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How to Shop the Real Carnaby Street, 50 Years On

Valerie Siebert — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:59:02 +0000

Kingly Court photo credit: Valerie Siebert

It was once a name synonymous with the swinging sixties era of London. Carnaby Street in its heyday was a Mecca of cutting edge fashion designers as well as a smorgasbord of celebrity sightings; from The Beatles, to Twiggy to the Shrimpton sisters. The area is currently celebrating 50 years of fashion with festivities and a 3D timeline exhibit.

These days, Carnaby Street itself is generally a tourist attraction with rent so high that only chain stores can afford the main drag locales and all the independent designers and boutiques are shoved into the side-streets.

“Carnaby Street is dead. It should be knocked down”

That is what Steve Howard, a retired Met Police security officer, and self-proclaimed “Jurassic Mod” has to say about the 50th anniversary of one of London’s most famous fashion destinations.

As a fixture on Carnaby Street since the swinging 60s, Howard, 62, has seen first-hand the toll that time has taken.

“I’m part of the furniture I suppose” he muses.

Howard first ventured into the fashion center that is Carnaby in 1962 at the age of 14. He had a keen interest in the burgeoning, clean, fast-paced and stylish mod movement and describes its nerve centre as having been very different place from the frozen-in-time tourist hot spot it is today.

“It was very hustle-bustle in those days, on the move all of the time. You could come down on the Monday and look in the shop windows, and you would see pinks and greens and yellows, but then you came down on the Tuesday and there would be blues and reds in its place, everything would change day to day – very fast moving.”

50 years on, the shops on Carnaby Street are no longer all high-end boutiques and those that are rarely update their styles from the tourist-pleasing, mod-stereotyping displays of loud boating blazers atop Vespa scooters. With stores like Boots, Diesel and Wrangler among its population, there is little left for the staunch, puritan mods of yesterday.

Newburgh Street Photo Credit: Valerie Siebert

However, all has not been lost it seems, as streets running parallel to Carnaby are the new homes of independent designer shopping. While on the opposite side of Carnaby lies Kingly Court, a market-style shopping center with vintage clothing shops and cozy cafes.

So, how do you shop Carnaby without falling prey to the stereotypes or uninspiring mass-produced power brands?

Well, first let’s head east of the main street into the Newburgh Quarter. Newburgh Street and its area, known as the Newburgh Quarter, houses unique boutiques like Joie as well as classic mod brands like Fred Perry. You can also check out some younger brands like Beatrix Ong shoes (described as “shoes comfortable enough to wear during the day and special enough for them to carry on through to the evening”), YourEyesLie (brainchild of graphic designer Benjamin Yarwood and fashion designer Alisa Longsuwan whose collections are exclusive to this particular location) or Peckham Rye (a modern twist on the tailored perfection that was 60s clean-cut mod style – quintessentially British).

If stepping ahead of the trends is not your bag and you rather prefer a taste of nostalgia, you need to head west, through the arched passage alongside the Ben Sherman store on Carnaby Street into Kingly Court.

Kingly court is split into three levels of shops which wrap round to encompass an open-air cafe and restaurant. It’s here that you will find vintage-shops, second-hand treasures and retro-inspired designer-wear; no chain stores, all one-off deals.

If what you want is previously owned, one-of-a-kind authentic vintage, than there is no where better than stores Strombolli’s Circus, Marshmallow Mountain and Sam Greenberg. However, if you want new outfits with a retro-feel then look no further than Black Pearl – a corner shop on the second level of the court which could easily have clothed the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Bettie Page (whose namesake brand is carried) had they been gracing the covers of magazines today.

One walk around these hot-spots will give you comfort in knowing that, although the Carnaby Street of ’62 that Steve Howard remembers is dead and gone, the spirit is still alive in the area. So, if you fancy yourself a pro-shopper that never falls for the mediocre, mundane or overdone, make sure you shop Carnaby – just not the street.

Read more from The First Pint, the international's guide to all that London offers.

