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Original poster

London in the 90s

239 replies

Mondayforthebin · 10/02/2023 09:41

Just having a nostalgic 10 minutes and thinking about when I first moved to London in my early 20s from my small town in middle of nowhere, fresh out of University. Moved to leafy North London with 4 other friends for a really cheap rent (wow, how times have changed!) No proper job so just temped and did some bar work and was out all the time on seemingly very little money as I earned very little! Went to see loads of bands, drank lots, wore v little and made some amazing friends and generally had lots of fun.

I know I definitely have my rose tinted specs on but miss those days and feel quite sad for DS that he'll probably not be able to afford to have same experiences as London is so expensive now.

OP posts:
chipsarnie · 10/02/2023 09:49

I moved to London in 1992 aged 22. Had the time of my life. Spent a lot of the mid-late 90s living and working in Shoreditch and Bethnal Green. It was a very affordable city back then. I could go out at least 3 times a week for meals/pubs/gigs and I wasn't on anything like a good wage for much of the time. So much exciting stuff going on. Great times. We moved to Cumbria in September 2021. Do I miss London? Not really. But I love to visit.

chipsarnie · 10/02/2023 09:52

Ps- I have a much younger work colleague who is absolutely fascinated with '90s London, and is always asking me about it.

Shescominghome · 10/02/2023 09:57

We regularly reminisce about London. We made the mistake of moving to Cornwall to raise family and it was the biggest regret of our lives.
And now we can't afford to move back to London (or anywhere nearby!)

The children ask us endless questions about when we lived there. They're so keen and we visit often which is nice.

The drive home to Cornwall is always a bleak experience (and we are Cornish!)

Iwantabloodypizza · 10/02/2023 10:03

I lived near london, so every weekend from the age of 15 I was inn Camden watching bands (1995) and getting very drunk.

I moved out at 16 and was living and working in London. I had some good but looking back, fucking stupid and frightening times

London was fabulous then. I rented a bedsit in Camberwell for £50 a week - and the landlord would dock £5 a week if I kept up changing the adverts in the shop window over the road for him because he didn’t speak great English and struggled with writing the ads.

It was dodgy as fuck for a 16 year old girl looking back, but I loved it. The building is still there. The grotty bed sits have been tarred up into studio flats and they go for 2k a month rent!

Ds is 21 and when he was 15, there’s no way I would have let him get up to the things I
did!

TheVanguardSix · 10/02/2023 10:03

Came to London from NYC in ‘95. Oh my, when they say ‘the salad days’ those were the days. I like seeing the London 90s nostalgia emerging in today’s youth culture. My 21 year old DS’s life in London has many similarities to my own early 20s here in the 90s. What he doesn’t have is a stack of NMEs piling up on the coffee table or the Blur v. Oasis ongoing thumb wrestle. Damon Albarn is STILL gorgeous. I totally would then, now, always.

Iwantabloodypizza · 10/02/2023 10:04

We finally had to leave London 3 years ago as we just couldn’t afford it anymore. I miss it so much.

SinisterBumFacedCat · 10/02/2023 10:05

I grew up in the suburbs so was always going up to town in the 90s and 00s. The atmosphere, clubs and shopping was incredible. I only go in now occasionally and it feels like it’s lost its magic, I know I have got older now but the interesting quirky shops have gone (I love bead shops, I used to have a circuit of bead shops, all closed down or online which is pointless if like me you like the tangible side of shopping, same with clothes shopping). I used to go to gig’s every month and they were all affordable, now it’s one gig a year for £80! I am very sad that my kids aren’t going to experience London of the 80s/90s/00s.

Iwantabloodypizza · 10/02/2023 10:08

SinisterBumFacedCat · 10/02/2023 10:05

I grew up in the suburbs so was always going up to town in the 90s and 00s. The atmosphere, clubs and shopping was incredible. I only go in now occasionally and it feels like it’s lost its magic, I know I have got older now but the interesting quirky shops have gone (I love bead shops, I used to have a circuit of bead shops, all closed down or online which is pointless if like me you like the tangible side of shopping, same with clothes shopping). I used to go to gig’s every month and they were all affordable, now it’s one gig a year for £80! I am very sad that my kids aren’t going to experience London of the 80s/90s/00s.

Carnaby street and Camden market were wonderful in the 90s.

Most of the stable yard market in Camden was still mud underfoot.

You could find amazing antiques and vintage clothing, records.

Now it’s all overpriced shit.

