Waterloo’s ‘Cardboard City’ featured in new short film

The hard-hitting tale Tax City is an insightful piece of filmmaking set in an area of London populated by the city's homeless in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Director Tom Begley explained: "It's actually based on a real gang of down-and-outs who were known as the Taxing Squad, who were for the most part Irish. They went around robbing poor unfortunates in Cardboard City (which was in Waterloo, where the BFI IMAX currently stands). It was a case of the poor robbing the poor. If anything, it serves as a reminder that those of us with a roof over our heads are the lucky ones."

Shot at a range of London locations including Piccadilly Circus, Harrow, Ruislip and Tottenham Court Road as well as a disused warehouse and railway track in Swindon, it follows the misfortunes of a singer who is viciously mugged one night and stabbed in the throat. After losing his voice and then his family, he ends up in Cardboard City.

The 20-minute short stars boxing legend Steve Collins (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), ex London-Irish bank robber turned best-selling author Noel Razor Smith, Jon Campling of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows fame and Mark Hutchinson.

The premiere on 5 April will include a screening of the new track and video Count Your Blessings (starring a surprise Hollywood A-lister) from London-Irish band BibleCodeSundays. Band member Andy Nolan wrote the script for and produced Tax City.

There will also be live music from the BibleCodeSundays, Nick Capaldi and Mags Hegarty, and a raffle for a signed pair of Steve Collins boxing gloves, with proceeds going to a charity for the homeless.

Tickets for this black tie event are £5. Contact Andy Nolan at [email protected] to book.

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