Patrick arrived in the Tolmers community in October 1973 when he moved in to 119 Drummond Street with Colin Ferguson. He was joined there by Barry Brookshaw and Celia Potterton.

Patrick had decided to qualify as a solicitor and from January to July 1974 studied for the Law Society Part 1 examinations at the College of Law, Lancaster Gate. In October 1974, Patrick became an articled clerk at the Mayfair law firm Offenbach & Co, working in criminal and civil litigation.

In July 1975, Patrick moved to 11 Tolmers Square where he restored the first floor flat, installing a shower and kitchen at the rear and a study bedroom at the front.

In February 1977, he returned to the College of Law to complete his law studies. In September 1977 he opened his own legal aid law firm in Camden Town with Henry Hodge and Peter Jones. Hodge Jones & Allen (HJA) specialises in human rights work and typically acts for clients asserting or defending  their rights  against powerful corporate opponents.

In 2006, Patrick moved HJA from Camden Town to 180 North Gower Street, opposite the entrance to Tolmers Square. In 1970s  this office building was the location of the second hand furniture company  Simmons and Simons where Patrick bought  curtains in 1974 to keep out the draughts of his room at 119  Drummond St.  HJA  employs 230 staff and  Patrick remains the senior partner. Most days Patrick passes the pavement outside the office where he played the flute at the 1974 Tolmers carnival.

Patrick never strayed far from Tolmers Square. After some years in Kentish Town, he now lives in Albert Street, Camden Town with his wife Penny (who bought wholemeal flour from Community Foods in Tolmers Square in  1975). They have two daughters who also live in Camden.

In 2019, Patrick decided to digitise his black and white photographs of Tolmers and the archive of Nick Wates. Having done so he created the Tolmers Village Forum website to display them and provide a permanent record of the Tolmers community and the story of the fight to prevent demolition of the area by Joe Levy and Stock Conversion.

The website was launched in Beta mode in December 2020 and provides a unique archive of the Tolmers story from 1973 to 1979, documented in thousands of photographs, newsletters and press releases.

The site is developing every day with addition of new stories and photographs as people come forward with their own collections and memories. The site contains early history of the area and explains what has happened since. It will be of interest to all who lived there and to social historians.

In 2018, Patrick founded the Progressive Economy Forum with a council of 20 eminent economists and academics. PEF develops and promotes Keynesian inspired economic policy to counter the damaging ideology of neo-liberalism and the policy of austerity.