"This is an important site, historically and archaeologically, for the material and evidence it contains. But should we retain it for the benefit of this and future generations?" they ask in a study of the drawings for Antiquity magazine.I wonder what Lydon (who's surely not even dead yet) makes of being the subject of archaeological interest.
Well, the former subcultural stomping grounds are turned into tourist traps. Carnaby Street, the epicentre of Mod, is now a fashion retail area (with a few vaguely Mod-related outlets like Ben Sherman and Lambretta but more generic brands) and the former post-punk/indie stomping ground of Camden is now where "scene kids" from all over Europe come to buy their Emily The Strange bags and Justin Bieber T-shirts. (The Good Mixer, a pub at the centre of Britpop, is mostly swarming with tourists.)
Imagine the rock-and-roll tourism that London could offer.
In fact I would say this about many cities. It struck me on a visit to the USA that there is an enormous number of trashy tours of Hollywood relating to film, and yet very little anywhere else relating to other genres of pop culture. Not to say there's nothing, but it's nothing like the tourism around film. Yet rock music is surely as popular as film? Maybe it's just younger and hasn't had time to grow a tour industry.
A rare exception to this is Liverpool, where there are several ways (of varying dagginess) to explore places relevant to Beatles history. You can visit the houses they grew up in and a venue they played in (and not much more, because they left town as soon as they had their first hit).
I'm sure London could do this with the Sex Pistols. They were roughly as well-known as the Beatles, and their story is as legendary. Tourists, ex) fans people interested in cultural history would be interested to see where it happened.