Chrimbob · 10/02/2023 10:10

I recently went back to where i grew up in London in the 80s and 90s and it's been gentrified. Technically nicer, but to me it's lost its soul.

SinisterBumFacedCat · 10/02/2023 10:11

Topshop at Oxford Circus
The Swiss Center at Leicester Square
B Never too Busy to Be Beautiful in Carnaby Street

EBearhug · 10/02/2023 10:14

I lived in London '94-'95. I was permanently broke and had no money to do anything. Even museums weren't free then. I hated it.

I still enjoy visiting, but i can afford to now.

MissBattleaxe · 10/02/2023 10:19

I moved there in 94 for 5 years. At first I was earning 15k and paying 225 a month rent in a shared house. Later I earned 19k and was paying 400 in a shared flat. I had some incredible times and I too feel sad that my kids won't be able to experience such carefree times. Also, there's a surprising amount you can do for free or on a budget. It's definitely a city for walking.

PuttingDownRoots · 10/02/2023 10:24

I was a child on 90s London. My parents thought my £4 a week bus pass was a bargain and it gave me so much freedom.

However I also remember the background spectre of the IRA bombing and the instructions of what to do if our planned route home wasn't available... no mobile phones then!

We had some great school trips... catch the train into the centre, do what the teachers had planned then if we had a signed permission slip being released to do what we wanted (the idea being we could get the train home to our local station instead of the school)

The museums becoming free was an amazing bonus.

Original poster
Mondayforthebin · 10/02/2023 10:25

I remember the thrill of being able to go to Soho after work on a random Tuesday and get the tube or bus home afterwards... also the thrill (now) of being up all hours, going to work and doing it all again the next night! I can barely manage 1 night out every 6 months these days :)

OP posts:
Original poster
Mondayforthebin · 10/02/2023 10:27

And walking around with A-Z and my bus pass in hand. That bit is unimaginable to my DC as even with Google Maps I'm always getting lost.

OP posts:
Shescominghome · 10/02/2023 10:27

Brick Lane bagels after a long night. That feeling of knowing anything is possible.

I desperately want to move back... <sobs quietly>

MissBattleaxe · 10/02/2023 10:28

@Mondayforthebin Ah yes! My dog eared A-Z!

I used to think it was massive treat to get the Sunday papers on Saturday night on your way home from a night out.

MonicaFree · 10/02/2023 10:29

L’Equip Anglais - anyone remember that? Heaven on a Thursday?

I lived just off Oxford Street (!) and spent my evening drinking in and around Soho. Mad.

resipsa · 10/02/2023 10:30

I was there 93 to 01 - amazing time to be young in London. We did so much with so little money.

SlippinKimmy · 10/02/2023 10:32

Grew up in London and was a teenager in the 90s - I miss it so much! It feels so much more generic, has lost a lot of the rough about the edges feel. Going up to Oxford Street for shopping was so fab, the giant TopShop, 2 C&As! And later clubbing in Limelight on Shaftesbury Avenue. My area of south-east London has had so much building it feels unrecognizable from when I grew up - my school was knocked down, the leisure centre, the shopping centre remodelled, even the traffic system (Lewisham, if anyone remembers...). The past truly is another country.

maranella · 10/02/2023 10:32

I moved to London in 1997 and this thread just made me go on Google maps and look at the square where I used to live. It looks exactly the same!! God, that seems a long time ago.

ConsumedByCake · 10/02/2023 10:32

MissBattleaxe · 10/02/2023 10:28

@Mondayforthebin Ah yes! My dog eared A-Z!

I used to think it was massive treat to get the Sunday papers on Saturday night on your way home from a night out.

I was just thinking of that. Coming through Liverpool St tube station on my way home to bed in Wapping and picking up the Sundays en route.

Iwantabloodypizza · 10/02/2023 10:32

What was the club off tottenham court road?

I think it was the St. Moritz? Used to host an indie club night on a Thursday called Cigarettes and Alcohol.

Then there was the indie nights at the Camden palace before it became KOKO - £1 a bottle of lager.

ConsumedByCake · 10/02/2023 10:34

We used to go to La Perla's on Maiden Lane in Covent Garden for cocktails at the weekend. I think it's long gone now. Happy days ...

speedygreedy · 10/02/2023 10:34

My friends older sister had a flat in Soho, we were doing A levels but she was a mid-late 20s (an accountant who could afford to live alone in soho), we thought we were the coolest people alive hanging out there.