and use the toilet because otherwise they would forgo their positions in the queue.
Some have been here since last Monday, with word rapidly spreading of the plans on Twitter.
By Friday night the camp was a sea of onesies, duvets, sleeping bags, hoodies and singing (of Harry’s songs, obviously). Food is picked up from a nearby Tesco or McDonald’s, or deposited by Deliveroo, while large bags of Maltesers are also shared around.
Pharmacy student Ariadna Esbo, 19, came all the way from Barcelona with three friends, also from Spain.
She said: ‘We have been here since Wednesday and we have been really cold. But we have three layers, three pairs of socks, and we are keeping warm in our duvets. My mum thinks we are spending our days at tourist attractions, not sleeping here.’
Trainee teacher Danielle Simmons, from Liverpool, who is renting an Airbnb close by, said: ‘There are rules that we have to sleep here to keep our place in the queue. We use my place to go to the loo so we save on the 50p charge in the shopping centre.’
For Ruth Capps, 19, from Brighton, who has been here since Thursday, this is just one of 19 of Harry’s gigs she plans to attend. ‘Nothing is too much for Harry,’ she said.
But asked if she hoped he would come and thank them for their loyalty, she joked: ‘I’d rather he didn’t, he would think we are crazy.’