Carnaby Street, London

...sixties, or so I'm told, Carnaby Street was the centre of all that was hip in Swinging London and was quite possibly The Coolest Place On This Planet®. Back then, you were nobody unless you rode a scooter (except, of course, if you were a rocker, in which case you wouldn't be seen within ten miles of a Vespa), wore clothes which you knew your mother wouldn't approve of, and worshipped the new found ideas of youthful creativity and being generally ...
...I doing a review of Carnaby Street? Surely a place like this is now as dead as a Lambretta after a nasty encounter with a postal van(see Quadrophenia). Well apparently not, as a recent visit to London has shown.......and a quick warning, this is an excessively long opinion, so I apologise in advance...feel free to skip past anything that looks boring, won't you.....

WHERE??

Well, Carnaby Street is situated "up West" ... more

Back in the sixties, or so I'm told, Carnaby Street was the centre of all that was hip in Swinging London and was quite possibly The Coolest Place On This Planet®. Back then, you were nobody unless you rode a scooter (except, of course, if you were a rocker, in which case you wouldn't be seen within ten miles of a Vespa), wore clothes which you knew your mother wouldn't approve of, and worshipped the new found ideas of youthful creativity and being generally "groovy". Of course, that's all in the past, and nowadays the only scooter you're likely to see is one of those little metal things being ridden by a rather ashamed yuppy, so why am I doing a review of Carnaby Street? Surely a place like this is now as dead as a Lambretta after a nasty encounter with a postal van(see Quadrophenia). Well apparently not, as a recent visit to London has shown.......and a quick warning, this is an excessively long opinion, so I apologise in advance...feel free to skip past anything that looks boring, won't you.....

WHERE??

Well, Carnaby Street is situated "up West" in the Soho (W1) area of London. Now you'll probably associate Soho with the more unsavoury and rather seedy side of London (I did) but it actually incorporates the majority of the city's commercial district. Carnaby itself runs parallel to Regent Street, home of just about every shop you can imagine, and probably the place most people go if shopping in London. Well, Carnaby Street may be much, much smaller than Regent Street, but it is a completely different place which is probably overlooked by most shoppers. To get there you can either use the tube and get off at Oxford Circus or Piccadilly Circus. From there just walk down Regent Street until you see the psychedelic signs to Carnaby. Follow them and you will soon be in the street. Alternatively you can get a bus, and hop off near Regent Street...Carnaby is not difficult to find.

THE HISTORY (skip if easily bored)

Okay, so I gave a little bit of info in the introduction, but here's a bit more about the history of Carnaby for the uninitiated among you (that's everyone then, including me). So, Carnaby Street....it all began a long time before the sixties, way back in the sixteenth century (don't worry, I don't know all this information, I have the help of my (father's) trusty London guide). Back then, in the words of many an old person, "it was all fields". Yep, Carnaby Street was built on old hunting grounds....and the hunters used their own localised cry of "Soho", eventually to become the name of the whole Carnaby-surrounding area.

So, moving along a century or so, when the Soho area is rapidly becoming a new world of commerce and housing, the rather spangly "Karnaby House" is built, giving rise to a whole new street of the same name. Karnaby (with a K) Street is a simple residential area for now, but the lovely Karnaby Market comes soon after. It closes again in the nineteenth century, so the Carnaby (now with a C) residents begin to set up shops in place of the houses. It carries on as a general working class shopping street ‘til the fifties, when the rag trade relocates there after the heavy bombing of East London.......

....and then, of course, we move into the sixties. Several clothing stores had set themselves up by the end of the fifties, and these were to become a sign of things to come. Designers start to gather around this area, first selling mens clothes, then starting on women's, until a fashion explosion in 1964. The street becomes centre of mod culture and you can't move for Lambrettas. Within a few years the whole place is awash with flower power, hipsters, kaftans and, of course, jeans, the must have fashion item....the cool vibe continues into the seventies, although by the start of the eighties the whole place is smelling distinctly naff, as its power has gone to its head and the street is overrun with "I Love London" t-shirts and miniature red phone boxes, until designers in the nineties decide the Carnaby area is not so bad after all......

....bringing us rather neatly into the now. I hope you enjoyed that informative history lesson and learned as much as I did (wake up at the back!)....we can now move into the interesting part....what's it like now and what can you find there?

CARNABY TODAY

The first thing you'll notice as you enter the street are the rather attractive curved signs at each end of the street. They say something like "Carnaby Street Welcomes the World" I think, and as soon as you see them you get the impression that Carnaby is a rather more relaxed and friendly street than many of the larger ones, still keeping hold of its hippy heritage. The street is pedestrianised, which means there's no danger of falling victim to an over zealous black cab, although it also means you can no longer hop onto your Vespa and pop off to the shops. I think skates and skateboards are allowed though, so there's one way to get up and down faster, although the street is not huge so you can simply walk from one end to the other in a minute or so.

