When bookies are more common than post offices

I've just won tenfold on the horses, but I can’t get out of Ladbrokes. It’s 10pm and the floor  is covered with crumpled slips recording the day’s losing bets. A group of men are blocking the door. 

These punters want to know if I’ll lend them some winnings. One says he’ll pay me back as soon as he’s won, but I just want to get home. They look desperate.

I was lucky that night. But there are eight bookies within ten minutes’ walk of my South London home – I can’t avoid them. I’m not against gambling but when betting shops are more common than post offices and corner shops, we have a problem.

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