London in the 90s

[Mondayforthebin]

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.

Going home in your 'been out' outfit on the first tube of the day, sitting next to City workers on their way in. God, I feel old 😫

Ahh this brings back memories! I was in London as a student mid 90s, no money but an amazing time. Left for a couple of years but it pulled me back - I don’t have nearly as good life now though!

Lived in an absolutely tiny run down flats but so central! And yes to wandering around soho after being out, all the museums and having the time to take advantage of the cheap student tickets for theatre and ballet.

We could afford to smoke as much as we wanted too, and happily gave a ciggie to a stranger in a pub / club!

I don't think my teenager would be happy to live in the shabby, shared accommodation that was the norm for young people then though.

Same story here. Except for me, it was in 1980s. I was in my late teens and early 20s, moved on my own as I come from a pleasant but sinfully boring little town where fuck-all happened. I was in a House share with 3 other young women.

Went clubbing in the West End - or a nearby club once a week, and went to wine bars and pubs a few nights week too. Stayed out til after closing time, and was up for work at 7am every day. STILL don't know how I did it!!! I did temp work for some really high end companies, some right in the middle of London, and. even in 1988 I was on £7.00-£8.00 pound an hour. As a PA.

I had about 8 friends down there. One was from Australia, one was from Nigeria, one from America. The others were from different parts of the UK. (2 originally from London.) We went to wine bars, pubs and clubs and theatres, and did some of 'the sights' too. Also went to a number of pop and rock concerts at Wembley. Including Whitney Houston, Madonna, and Prince.

I lived in west London, 10-12 minutes walk from the tube station. And I used to walk home from clubs and pubs at midnight, and one and two in the morning. Some of them in the area I lived, and some in the west end. It was really, really quite dangerous now and to be honest with you, I was followed home a number of times, and a few times I ended up jumping behind peoples hedges and hiding in alleyways to get away from men following me.

Went into Hippodrome and Stringfellows nightclubs quite often, and saw a number of famous people ... some very big at the time. I worked in a couple of record companies as a temp and saw many pop and rock stars... Some days I would walk alone (or with a few friends) for hours, all through the west end, through Soho, Shaftsbury Avenue, Tottenham Court Road, Oxford Street, Piccadilly, and all around the 'zone 1' area, just to breath in the amazing atmosphere...' And some days we would travel further out - to the east end, and the north and west, to explore that a bit too...

Used to go to Covent Garden, Camden, markets in the East End etc etc... And I went to Paris and Rome and Budapest and Marrakesh with a couple of friends I had down there. We all had a fantastic time, and I've got so many happy memories of it, and so many great photographs. It has SO much great atmosphere and magic and sparkle then. It's pretty much lost it now.

My rent at the time was £40 a week, 40 pounds! An identical house to the one I was renting a room in, (in the same road,) went for £1.7 million a few months back. It was an amazing 3 years. ❤

Also remember staying up with flat mates to watch the 97 election and everyone so excited as we’d only ever known a Conservative government!

London in the 90s was fabulous. I was there from 92 - 2000, came up to Uni as a mature student (aged 26) and lived in multiple shared houses, with people from all over the world.
Went clubbing in Camden and Kings cross, gigs all over, and Camden market was still really accessible if you fancied running a stall.

There are loads of gigs for £20-£30. I go to about 30 gigs a year and the over £50 are very rare.
We're seeing Chris Difford from Squeeze next week for £22.50 and we're at the Union Chapel for £35 on Saturday.
I moved to London in the 80s and really wish I had a Tardis

I think it's not London, it's your youth you're nostalgic for. I was a student in Glasgow in the 80s and 90s and all of what you say was true for there as well. I walked all over the city with my friends, went to gigs every week, took full advantage of Mayfest (arts festival) and going to the theatre or classical concerts for £5 every night for 3 weeks.

We always came into London to go to the giant C&A each winter to get our winter coats.

I always remember going in the Covent Garden General Store if we got the tube or bus from where we lived on the Northern Line during the day.

Those days seemed so carefree and easy and everyone seemed nicer.

And after a night on the lash, you’d be absolutely honking like an ashtray! Your pillows would be coated in the smell.
That bit I don’t miss! 😁

About Oxford Street: When you’ve experienced Oxford Street in the 90s, today’s Oxford Street just pains you. It’s terribly sad. It used to be the epicentre of everything! London had soul and grit.

I did and still do live in the suburbs so was in London a lot, Camden Market was our go to place when I was 15/16 and then after uni when I started working we were literally out six nights a week. Gigs / pubs / bars.

Now I go in if I have to for work and come straight home again.

My tweens are desperate to go to Camden so I am taking them. I am fully expecting to be disappointed, I haven't been since 1997!

Does anyone remember the gaming area in the Swiss Centre? There was one that you sat in, called something about "360" iirc. It felt like being in a Star Wars cockpit 😊

Ouch!

Yeah, Camden isn’t the same! It’s still fun though.

