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?

Hate to say it Hee but Jerusalem is still there

cavewoman Prohibition just off Regent St? Loved it there! I think it's still there.

Others have mentioned the Prince Charles cinema nr Leicester Sq (?) but there was another one I think on Wardour street which was absolutely tiny, and the old man who ran it used to come round the audience with a plate of biscuits How lovely is that?!
Does anyone know what I'm talking about, or do I just mean the Prince Charles?

And... anyone remember when the BFI was the NFT, and the entrance had billboards all the way along with life-size b&w photos of hollywood stars? I loved standing next to Humphrey Bogart!

And and and... it had that sort of rectangle illuminated light sculpture on top (is that still there?) - remember my dad saying how vulgar it was in the 70s!

I think there is good stuff going on- it's just different, and possibly not in London (and possibly semi-invisible to us old gimmers).

My main source of new culture at the moment is 6 Music, and there's definitely plenty of interesting new music . Aphex Twin, for example. Oh, wait...

Hate to say it Hee but Jerusalem is still there

Gosh wonder what it's like now? might stick my nose in one evening!

Aphex Twin are doing new stuff?! There's hope yet... Must tune in to R6!

Jerusalem is now a "bar & grill", which I think says it all.

I was thinking about the off-the-record cinemas last night, bialy, and the BFI :) There were quite a few mini-cinemas. One was near Trafalgar Square, there was one off Piccadilly, and several in Soho/Leicester Square. Not that I'd have skived off whole days from work, watching films back-to-back for £3, obviously. Some of the Soho ones, at least, were owned or subsidised by film companies & ad agencies, so they probably still exist in some form. You could take your drink in with you, pop out for another or even have wait service, and smoke back in the olden days. And be given snacks & treats :) Lovely way to see a film!

I'm addicted to 6 Music too, stubborn, but wouldn't quite put it down as a revolutionary force for new music! They do showcase fab new acts sometimes, though, I'll give 'em that.

Oooh! nostalgia-fest :)

So many familiar places.

We used to go to the Venue in New Cross and also the Albany Empire in Deptford I think.

I used to live round the corner from Fungus Mungus and spent many a happy evening there, waiting my turn for the bongos! I remember when it became something else :(

Tex-Mex restaurant a few doors down called Cowgirl in the Sand. I fell asleep over my chilli there once.

Also used to go to a psychedelic club called Alice in Wonderland just off Ken High Street.

Saved up and bought a biker jacket from Red or Dead in Camden (still have it)

Used to go with some gay friends to the Black Cap in Camden, and remember sitting in the dressing room at Madame Jo-Jos comparing leg lengths with the waitresses!

For a while there was a club night called the Double Six Club at the Town & Country where they had board games.

My job mid-late 80s was basically wandering all around London, so I knew all the best little cafes. Bizarrely discovered that the then Geological Museum had the best vending machine in town - lovely hot chocolate and tomato soup.

Despite my aged whining, I absolutely agree that young people should spend a few years clattering round London - nothing like it for expanding your horizons, and there is still a ton of great free stuff compared to anywhere else.

Used to go with some gay friends to the Black Cap in Camden, and remember sitting in the dressing room at Madame Jo-Jos comparing leg lengths with the waitresses! - YY, me too! All the cool gay men had flats in Soho, which were amazingly cheap and you'd never have guessed were there.

aaaah the Venue in New Cross. The first club i went to was Electric ballroom and the first song i ever danced to was Head Like a Hole. DH and i went there on our wedding night (wedding dress and all) last year and the music was chart shit :(

on Sundays we used to blow out our hang overs come downs at a bar called the shabeen, behind the george and dragon pub on acton high street. They used to have a fab soul band called FBI on at lunchtimes and we'd dance the afternoon away then sleep from 4pm till Monday morning.

Unlucky

Yep, there was all sorts going on in them loos

Tranmere The Rifat Ozbek 1988 collection with Yasmin Le Bon on the catwalk- feathers in their hair, white parachute silk hooded tops and white leggings. Bloody lovely it was.

