Budapest: neon or porn

I was in Budapest recently and I nearly broke down and wept on the street when I saw that yet another of my favourite neon signs had disappeared.
The Mignon lady drinking a cup of coffee in a most perky manner that adorned a presszó coffee house has gone.
The little row of one-storey shops on Károly (formerly Tanács) körút near Deák tér has been demolished to make way for a foofy garden in front of the Városház (City Hall).
This is both scandalous and depressing.
The saddest news of all was the disappearance of the Fôz süt fűt (cook, bake, heat) sign, perched high on a roof on Deák tér that the Fôvárosi Gázművek (City Gas Company) decided, in their almighty wisdom, was not worth the price of a few lightbulbs to bring joy and enlightenment to Budapest's streets.
The use of neon in the sixties was innovative and artistic with swirly handwriting announcing mundane outlets. The banally named cipôbolt (shoe shop) and fodrász (hairdresser) were given a szocreál flourish of style and creativity with just a few flicks of neon gas.
Legendary presszó bars such as the Alkotás (Creation), Fény (Light) and Májas (Liver sausage! what a name) all had beautiful neon signs. Now, only a few like the Bambi, see below, hang on in there.
But for how long?
As Budapest dissolves into just another bland Euro city, crammed with shopping malls, pimps and slags, it's desperately sad that nobody seems bothered about the hurried blotting out of history, not to mention an art form that the Magyars did with characteristic panache and verve.
Now, the only project they use their creative juices and energy for is making Budapest the porn capital of Europe, with the sound of bollocks slapping against buttocks echoing around historic locations like the Fisherman's Bastion and the Gellért Hotel.
'Progress' - great, huh.