Carnaby is not half as busy as Regent Street, although you will find a healthy number of people there at most times, and a big variety. The majority are teenagers and young adults, but I also noticed a large number of older people, so there must be something for them here too, and it also seems to be an attraction for many tourists, probably because of its undeniably famous status. Access for the disabled is quite easy, as the streets are smooth and impeccably tidy, and there are no steps, although you might not like to have to manoeuvre through so many people if you come along Regent Street.

THE SHOPS

Well, this is the important bit, isn't it, especially for you ladies, although men are well catered for here too and there are far more men's fashion shops than you'd find in an ordinary high street. I'd recommend that you walk from one end of the street to the other, as I did, before you go into any shops. This way you'll know exactly what's there so you can go into the best and most interesting shops and not spend all your time in a place you could find in the local High Street. So what is here? Well the majority of shops are either clothes or shoe shops, but the variety is immense, and there are also shops selling gifts, cosmetics, food and just about everything else you'll ever need.

Clothes Shops (Bring the Credit Card!)

The first shop you'll come to, if you approach from Piccadilly, will be The Face, which is on the corner. It is a trendy, mod-revivalist shop, which sells all manner of modish clothes from pin stripe suits to panel caps. It also sells a range of t-shirts emblazoned with the names of top mod/punk/ska bands like The Who, The Jam and Madness, alongside a whole host of little mod badges and lapel pins. Its customers include Paul Weller himself, and Oasis, so it must be good.

Further along you'll find the Mambo shop, a haven for surf dudes (and dudettes) with its fun, occasionally risqué and very laid back clothes. Venture on to find the Diesel shop, where you can fork out a fair amount of cash for a slice of urban chic (check out the wicked jeans), and further on is the rather fine Lambretta shop. Yes, Lambretta may no longer make scooters but they have a outrageously chic line of men and women's mod style "togs". I bought a tie dye shirt and a t-shirt here and am very pleased with them, and if you can't make it to Carnaby you can also buy a small selection from the Argos Additions catalogue. The shop front sports the slogans "Mod for it!" and something like "À la mod" which I found rather amusing, and inside you'll find a genuine Lambretta scooter and a cool union jack sofa....well worth a look.

For shoes, you can try the Size? Store, which houses just about every pair of trainers you could ever want, alongside cool Japanese thingies, music listening posts and vinyl decks (no DJ when I went though). Or perhaps you could try Koko, a more retro footwear shop, where you can buy a pair of brand spanking new Doc Martens right off the back of a scooter, or maybe indulge yourself in a pair of 8 inch platforms sporting a rather natty union jack (just don't try walking in them...ambulances can take forever in a busy place like London). There are dozens of other clothes and shoe stores, so you'll have to check them out for yourself....

Other Shops

Yep, there are plenty of "other" shops in Carnaby Street, although you get the feeling that some of them just don't belong here. Boots, for example, seems more suited to a more mainstream street and doesn't feel quite right in such a trendy place (no offence to anyone who works in Boots). Try Lush instead, a more unusual cosmetic store who make all their own stuff on site which comes in big Kendal mint cake style slabs, though probably isn't too tasty to eat. Another shop that seems out of place is called Twyning's (I think) tea shop, which I'm sure would be far more at home in a quaint little village...or is tea the new coffee?

Anyway, there are also a wide range of shops selling assorted memorabilia, tacky souvenirs, jewellery and just about everything under the sun. If you're looking for a hat, look no further, as there are shops here filled with row upon row of every hat you could ever want, from Gallagher-esque fishing hats to Limp Bizkitty baseball caps. Please don't buy them, have some dignity.......stick to a nice replica "City of Westminster-Carnaby Street W1" street sign instead (nicking them just isn't a viable option nowadays I'm afraid), although I'd steer clear of the "City of Liverpool- George Harrison Drive" signs if I were you....leave those for the tourists. Take a look around to find what else there is, and don't forget there's a whole myriad of little alleys leading off Carnaby each with its own selection of boutiques and cafés...check them out too if you've got the time. (you can go to www.carnaby.com if you're interested in finding out more about the surrounding area and the shops it contains)

AND FINALLY....

Well, I'm coming to the end of this excessively long opinion (I apologise again), and I hope it has been interesting, helpful or at least mildly entertaining, even if you didn't read all of it. Next time you take a trip to London, hows about taking a trip to Carnaby Street, even just walk down it, so you can say you've been down one of the most famous streets in the world. It does have a special vibe about it, and its the best place to go if you want to know about what's happening on the cutting edge of fashion, or are eager to get a little slice of British social history. You can even join the mod revival...just don't go taking any spur of the moment trips to Brighton, will you?

Coolest Place in The World? Perhaps not.
Swinging? Definitely!
 

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