Ahh happy hazy memories of Friday nights at The Fridge in Brixton for the trance nights (Escape From Samsara etc) & Saturday nights at Cloud 9 in Vauxhall for Strawberry Sundae. Interspersed with Full Tilt & various other rock nights around town for a bit of variety.

Albany in Deptford, yes! Friday nights, late 80s, sort of 60s soul nights - Mr Big Stuff was always being played.

And the Geological museum - that's now part of the Natural History museum isn't it? The earthquake simulator was the highlight.

Any other SE Londoners remember the Mitre, in Deptford - actually just at the entrance to the Blackwall Tunnel? Where the likes of Vic Reeves, Malcolm Hardy etc started out, before opening the Tunnel club in Greenwich. It was unbelievably grotty but brilliant.

mignonette check out this thread on S&B for more nostalgia. Floaty white hoodies and everything

Thank Bialy (love your name by the way) :)

Oh I remember that RO style parachute silk a gogo and we loved a gi=host dress with out hi tops

spacefrog yes! Cloud 9 was awesome, low ceilings (I think), other people's sweat dripping on you, about a million degrees, humidity 100%, couldn't beat it. Went to Escape from Samsara once, got a bit messy and lost all my friends.

There used to be a venue called the Lighthouse, at Trinity Buoy Wharf - became legal in the end but before that it was just a big warehouse, cans of Red Stripe sold from trestle tables. Ritchie Hawtin played there one New Year's Eve. Lost did a few parties there. Sigh.

the wierd thing is I could actually afford designer clothes then. As a student, waitressing and temping on the side. I have lovely Katharine Hamnett (the red tassel dress that Jerry Hall wore on a Tatler cover) / lots of the final Galliano collection before he went bankrupt / John Richmond suede trousers. There's no way I could go out and buy Galliano today and I have decent salary

Tranmere

I still have my Hamnett logo Tee shirts with appliqued anti nuclear deterrent silk screened logo. I also had an Anthony Price lace hobble skirt, all cobwebby that was a gift from a patients boyfriend- in those days they were laxer about gifts. I had Boy and Body Map leggings and a Betsey Johnson lycra tat print mini.

Loved the clothes.

This thread has brought back so many memories. I couldn't remember most of my 90s clubbing days, until now.
Anyone remember a night called ABBA at Prohibition on Tuesday nights where they played 70s and 80s disco?

The clothes were fantastic and I kept very little. Body Map was lovely quality. Think rent and general life costs were just more affordable in relation to what we earned. I loved Workers for freedom used to save up!

I've LOVED reading this thread - so many memories - particularly the clubs in London in the 90s - Paradise, Bagleys, Sound-Shaft next door to Heaven, Labrynth in Dalston and Trade at Turnmills in the early hours. A friend of mine once got stopped by the police who asked her where she'd come from and where she was going and she replied: "I've been to Heaven and I'm on my way to Paradise"

Does anyone remember the shop in Covent Garden 'Sign of the Times' where a smartly dressed tranny shop assistant used to welcome you with G&Ts? Also remember the Soul II Soul shop in Camden?

I was in London from 1997 to 2013, so only the latter part of the 90's but I have oh so fond memories.

Jumping on Routemasters (the proper ones, not these space age things they have now!) and hiding from the conductor as a skint student.

A regular of The Fridge, Pendragon & Escape From Samsara, Bagleys on A Saturday night, various raves under the arches in various parts of S. London. Sunnyside up at the SW1 club in Victoria. Bedrock at Heaven underneath Charing Cross Station (although that was more 2000-2005) the first Thursday of every month (and then dragging myself in to work the next day).

Bying Red or Dead and Cyberdog from Camden Market, wandering around the market in a haze and just chatting to the stallholders and then getting hammered in Bar Vinyl on Inverness Street (which I still believe is still there).

Ah happy days.

Also remembering going to see Comedy Store Players every Wednesday and sometimes Sunday too - when it was on Leicester Square and a dingy basement.

another Paradise by Kensal Rise frequenter here too - although it was just the Paradise Bar when I was there!