Denmark Street on a sunny day (some snaps and a longing for an afternoon of window shopping)

imalrightjack

impmann said:

As yourself a question - aside from those who live/work in London, when was the last time you traveled to Denmark Street to make a large purchase? I haven't for about 20 years and it wouldn't even cross my mind to do so now, even with my rose-tinted nostalgia glasses on. 

I did, around three years ago, determined to buy a mid-to-high end acoustic. I found it a disappointing and overpriced experience. As a Cumbrian, who rarely visits London, I had a couple of greats nights on my own, popped into Ronnie Scott’s, went to the theatre, ate nice food. But the only highlight of Denmark Street was one of the coffee shops on the corner, other than watching Tim Blake Nelson haggling over a £300 guitar! He succeeded too. 

Philly_Q

Stevepage said:

I’d love to see the street brought back to life like it was. But I haven’t been excited about that road for what must be close to 20 years now. 

Andy’s, Roka’s, Rhodes, soho Soundhouse, Sound Control under Virgin Megastore were all places I would visit with excitement at all the amazing stuff for sale and just the overall atmosphere. But with the big stores going and then Crossrail it just killed it for me. I used to Have to visit Denmark Street when I was ever in London, now It doesn’t enter my head. But then I don’t really like London any more either. 

This pandemic will have accelerated big changes in the high street so who knows. It may disappear altogether or it may spark a revival. I hope it’s the later but I can’t see it happening.

Agreed.  I used to walk up there at lunchtime and would always look in the windows along Denmark Street.  Having said that, I never particularly liked actually shopping there - it was overpriced, not particularly well stocked and many of the staff (especially at Rhodes) were total arseholes.  I did like Roka's, before it was Rockers, it was a good place to buy pickups and pots and bits of hardware in the pre-internet days.

I hate the area now though, since they demolished the Astoria the whole place has felt like a big building site, the atmosphere of that end of Oxford Street, Charing Cross Road and all the backstreets has completely changed.  Denmark Street itself feels like its on artificial life support and someone should just make the decision to switch it off.

guitars4you

It has not been what it was for many many years now - Rents and rates is only part of the story - Space has a bit to do with it as larger units are required to be in line with the likes of Peach, Andertons etc to carry a more representative product selection - Parking will also come into play

Same thing has happened in New York 

icu81b4

NelsonP

I remember going up to Denmark St to buy my first 'proper' guitar, in the late 1980s.

The shops seemed incredible - Aladdin's caves stuffed with beautiful eye candy in the form of guitars of all shapes and sizes.

I recall a lot of the staff being too cool for school and pretty intimidating. They'd generally pull a guitar off the wall, demonstrate their chops with a flurry of notes (it was the late 80's) and then hand the guitar to me to play (very averagely) in front of the rest of the punters.

I spent the whole day there trying out guitars if all shapes and sizes. I ended up with an Ibanez RG750, bought from Rose Morris for the price of my entire year's savings.

About 20 years later I worked around the corner from Denmark St and sometimes would pop down to browse the shops. It was already starting to lose the buzz it once had.

Today things are very different. The last four guitars I have bought online and tried out in the comfort of my own home. I've kept all of them. 

I miss the perceived glamour and aesthetics of the Denmark St shops, but not much else. 

Edited to say that I doubt whether I'll recall any of my online purchases with such fondness.

beautifulnoise

I used to work there back in the 70's, people would drop in and out all day long, a few became life long friends, some offered advice and the occasional gig. I did my first sessions in the studios up and down the street which led to a career. Great street, miss the Gioconda and the dodgy pub at the end of the road, not so much the Saturday afternoons though! 

TforTele

Testing my memory, it seems so long ago... Andy's was once where Hank's is on the photos, with the "creaky stairs".  Is that right?

In my youth there were three music shops in Kilburn High Road: Unisound and two Blanks.  Long gone and seems remarkable now.

Moe_Zambeek

One of the most underwhelming experiences of my life was finally getting to Denmark street, sometime in the late 90s. Well past it’s prime by then anyway, but I was surprised by how small it was, how overpriced everything was, and how every one of the shops’ staff were completely uninterested in interacting with the customers...

As far as ‘vintage’ went, it was mostly stuffed with knackered old junk. 

SPECTRUM001

TforTele said:

Testing my memory, it seems so long ago... Andy's was once where Hank's is on the photos, with the "creaky stairs".  Is that right?

