Black and White vs. colour

A few of us were talking about street photography and I though that the black and white conversion above worked better than the colour version below. But everyone else though the colour one worked better. I'm still not convinced.
The image was taken last year in Trafalgar Square in London and it was a snatched shot, which was more interesting than I had originally thought.
Good or bad, b&w or colour? Let me know what you think.