Dalston and the London Word Festival

Hanna Hauck — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:08:00 +0000

The front of a Turkish art cafe in North-East London was turned into an unusual chip shop on Sunday. Paper fish with words written on them hung from a line at the counter. “The next “catch” will be printed at 2.30″ signs above them informed. Customers couldn’t order ordinary fish and chips here, but instead they could order a word from a menu to be printed on a chip board right in front of them. For a pound they could then take it home wrapped in paper. Art to-go in London’s north-east.

The project is called ‘Chip Shop’ and is run by David and Ping* Henningham as part of the London Word Festival. David says he and his wife decided to do screen printing in front of people, so that they can pick the words together with the audience and print them from scratch.

“It came about because we were sitting in a chip shop late one night and we realised that everything you need to make a screen print is pretty much there. You’ve got your UV lamps for killing insects, you’ve got oil for frying food, you’ve got a counter, you’ve got newsprint, there’s a heat cabinet – everything was there”.

The Henninghams own an art and bookmaking collective, the Henningham Family Press in Dalston. This is a district in the London borough of Hackney the Guardian described as “the unlikely owner of Britain’s coolest postcode” in April last year. A few months later the newspaper complained Dalston was “too cool for school. Move here and you’ll be as instantly pigeonholed as if you’d moved to Clapham or Hoxton”.

Marie McPartlin also lives in Dalston. She, Sam Hawkins and Tom Chivers are the directors of the London Word Festival. In March three weeks of events at different venues in London’s East End test the limits of words in performance – including spoken word, literature, music, theatre, film and visual art, says Maire. With the Chip Shop Marie and her colleagues brought the London Word Festival to the Red Art Cafe-Bar in the small Hackney district.

“Red Art is a Turkish cafe. There is a big Turkish community in Dalston. Myself and the Henninghams, we eat here regularly. I recommend Turkish breakfast number eight. It’s my personal favourite”, Marie says and laughs.

She and her colleagues are based in different parts of east London and so are the London Word Festival’s venues. “Maybe we’re just lazy. We don’t like to travel too far. But we’re also quite connected to the artistic community here. A lot of the artists we work with are east London based as well. It’s really vibrant here. There’s lots of interesting venues, lots of interesting work and we liked the idea of creating something where it felt like there was a bit of community behind it.”

The London Word Festival has been running for three years now and is getting more and more attention by the media and the public, says Marie. Sunday’s Chip Shop in Dalston also attracted a number of people. Some ordered a word from the menu. Others, like Anne Black, submitted a new word.

“I picked the word ‘sly’ because I think it’s a funny word and quite short and sweet. I might put the chip board up in my living room or give it too a friend. I’m not quite sure, yet”, Anne says.

She is interested in typography and likes the idea behind this project: “I think it’s a fun idea and a nice way to get people engaged with being playful with words. It’s really accessible and nice to have it in a coffee shop where people are passing by and can just drop in.”

Nia Davies is also fascinated by the Chip Shop: “I like the fact that it really celebrates words. I love words and the way language is used. Giving someone the opportunity to have their word printed on a board to take home really reminds me of the power of words.”

Nia lives in the area and came down to the Red Art Cafe-Bar after having seen an advertisement for the London Word Festival. She says Dalston is an exciting place:

“It’s quite a busy, frenetic place. There are a lot of different communities here and there are also a lot of things going on in terms of art, cinema and music.”

But she also says Dalston is cut off from the rest of London, because the transport situation is not the best at the moment. Soon, however, the East London Line will be completed and will connect Dalston to New Cross, Crystal Palace and West Croyden.

How to get to Dalston:

The buses 243, 149, 67, 76, 38, 277, 30, 56, N76, UL1, and N38 stop at Dalston.

What to do in Dalston:

The Red Art Cafe-Bar with its excellent fresh orange juice and Marie McPartlin’s favourite – the Turkish breakfast number eight – is a great place to eat. Dalston is home to the Vortex Jazz Club and local resident Nia Davies recommends the Passing Clouds.

