90's London

[Sweetasstevia]

I've lived in London for nearly 25 years now but rarely get into the centre these days (I last worked in town in 2008.) I'm always stunned how much things have changed and have been feeling very nostalgic lately for the London of my uni years and youth: 1990 - 2000.
For starters I miss how Covent Garden used to be with the mechanical toy museum and Neal street East around the corner. I miss burgers at Ed's Diner and Jonny Rockets. I miss seeing arty films at the ICA, the montepulicano lounge club and whirligig, the mad market in South Kensington and how Camden used to be before it got all posh!
What things do you miss?

[familymember]

How odd, I came across some London pictures from the nineties the other day and it really brought back memories.

I was in Covent Garden that time too, what a difference. On Long Acre there was a great pizza place for a huge 99p slice, next to 'The Gap', which seemed very exotic and upmarket. And a huge second-hand clothes shop opposite which had great clothes, and the Chinese shop on Neal st. AND the King's Arms

There was a very different feel to London then, small individual shops and greasy spoons and bombs too.

[noddyholder]

That was my era there too

[familymember]

You couldn't move for greasy spoons, even in the centre, now they're all Starbucks.

The Piccadilly Cafe!

[minkah]

Individuality seems to be lost, doesn't it. Seems so touristy and corporate now.

[FiftyShadesOfGreen4205]

Does anyone remember the nightclub called Home?

I used to think it was amazing. On reflection this may not have been the case but at 18 I was easily impressed.

[MegBusset]

Yy to Piccadilly Cafe
Cheap Italians (Presto?) on Old Compton St
Patisserie Valerie before it was a crap chain
The Astoria and LA2
Camden Falcon & the Laurel Tree

[thecatfromjapan]

?? I had a rush of nostalgia the other night and googled Neal Street East. The owner sounds (or perhaps that should be 'sounded'?) really interesting. I do miss Neal Street East.
There were do many second-hand record shops, too. I'm trying to remember ghe names of some of them.

[thecatfromjapan]

The Seattle Coffee Company. I think the owner sold her mini-chain to Starbucks. I sometimes wonder if she uses mn.

[MegBusset]

Selectadisc on Berwick St was the best record shop.

[thecatfromjapan]

And lots and lots of squats. That's a piece of vanished history!

[MegBusset]

I remember going to the Seattle Coffee Co in Crouch End and feeling very hip :)

[familymember]

I remember all those Meg, I saw some great bands at the Camden Falcon.

The buildings looked shabby and dirty so felt like a discovery when you got inside, I guess that's what the developers hate. I hope the Rivoli Ballroom is still the same.

[FreudiansSlipper]

I miss Hyper Hyper and Kensington Market

and Covent Garden General Store now it is a boring M&S

Covent Garden is like any other high street shopping area nothing individual which is a shame

[Planetwaves]

Oh god yes! Love this thread. Moved away in early 2000s to another city - but returned regularly to visit and I think it was in about 2005-6 when I really noticed a big change - London had gradually become soulless, hard, flashy and empty and though it was creeping up during the early years of the boom it was only about then that I really looked about and thought, good grief things have changed. :(

In the 90s (I was there mid-late 90s) there were so many parts of London that had hat lovely villagey feel, and even the centre was charming and didn't feel driven only by money. On the contrary - even in the wealthiest bits you'd still find little old decrepit shops, newsagents, greasy caffs, ordinary people inexplicably living somewhere where now someone would have built a massive fuck off set of 20m pound flats to sell to Russian investors and topped it with a cocktail bar for bankers selling diamond-encrusted martinis and a soulless "celebrity chef selling out" restaurant.

God I miss the old London! The city I live in now is going (gone?) the same way. There are only so many branches of Costa and luxury flats that can sustain an economy before it collapses, surely.....?

[thecatfromjapan]

I remember the weird shop selling only display boxes (for jewellery) and the horologists (plural - just, wow!) in Clerkenwell.
No way could any of those shops afford to have space there now.??

[MegBusset]

Yeah I moved away four years ago having spent my whole life happily skint there... I still go back regularly to see friends but I'm struck by how much has changed since the property boom and how much central London seems like a rich person's ghetto :(

[CerealMom]

There used to be a very cheap cafe by the Cambridge Theatre called Centrale. Pasta was £2.75 when I first discovered the place. The whole block was demolished a few years ago. New almost identical block in it's place!

Silver Moon bookshop across from The Cambridge.

Everywhere looks the same now. Same shops. Same coffee chains. Sanitised/homogenised. You could be anywhere and nowhere.

I don't think it's me just being an old fart.

Ahh, Whirlygig. Like Stawberry Sunday under the arches, Megatripolis at Heaven and other assortments of happy smiley (if slightly sticky, sweaty clubs).

[AFingerofFudge]

I lived in London (Earlsfield) between 1991 and 2002 and miss it so much - but when I go back I still miss it because (as I keep saying to DH) I miss the London of the 90's - am so please others feel the same as he just gives me the eyes

[NoArmaniNoPunani]

Is whirlygig no more? Bagleys is gone too.

[CarpeNoctem]

Camden Market (the way it used to be, well before the fire in 2008) and the Astoria

[FreudiansSlipper]

I was in Camden a few weeks ago (still live in London could not move away) it is still grubby, yes it has some upmarket restaurants but still has the same feeling, still has the same tat and interesting stalls/shops I love it

[thecatfromjapan]

I bought a set of Christmas cards in Berwivk Street, one year, that featured Leigh Bowery dressed up as a Christmas pudding. ??.
There were also lots of odd free one-day festivals, with New Age travellers ... Just before the resurgence in popularity ( and price hike!).
I think I remember one particularly odd one in SE London, with a huge bonfire, and a papier mâché Uncle Sam for a guy. And lots of buses and vans belonging to the travellers.

[familymember]

I remember Centrale, my friend introduced me to pesto and gnocci, a meal out I could actually afford. Shame to hear about the buildings, cheap haircuts that row too. And all those pubs with the tiny toilets.

The bomb scares were so frequent, we'd jump on the first tube because the line would shut down.

[OverAndAbove]

I lived in London for half of the nineties and I loved it so much. I remember the Northcote Road before it got all expensive and poncy.