Yes, that’s right.

I had a set up from Graham Noden last year - who is now above Regent Sounds. I didn’t know (well, hadn’t remembered) that back in 1990 he was in the basement of Andy’s (and did a short notice set up my Precision Bass).

JMS96

And Hanks was where Westside is in the picture, no? Bought my first Martin there 20 years ago. Used to work around the corner and spend my lunch breaks window shopping and popping in. Magic. Great thread.

Kebabkid

I worked 5 mins up the road from there and loved visiting the street in the 80s and 90s but was mainly drawn to Soho Soundhouse for my purchases, which was around the corner and also when it moved to the Charing Cross Road.

If Harry Potter movies ever featured a guitar shop it would've been Andy's and that place would never pass a health and safety test now, but it had a charm and Graham Noden did some great work for me when he was there.

Post 2000, I loved the gear carried in Sound Control and got many a decent deal in there from 'the non-arsehole', ex-Denmark St staff who started working there. It was a good place to hang out and try stuff at lunchtime.

Vintage and Rare, now No Tom's, was always interesting and Brian and the staff at Wunjo are always great, as are those at Regent Sounds and Macari's

The 12 Bar was good and I did a few gigs at The Alley Cat which felt like you'd gone back in time to a 60s club.

It's not what it was though, which is a shame, but I have fond memories of it up to a point.

Loobs

dazzajl said:

Ahhhhhh man. Nearly every weekend was spent wandering and gazing there in my teens

Same

Fifty9

Had a great trip there as a teen. Totally
in awe of it all. However from the next time I went some 7-8yrs later onward it seems to get
progressively worse each time to the extent that now I have near zero interest in going there. 

MikeC

I don't live that far away from Denmark St and it's in between 'work' (pre Covid) and home on the tube. I miss Angel Music (1st floor above Macari's) - Andy was (IMHO) a good honest and very nice guy but I think has given up on trading guitars.

Bought somethings in NoToms just before Xmas (used to be Vintage and Rare), they treated me pretty well. And gave me some money back after purchase (and offered to take it back) once I checked out the amp I bought and their description wasn't quite accurate. But I suppose they should have got it right in the first place! 

Plus plenty of good luthiers there / nearby, eg Andy Gibson (now working in 66 sounds), Stairway to Kevin, Tim Marten (just by the tube) - I rate all 3 very highly.

When Chris Trigg ran Vintage and Rare he showed me the courtyard behind the shop where the sex pistols rehearsed and graffiti'd it - pretty cool. 'Nuff said about Chris and his behaviour.  

I do hope it survives as I've been going there / been overcharged for 43 years and counting. 

Rabs

Yup.. I used to go up there all the time in the late 80s early 90s.. Then it became a tourist trap and the local shops were just as good to use so I stopped going..

Ever seen this

axisus

I loved a day out browsing instruments way back in the 90s. Very happy days, I can't think of a better way to take a half day from work. I would also go around the 3 record megastores. Sadly those days are long gone, the mojo has left London completely for all that stuff.

Wazmeister

Nice shots Struan - thanks for sharing mate 

StruanRobertson

Thanks @Wazmeister.

Philly_Q

axisus said:

I loved a day out browsing instruments way back in the 90s. Very happy days, I can't think of a better way to take a half day from work. I would also go around the 3 record megastores. Sadly those days are long gone, the mojo has left London completely for all that stuff.

I also miss Shades Records in St Anne's Court.

Also in St Anne's Court, a decade or so earlier, there was a science fiction/fantasy bookshop called Dark They Were and Golden Eyed - a precursor of Forbidden Planet.  I used to get my dad to go there when he was in London, to get US import Robert E. Howard books for me.

SPECTRUM001

Philly_Q said:

axisus said:

I loved a day out browsing instruments way back in the 90s. Very happy days, I can't think of a better way to take a half day from work. I would also go around the 3 record megastores. Sadly those days are long gone, the mojo has left London completely for all that stuff.

I also miss Shades Records in St Anne's Court.

Also in St Anne's Court, a decade or so earlier, there was a science fiction/fantasy bookshop called Dark They Were and Golden Eyed - a precursor of Forbidden Planet.  I used to get my dad to go there when he was in London, to get US import Robert E. Howard books for me.

Confirmed by John Lydon on the other thread - all been replaced by phone shops.

There used to be so many great record shops in the West End. Hardly any now...