“It’s an Afro-beat club just down the road. The Haggerston Club, which is in front of Passing Clouds, is really good, too. I love the Arcola Theatre – a little independent theatre. They run some really nice and original productions. And I really like the Rio Cinema, a beautiful 1920s cinema.

Other London Word Festival venues:

Barbican Art Gallery, The Courtyard Theatre, Jamboree, St. Leonard‘s Church, Stoke Newington International Airport, Toynbee Theatre and Toynbee Studios Arts Bar & Café, Work Dalston

The London Word Festival runs until April 1st. For more information and tickets see their official website.

Read more from The First Pint, the international's guide to all that London offers.

South Kensington: Not Just for Prince William & Harry

Stephanie Bainum — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:46:40 +0000

South Kensington. Photo Credit: Jiuguang Wang

Clubs, Parks, Celebrities and “snogging”: South Ken really has it all.

Known as an international hotspot, visiting South Kensington is like being in another country. As a resident of the neighborhood, English is not the predominant language you hear while walking the streets. Large Italian, French, and Spanish communities, grace the area. Just last night, at an Italian sandwich shop, my waitress hardly knew English. It was hard for me to remember I was in England for a second, as I felt I should have known Italian. My dear waitress had to ask another staff member what the word “hummus” was as I was trying to order.

Cafes:
Speaking of Italy, I just had a friend in town from Rome. They say all roads lead to Rome, but the only road she was interested in was the one that led to Hummingbird Café. This café located on Old Brompton Road in South Kensington, and minutes from the tube stop, offers the best cupcakes and sweets you have ever had in your life. We indulged in six different cupcakes, followed by four the very next day. Flavors such as red velvet cake, carrot, chocolate, and bright blue sugar, are sure to satisfy the most pretentious sweet tooth.

Pubs:
One also might catch the likes of Conservative Party Leader David Cameron walking around. One of his favorite dinner and drinks spot is the Bumpkin, also located on the main street of Old Brompton Road. Bumpkin is a boutique English style restaurant, with country chic interior and the most amazing macaroni and cheese you ever tasted. I am fortunate enough to live right around the corner from this establishment and so I am a regular customer every Sunday, just in time for their traditional English roast. So to disprove an earlier point, South Kensington is still English, you just have to look hard to find it.

Clubs:
The owner of the Bumpkin restaurant, Matt Hermer, also owns one of the hottest nightclubs in the city, Boujis. Boujis is located right by the South Kensington station and is also a spot to become acquainted with. As far as swanky goes, regulars of Boujis include party-going Prince Harry and his brother, the future King, Prince William and perhaps his future wife, but for now girlfriend, Kate Middleton. The inside of the club, compared to the clientele, is quite modest. It is not super posh or a place where you feel uncomfortable. The crowd is jolly and the venue is quite small that people are forced to interact, which is not a bad thing in a club. There is a hefty twenty-pound cover, so be sure to save up in order to rub elbows with the Princes.

Parks and Museums:
From nighttime to daytime, South Kensington has it all. Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park surround the neighborhood, which offers beautiful grounds, ponds with feisty swans, and horseback riding. It is worth every minute on a tube ride to check out these exceptional parks. Also during the day, be sure to head down here to check out the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Natural History Museum. They are located right next to each other on Brompton Road; take a right when you come out of the tube station.

Snogging:
And last but not least, take a trip to South Kensington for a snog…not a kiss like you are thinking, but a yogurt snog. Snog is a great frozen yogurt place that is truly divine. You will feel refreshed, satisfied, and wanting to come back the very next day. There is so much to offer in the vicinity of this lovely neighborhood, so be sure to check it out while in London because a trip to South Kensington is like your first snog…you’ll never forget it.

Read more from The First Pint, the international's guide to all that London offers.