Oh man, ten B&H were £1.10p in the mid 90s 🤣

I haven’t smoked for donkeys years, but if I did, you’ve have to prize one out of my cold, dead hands now given the price of them. They used to be shared around like sweets!

Now it's all candy and tat shops :(

Do you remember the chippie on the corner of Tottenham Court Rd and Oxford St.? I think it belonged to a Greek family. Long queues in the early hours. Now it's the new entrance of TCR station.

Cheap (or at least) affordable drinks.

Shoreditch wasn't the super expensive place that it is today

That indie club that was in an alley just behind New Oxford St shortly after Tottenham Court Rd, can't remember the name!

Egg in Kings Cross.

There was a "club" in Covent Garden (can't remember the name again, getting old), it was a basement and the entrance was in the market. If you went there on a Sunday it was heaven, the ratio of men x women was like 10 to 1 :p

You could catch the night bus on your own without fearing for your life.

What else?

Moved up for University in 1994 and stayed until 2015. Still massively miss it.

@MonicaFree totally remember L’Equipe, and hilarious places like Samantha’s! I lived up the road, just off Baker Street.

Was anyone a regular at Browns in Covent Garden? I loved that place, along with The Saint, Atlantic. These days I’m in bed by 10!

I lived in the suburbs so we all went clubbing in London as teens.

I moved to Islington later on and had the best time

London was cheap and there was so much going on.

Good times and find memories

The London I miss is the city I knew before having children.

My friends and I earned pennies working on magazines, so there was always something on for free or that you could blag you way into.
There was a bar round the back of Liberty called 'Two Floors' which was effectively our local for after-work drinks.

Clubbing memories are obviously sketchy - but I do recall going to Bang on Mondays for £2 or Saturday nights for a little bit more. Also Hanover Grand, Turnmills, DTPM, Dingwalls, Strawberry Sundae in Vauxhall...

We would scour fashion magazines for 'shopping evenings' at the big department stores so we could fill up on canapes, fizzy wine (wasn't called Prosecco at the time) and a free cosmetic/skincare goodie bag.

Sunday shopping trips would start at Petticoat Lane, then on to Camden Market and chilling out on Hampstead Heath in the sunshine.

We would also check the central London local papers for details of jumble sales in rich areas like Knightsbridge, Belgravia to buy vintage clothes for pennies. I still have fond memories of a cream Jaeger coat that cost me £2 from a jumble sale in Pimlico.

when I was working in London it was the pub every lunchtime and out every evening it was brilliant really.

Straight out of Uni first job. lived in W1. year 2000. Medical accomodation so rent taken straight from pay and was cheep!. I literally picked that rotation as fancied being near the shops. Yes I really was that superficial.
Had an absolute blast worked very hard and played hard.
Could walk everywhere, used the telecom tower as out guide on how to get home ( lived right by it).
I miss it but life moved on but I saw a lot including why I didn't want to bring children up on London.
We go up regularly though still for the bright lights and the fun side.

Cigarettes and Alcohol used to be at The Wag on Wardour Street at one point. Loved that place, as well as The Astoria and Metro. I lived on the Kent/London borders and the night bus took about 2hrs to get home, but TBH we didn't mind as it was a bit like a mobile after party.

funnily enough I was in King’s Cross yesterday telling my daughter all about great nights in The Cross nightclub there. Coal drop Yard / York way is utterly unrecognisable from the dodgy place it was! All posh bars, ground fountains with lights, post restuarts and chi chi book / coffee shops on canal boats on regents canal. Like a real life Richard Curtis film.
see also Camden market and Spitalfields market. Exactly the same upgrade.
King’s Cross station itself still has plenty of homeless etc though. One man it’s no nose followed me wailing until I have him a pound. That is still sad to see

I'm from London, and lived there as a young free and single from mid 1980s to 1997. I bought my own flat in 1990 and it was absolutely wonderful and I loved it.

I got married and moved to Cornwall, and unlike a PP, have not regretted it at all. We didn't go back to London for about 8 years.

My DS has been living in London since he graduated (in my old flat, which we had kept!) and is enjoying it, and I like going to visit, but it seems a lot less fun and so much more crowded now - or maybe I'm just old.

I'm glad I was young then, I wouldn't swap with DS for anything.

I remember my friend bought a 'loft' in Kings Cross in the 90s... an absolute dumpster fire of a property on the top floor of some dodgy old building overlooking the gasworks. I warned him off buying it. I said <insert hollow laugh here> "That money will never come back to you."
I still cringe when I see him (and his amazing bloody loft in one of the most expensive parts of London!). Who's crying now?!!

YES! Digweed’s residence at Heaven on Thursday night shaped my 90’s experience! I loved loved loved living in London then. I left hope at 16 in ‘93 and lived wild and crazy times. I am so sad that even though we live in London, DD won’t get to experience any of that as so many places have gone and what’s left is so gentrified and expensive.