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.

Great thread - feeling nostalgic!
Moved to a shared house Hammersmith in 91, aged 23 - stayed in London till 2004.
Definitely had a different vibe then...or maybe it is just that I am older? dunno. All seems so expensive and sanitised now! I will always love London though.

Had forgotten about Pollo!
Think I read recently that the Italian deli in Soho was closing too...

Is it the towers you don't like?

Salaries were much better relative to cost of living.

All cities have their time....the key is simply to figure out which city is the place to be now, and find a way of getting there. Anyone know where's great for young people now? (probably not anywhere in the UK TBH).

Not the UK!

Maybe Manchester? I've read they have had a big influx of young people.

Loved 90s London and finding new flatmates in Loot! I used to finish work later than many of my friends, so great memories of rocking up to Adams Rib on a Friday and having about 10 Woowoo's lined up on the table because I had missed Happy hour.

I wish I was doing that tonight!

London, like most major cities, lost alot of its identity due to gentrification. Soho now is just more chain restaurants, more chain bars, million pound flats. The character has gone.

Battersea Power station is basically now an events space with food outlets and a cinema within an iconic building with lots of random very high end shops inside (it does have a zara!) and a brand new tube station.
I think the Malaysian Government own it!
but there is a nice walk to Battersea park and then over bridge to Chelsea

My boyfriend used to drive us to clubs in the West End and park for free outside. That blows my mind now, when I think about driving into central London, let alone finding somewhere to park and paying for it, congestion etc.

Even in the 00s some of us would drive & I often drove in on Sunday & you could park very close to Topshop for shopping.

Oh La Perlas was the best! It has closed you’re right, I was thinking about it recently and couldn’t remember the name. Was so lovely there!

I do think london is still good for youngests. My dd 19 is out a lot. They still have good nights like Printworks which looks fun from videos she shows me sometimes.

Back in the day we were clubbing at 15 though. hard to do that these days!

yes...Camden is dire....i used to have a stall there in the late 80's...now its full of very bad fake gucci purses and louis vuitton bags and loads of cheap ethnic tat all from china....very little real artisan stuff there....plus there are the nasty crack heads around the bridge....i visit every 3 years or so and leave within minutes...not sure why i return there...??

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

Love the building but don't really like what they've done. The whole area is just blocks & blocks of flats.

I have found my people!

I moved to London in 1989 aged 18 and stayed for 12 years. Initially I lived just off Portobello Road and worked at the Earl of Lonsdale pub and later the Coronet cinema in Notting Hill. I also ran a few club nights in Camden and the west end.

In 1994 I moved to Camden and was working in the music industry and occasionally writing for the music press. I probably know some of you, particularly if you drank at the Good Mixer, Spread Eagle or Dublin Castle in the mid 90s. Everyone knew everyone, it was quite incestuous! There were faces everyone knew, not just the famous ones either. Some real characters. And some great nights - did any of you go to clubs Skinny/Arcadia/Smashing? Also afterparties with bands at the Columbia Hotel and Kensal Working Men's Club. I used to go straight to work from them, still pissed usually.

Sadly there was a darker side to it all too. I knew lots of young girls - early teens - who were in 'relationships' with band members. They were treated appallingly and I wouldn't be at all surprised if one day it all became public - some of the bands went on to become household names. There was definitely a dark underbelly. Entitled, wealthy young men in the first flush of fame who seemed to think they could take whatever they wanted even if the answer was no, as did a lot of their hangers-on.

But, yeah. I'm guessing I've met quite a few of you!

Oh my...the Marathon bar and the Spanish bar, remember them well. Thing is though, the reason all those underground bars existed was because everything shut at 11, which I couldn't believe when I moved to London in the 90s! Also, remember having to wait in Trafalgar Square for hours for the Night Bus to get home after a night out as the tubes all shut by midnight?
It was cheap though, and the shops markets and clubs were amazing.
The Blue Note on a Sunday, where Bjork would often be hanging out, Popstarz, something social ..Saturday Social? The guys from St Etienne used to do it I think? Club Kitten in Camden ..that club in Ladbroke Grove under the bridge...
I lived in really central areas, West and North. I think my rent was around 500 a month for a one bed flat in Islington. Good times. Innocent times too it felt like. People were just happier and friendlier.

My Saturday job was off Bond St & there were so many nice independent delis where you could get lunch.

Princess of Wails- I bet I did know you! Good Mixer, Smashing, Club Skinny yup yup yup. I hung out with a lot of musicians and agree some of the antics were v seedy.

I'm jealous the youths today have the 24 hr tube though!

Me and a friend had a sort of semi legal basement flat on Monmouth st, covent garden, 65 quid a week under a hairdressing salon....went to popstarz, mud club, heaven, the fridge - daisy chain on a tuesday....drove all over....made our own clothes or from jumble sales for pennies and altered them...seemed to be out at least 3 nights a week...temping jobs paid about £6 an hour...we had a good time !!...even got our pics in The face magazine a few times in our weird outfits !!

It used to be amazing when you could actually drive down roads without a massive plant box blocking your way. I actually used to drive to the West end for nights out!

Loved the Stockpot!

Grace Dent wrote about the end of cheap restaurants like Stockpot in Central London when the last one closed its doors. Massive plates, great grub and prices.

Bar Itália in the early hours for a sandwich after clubbing in Soho

Loot! That's where I found all my London rentals. Is it still even going?

I used to love loot.

I remember Rage on a Thursday night in Heaven. That was early 90's.

There was always a dark undercurrent in Camden - I remember it as a teen and lots of much older guys in the music/graphic design etc industry. Really sexist. Same as some of those indie places in Clapham in the late 80s/ early 90s. It’s a shame as they cast a shadow over everything else and they always had fawning girls/the cool girls around them

WEEZER is not uncool dammit!

Seriously though - both my London kids are unexpectedly quite into them!

Agree Damon Albarn was the band boyfriend of all band boyfriends - and actually I had a huge crush on his ex Justine Frischmann who was the coolest female band person.

And after Blur moved on I spent a lot of time in the Good Mixer, locking eyes with the one with the lips out of Menswear. Androgyny was my MO.

And what was the Britpop pub near Curtain Rd? The spreadeagle!

ooh I used to to to Pyramind on the weds night at heaven....i didnt like the awful matthew glamore so didnt go to Rage !