Exmouth Market uncovered

Lilly LeClair — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 02:09:56 +0000

Exmouth Market: Keeps mouths happy. Photo Credit: Lilly LeClair

My home away from home. It’s where I do my grocery shopping, buy necessities, eat take-away, or just gulp down a flat white on my way to university a few blocks away. Where am I? Exmouth Market!

This pedestrian-friendly street at the junction of Farringdon Road and Rosebery Avenue used to have a seedy reputation, but that’s all changed in recent years as a stream of chic restaurants and shops began to appear.

But Exmouth Market is not completely devoid of its colorful, low-priced roots. Wholesalers, gambling venues and places like Exmouth Arms (a corner pub where the market got its name) still remain, drawing all types of people. The unusual combination of new and old gives it a slight edginess, making it popular with Clerkenwell’s hipsters (a plethora of art and design companies occupy nearby office spaces), yet the area is gentrifying faster than ever. Moro, one of London’s top restaurants resides here and a new residential high-rise on the northwest corner is due to begin construction in April. Get here before the yummy mummies take over!

Here are a few of my favorites, but come explore for yourself!

BAKERY – Jesshops: This fourth generation bakery has been in the same location for 15 years, and the prices have continued to stay low. Here you can still buy a loaf of fresh baked bread for under a quid.

BOOKS – Clerkenwell Tales: This independent bookstore sells the work of local authors. Take a look through Clerkenwell and Finsbury Past where you can learn about the neighbourhood’s long history.

BREAKFAST – Café Maya: Come eat breakfast with the Royal Mail employees and aspiring cabbies taking a break from studying ‘The Knowledge’. This place has an enormous English Breakfast for £5.25.

Exmouth Market by day

CHURCH – Our Most Holy Redeemer: This is the only Italian basilica-style Roman Catholic Church in London. The ornate structure holds Mass daily as well as morning prayers. The Church also runs a number of community events, classes and art fairs.

COFFEE/CD’s – Brill: Jeremy - music aficionado and friend to everyone – is glad to help you pick out some new tunes. What used to be just a music store now contains short stools and tables where you can enjoy a mean cappuccino. It can get a little cramped, but that’s all part of the fun.

CLOTHES – The Apartment: This clothing store sells unique men’s and woman’s clothes from up-and-coming designers. The duds can be really expensive, but sales occur often. November 26^th is the owner’s birthday, and he’ll give you the exact discount of his new age. The older he gets, the better it is for all of us!

DESSERT – Sweet: I do admit, a few of the employees can be rude, and the small shop plays nauseating easy-listening music, but you can’t argue with the taste of their amazing desserts and pastries. On a nice day grab a table outside and listen to lively dance classes taking place at Urdang Academy.

DINNER – Café Kick: This Portuguese/Spanish cafe never dissapoints. Drop by for a quickly prepared gourmet salad, soup or sandwich and pay non-gourmet prices, or stick around and play a round of table football (foosball to you Americans).

FALAFEL – Charcoal Grill: This falafel joint is cheap and open late. The friendly Turkish guys behind the counter will wistfully talk to you about their home country and inspire you to buy a plane ticket.

FLOWERS – Pod: The laid-back owners will sell you day-old flowers for a discount price: I’m talking a dozen tulips for a quid, and they’ll even wrap them in colorful tissue paper.

GIFTS – Space: Need to buy a last-minute gift? This tiny place has a selection of hilarious cards, offbeat gift ideas and well-priced chunky jewelry.

HAPPY HOUR – Cottons: On the corner of the market is this Carribean/West Indies themed restaurant with nightly Happy Hour from 5-7pm (2 for 1 beer /wine, and £4 cocktails). Downstairs is the Rum Jungle where on Tuesdays you can take part in Salsa lessons. Friday and Saturday nights DJ’s play reggae, soul and funk music until 1am.

