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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:
sashagabadon · 10/02/2023 14:29

Spitalfields market is still massive and quirky and Brick lane still has the orginial bagel shops. A lot of that is actually still there.

WeekendInTheBoondocks · 10/02/2023 14:30

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!)

You’re not missing much. London is not the London it used to be. Just overcrowded, crime ridden and expensive now.

TheVanguardSix · 10/02/2023 14:33

Yes! I was trying to remember the name! Pollo Bar! The massive plates of good, nourishing, cheap pasta. I did love the Stockpot too. I used to go to the one on the Kings Road back when Peter Jones was a little bit on the turn.
I miss bringing your own bottle because any of the affordable eateries had no booze license. Well… I don’t really miss it but my nostalgia is telling me to miss it. 😆

HeidiWhole · 10/02/2023 14:34

Worked in London throughout the early 90s...so many things mentioned here that I'd forgotten.
Every lunchtime a circuit around Oxford Circus...TopShop, HMV, Hennes (now known as H&M?)
Virgin Megastore in Piccadilly. The Trocodero centre...weird place
Hyper Hyper in Kensington - those indoor markets!
Borough market when there was one food kiosk under the arches and the rest was deserted...the Tate Modern when it was just a derelict building....no Globe theatre.
Had a fab time, everything seemed so optimistic. Do 20-somethings feel that sense of optimism at the moment I wonder?

megletthesecond · 10/02/2023 14:36

Mash, Passenger and Bond in Oxford and near Carnaby Street.
The Bead Shop and the jacket potato shop in Neals Yard. Even Slam City Skates have gone from the centre now.

EmmaEmerald · 10/02/2023 14:36

Vanguard "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 last went through on a bus about 8 years ago. But yes. It used to be quite nice. Not my fave bit...that was down at Hanover Grand. Anyone go to Malibu Stacey?

EmmaEmerald · 10/02/2023 14:39

Mondayforthebin · 10/02/2023 14:09

Another great listen is Grace Dent with Annie Mac talking about moving to London at about the same time.

Did anyone else used to eat at the Stockpot on Old Compton Street? So cheap and probably disgusting but I remember it being delicious (probably because it was cheap 😉).

Aw, it was great! And they didn't grumble if you asked for sausage with chips instead of mash! I'll take places like Stockpot over their pricier counterparts any day.

sec shops were tucked away. Call me a prude, but they were fun to go to then!

TheVanguardSix · 10/02/2023 14:41

I love seeing the Rik Mayall bench in Hammersmith, near the Apollo where, in ‘95, I saw Bottom on stage when Hammersmith bus station was still being built. It still hadn’t been entirely completed and there were mounds of gravel where the buildings and outdoor bus stops are. I think it was another name back then. The Tesco inside the bus station was a Safeway. What I didn’t expect was to grow old in Hammersmith. Shiver me timbers. 😳

dgirluk · 10/02/2023 14:49

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.

Megatripolis wasn't it on a Thursday? Great times!

Original poster
Mondayforthebin · 10/02/2023 14:51

Squiblet · 10/02/2023 14:22

Loving this thread!

I moved to London in my early twenties, 96/97 ... lived in a houseshare in Cricklewood and my room was literally about the size of a parking space. It didn't matter because I hardly had any stuff.

Shopping - there were so many good secondhand bookstores - I used to while away whole afternoons just browsing round them in Charing Cross road and Covent Garden. Nearly all gone now. Spitalfields market used to be great, too, with all sorts of oddball vintage stalls and young designers and these amazing beef brisket rolls from Bubba's Arkansas grill.

Nearly every weekend we'd go to Duckie at the Royal Vauxhall tavern, or Popstarz ... and if we were in the West End, we'd usually wind up after hours at one of the Spanish bars in that little alleyway just north of Oxford St where it meets Tottenham Court road (Hanway st?).

I loved Popstarz - most fun night.