LUNCH – Food Stalls: Visit the market on weekdays between 11am and 2pm for delicious street food. You can choose from a number of options including a huge portion of Kavurma (lamb stew over rice) served with a chunk of bread for only £4.90. Sniff around and find fajita burritos, sausages, skewers, Indian and Thai vegetarian options, ‘Jollof’ Ghanaian cooking, or mushroom risotto. Wednesdays-Fridays, Medcalf owner Justin Unsworth flips juicy burgers for £4. It’s the best and most lively time of Exmouth Market.

PUB/LIVE MUSIC – Wilmington Arms: This is my favorite pub in London. Long taper candles keep it aglow after dark, and the consistent good tunes, food and free Wi-Fi are a constant draw. Grab a drink before heading next door to the attached music venue - sister to Camden’s The Hawley Arms. The venue brings in ‘indie’ bands and comedy acts for as little as £5.

SALON – LIV Hair & Beauty: Tucked away on a little walkway is LIV Hair & Beauty Salon. No appointment necessary, just pop in. Men’s haircuts start at £7, women’s for £15, and manicures for £8.

Read more from The First Pint, the international's guide to all that London offers.

Harringay – a Haringey neighbourhood

Alexandra Zeevalkink — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 03:04:02 +0000

Fresh fruit and veg in one of the many Turkish shops. Photo Credit: Alexandra Zeevalkink

It is confusing, but Harringay is a neighbourhood in the council of Haringey, in North London. If you have been in London for a while, you might have heard of it. Remember the Baby P case? That took place in the council, but not in the neighbourhood. There are, however, nicer things to celebrate the area for. Harringay, the bit of Haringey that goes roughly from Finsbury Park to Turnpike Lane tube station alongside Green Lanes, is a great place to live.

For a start, rent is cheap. You can find a bedsit for 100 per week, shared houses for as little as 75 per week and flats for as little as 550 per month. It’s not nothing, but for London it’s good.

Shops are open 24 hours. Many of the little Kurdish, Turkish and Greek places don’t close at all. The same goes for the massive Sainsbury’s. So if you have a midnight craving for milk, crisps or delicious veggie’s, you can find it all here.

If you’re not the chef you’d like to be, the many Greek and Turkish food places in the area will take care of you. They serve such a variety of Kebabs and Döners that you can eat a different one every week.

Getting there and away

Harringay doesn’t have its own tube station, but you are never further than 10 minutes away from the tube stations of Finsbury Park, Manor House or Turnpike Lane.

Buses are plenty. On Green Lanes you will find the 341 that goes up north to Ikea (live the dream) and down south to Waterloo, 24 hours per day.

The 141 brings you via Old Street into London Bridge. And, most importantly, the 29 brings you all the way to Trafalgar Square and back, also 24 hours a day.

Into the late hours

The Salisbury

Then there’s the nightlife. Go into town and everything shuts at eleven. But not here. The Salisbury, voted by Time Out to be among the best pubs in North London, is open till 2.30 in the weekends and 12.30 in the week. They serve great food ranging from the typical English Bangers & Mash to pizzas and great vegetarian dishes. On Sundays, you can chill out next to the fireplace and enjoy reading a paper and eating a Sunday Roast.

If you get bored in Harringay itself, visit the pubs in close by Stroud Green, Crouch End, Stoke Newington or Angel.

Finsbury Park

The village in the city

The many parks make the area open and green. Finsbury Park is massive and great for sunbathing in the summer, or for making snowmen in the winter. The same goes for nearby Clissold Park which is beautiful and has a mini zoo.

There is a certain village-feel to Harringay. It is a true community where you meet people, make friends and feel at home. Although I have moved away twice, I have always came back with my mind set on this crazy little stretch of madness.

Read more from The First Pint, the international's guide to all that London offers.

Seen the Stepney Scene?

Heather Christie — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:17:59 +0000

Stepney: Tower Hamlets enclave, once belonging to the bishop of London, and generally firmly ensconced in the East End. Yes, friends, the stop close to the end of the Hammersmith and City Line‘s pink sprawl has all the makings of a delightful day out. The place has a certain je ne sais quoi, and is close enough to the Shoreditch/Hoxton hussle but with a heftier dose of calm. Besides, who could forget, it’s the stomping ground of Queen Mary College!

The bonus of Queen Mary is that the student village is entirely cnclosed by the campus, making outings with your pals pretty easy–you could essentially roll to each one of your mates’ flats! The campus itself boasts a variety of lovely cafes, a great-looking bar (alas, it was closed when we stuck our noses in!), not to mention the fact that it backs onto the canal–hello, blissful waterway delight! All with the picturesque (maybe that’s a stretch) Gherkin rising peacefully to the west… siiiiigh!

But enough about Queen Mary. The Stepney high street (Mile End Road) is a quirky little number with large adverts for an (elusive) shisha bar (maybe you’ll have better luck than we did finding it!) and a few cozy corner pubs. We had a few at the lovely Bankroft Arms on Mile End Road, opting against the local J D Wetherspoon, The Half Moon. To be fair, The Half Moon does look far cozier than most Wetherspoon locations and is most likely worth a visit for the standard cheap and cheerful fare. At the Bankroft Arms, though, not only were the pints cheap, but the barstaff and clientele were exemplary of the legendary East London warmth.

When hunger called, we found an absolute hidden gem—the Zaytun Restaurant, just west of Stepney Green tube station on the south side of Mile End Road. The food is phenomenal, the service adequate, and the prices unbeatable.

In all, Stepney Green is tucked away just enough from the nearby bustle of the rest of the city. It’s easy to get out and party, but also easy to curl up quietly.

PS—If you do go on a roady over there, please let us know if you find the shisha bar!

Read more from The First Pint, the international's guide to all that London offers.

Angel – a District with Wings

Daniele Fisichella — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:25:13 +0000

Angel, in south Islington, has almost every distraction a person can seek. It is much more than just a convenient connection with the City and King’s Cross. Angel is a pulsing zone 24 hours a day.

You only have to walk a couple of meters up the main boulevard, Upper Street, to find something of interest. At any time you can find people in popular local pubs, “The York” or “The Angel” (not the most imaginative name, I agree). Finding someone to socialise with is the least of a newcomer’s problems, especially after dark. Opposite the station, in Bromfield Street, one of the oldest gay pubs in London, the EDVI, still does a brisk trade.

Pleasant to the eye

Fans of modern art may like the ‘Angel Wings’, a large iron structure behind the commercial centre on Liverpool Road. Though the area is not famous for its architecture, the streets near the station are pleasant to meander through.

Regent’s Canal passes through Angel and there is a peaceful park by the water off Graham Street.

Quirky and squeaky

Camden Passage is not a short-cut to the more famous area of Camden Town though you could be forgiven for thinking it might lead you there. This tiny street is characterized by a large number of furniture, antique and jewellery shops and hosts a flea market. Some objects they sell may seem quite bizarre – Union Jack armchairs or luggage from the First World War. But the atmosphere during the weekends is priceless (while some goods are undoubtedly expensive).

Cultural Angel

Angel’s reputation as a trendy area has been sealed in literature and films. Nick Hornby set two of his stories here; “About a Boy” and SLAM. George Orwell lived nearby – twice – on Lawford Road and in Canonbury Square. Actor Colin Firth, the Chelsea footballer Joe Cole and Big Brother’s first transsexual winner Nadia Almada are all residents.

Even Tony Blair commuted to Westminster from Angel before moving to the centre of London.

Director Molly Dineen chose Angel as subject of her documentary on the life of underground workers, “The heart of the Angel”, which won a BBC prize.

During the 1990s the station was almost completely re-built. It now contains the longest single escalator in Western Europe which enticed Norwegian freestyle skiier, Andreas Håtveit, to ski down the length of the escalator. The stunning footage of his exploit has unfortunately been removed from YouTube (otherwise we’d post it here for you!).

Read more from The First Pint, the international's guide to all that London offers.