OP posts:
sashagabadon · 10/02/2023 14:52

to be honest, apart from rave culture which I loved, I think London is a million times better now
museums are well looked after and free (you had to pay entrance in the 90's); canal sides are rejunvenated and pleasant places now (they were full of druggies and dead bodies ); areas like Kings Cross were crime ridden and basically dangerous (although I didn't care at the time) but are now clean, bright, well designed open spaces full of people having a nice time and things to do;
Tate Modern was disused and falling apart, now a free fantastic art gallery, tube is fantastic now - was always ok but stations are bigger and brighter now (oyster card is marvellous and that came in end of the 90's). Battersea Power Station now a great place - was derelict for decades.
Borough Market fab now; Camden market actually much better, all the stables area is completely redeveloped and loads of nice food place. You can walk Regents canal paddington, camden, maida vale, kings cross and have a lovely time and not fear being murdered and chucked in.
Cinemas are clean and comfortable rather than flea pits. Parks in general are much better maintained with nice planting and much much better children's parks rather than a swing and slide on concrete.

Yes I can't go clubbing but then I am nearly 50.

I vote for London 2022 over London 1992 - controversial I know :-)

Original poster
Mondayforthebin · 10/02/2023 14:54

I'm sure you're right @sashagabadon but when I was in my 20s I wasn't doing much in the way of going to museums or art galleries :)

OP posts:
sashagabadon · 10/02/2023 14:58

no neither was I - hence I didn't care :-) My dad worked at the Natural History Museum in the 90's and I could get in for free (but never went of course!)
It only became free in the early 2000's

Squirrelsnut · 10/02/2023 14:58

I moved to Islington on 1996 and could just afford the rent on a nice flat doing an admin job. It was a great time, I still miss it a lot.

TheYearOfSmallThings · 10/02/2023 15:00

Cinemas are clean and comfortable rather than flea pits.

Ah I used to love the Prince Charles cinema back then.

EmmaEmerald · 10/02/2023 15:02

Mondayforthebin · 10/02/2023 14:54

I'm sure you're right @sashagabadon but when I was in my 20s I wasn't doing much in the way of going to museums or art galleries :)

I did that more than I do now. I particularly remember Prince Charles, as he was, calling the Sainsbury Wing of the NG a "carbuncle". I didn't know what to expect - but got there and found it lovely.

Galleries were still for adults in those days. It was a lovely, reverent kind of experience. The whole of London was very adult. Now it just seems like screaming kids and food places and so on.

I'm leaving soon. Been here my whole life. I thought I wanted to do a couple of visits to central London - but I probably won't.

oh yes, I never went through Kings Cross....unless we were going to Renaissance at the Cross! Even then, we'd get a bus to the nearest stop and we'd gather the whole group at someone's home first. I've never lived closer in than Golders Green! I've often wondered what it be like to live near St Paul's or something...I'd want to go for night walks etc.

TheYearOfSmallThings · 10/02/2023 15:03

Battersea Power Station now a great place - was derelict for decades.

Oh and I used to love the skyline at Nine Elms when it was getting dark on a winter day. I know it needed to be redone or it would have disappeared altogether, but I don't love what they have turned it into.

EmmaEmerald · 10/02/2023 15:03

sashagabadon · 10/02/2023 14:58

no neither was I - hence I didn't care :-) My dad worked at the Natural History Museum in the 90's and I could get in for free (but never went of course!)
It only became free in the early 2000's

Whaaat....you could go free and you didn't go? I have loved Dippy since I was a child! <sobs>

puppacup · 10/02/2023 15:09

I'm a Londoner & I used to be able to go clubbing, cloakroom, a drink or two & chips on the way home for £10.

puppacup · 10/02/2023 15:09

The 90s were the best!

puppacup · 10/02/2023 15:10

Maybe it's because I'm older but it's not the same anymore, defo not as cool!

puppacup · 10/02/2023 15:11

There was more individuality in fashion, music, shops whereas it's quite homogenous now.

Celinia · 10/02/2023 15:12

I used to visit friends occasionally in N London in the early 90s. We weren’t earning much but did so much around London. We’d go to the parks, free outdoor theatre events, go to Camden market and have some food and wander about.

Other people I knew talked about finding squats in London with their friends after uni in the early 90s. They were all working full time in public sector jobs and looked after the property so the neighbours turned a blind eye.

puppacup · 10/02/2023 15:13

Salaries were better then & things were cheaper, my saturday job paid really well compared to today.

puppacup · 10/02/2023 15:15

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.

Oxford Street was my life! I can't go there now, it's so shit!