Camden Town
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Camden Town is an area of North London, England, in the London Borough of Camden. Camden Town is sometimes referred to simply as "Camden", but it should not be confused with the borough. Camden Town is an inner-city district located 2.3 miles (3.7 km) north of Charing Cross, and is famous for its crowded market and as a centre for alternative lifestyles. The area is popular with students, including those from overseas. It is also an area with a large congregation of people following alternative subcultures, most notably goth, punk and emo.
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[edit] Attractions
The Regent's Canal runs through the north end of Camden Town; its 8.5 mile towpath, which passes through London Zoo, is a pleasant and popular walk in summer [1]. Boat trips along the canal, from Camden Lock, are also interesting. Many of the handrails by the bridges show deep marks worn by the towropes by which horses pulled canal barges until the 1950s, and there are still underwater ramps to assist horses which have bolted due to the overrunning railway bridges and fallen in. One of the many canal bridges, Macclesfield bridge, is known as "Blow-up bridge": it was the site of London's largest pre-war explosion, where a barge laden with gunpowder blew up in 1874.
Camden Lock is a traditional manually-operated double canal lock operating between widely separated levels. A large complex of weekend street markets has mushroomed there since the 1970s.
Not far away is Regent's Park, a large and pleasant park which was formerly Henry VIII's hunting chase. There are spectacular rose gardens in bloom in the spring, a boating lake, always-hungry ducks and geese, and several children's playgrounds. Conkers are plentiful in autumn. London Zoo is at the north of the park.
The Roundhouse is a railway building constructed in 1847 for the London and Birmingham Railway. It had various uses and eventually became derelict and was converted to a music venue in the 1960s. Since it's re-opening in 2006 it has once again become one of London's leading cultural venues, as a theatre and music venue.
There are a great many shops, bars, restaurants and cafes. The area south of the tube station is typical of a London High Street; towards the north we find the markets and attractions typical of the area. There are a number of English language schools in the area.
[edit] Camden street markets
Camden is well-known for its markets: these are of relatively recent date, except for Inverness Street Market, a small food market good for fruit and vegetables serving the local community, though now with more touristy stalls on weekends. Camden Lock Market proper started in a former timber yard in 1973, and is now surrounded by satellites: Buck Street Market, Stables Market, Camden Canal Market, and an indoor market in the Electric Ballroom.
The markets are a major tourist attraction at weekends, selling inexpensive goods of all types including fashion, lifestyle, books, food, junk/antiques and bizarre goods; they and the surrounding shops are popular with young people, in particular those searching for "alternative" clothing. Stables Market also has a growing antiques and furniture trade. Several of the markets are infamous for selling recreational drugs such as cannabis in the form of lollipops and poppers.
In recent years entertainment-related businesses such as a Virgin Megastore (on a site previously occupied by a number of long term leather goods and clothing/shoes shops and a Holiday Inn (in place of the Camden Recycling Centre) have moved into the area. A number of retail and food chain outlets have replaced independent shops, driven out by high rents and redevelopment. Restaurants have thrived, and represent an extensive range of world cuisine. Many restaurants are a little away from the markets, on Camden High Street and its side streets, Parkway, Chalk Farm Road, Bayham Street.
Camden Lock market has its own web site [2] with maps, detailed transport information, and details of some shops and stalls.
The conflicting pressures of developing London have given rise to a controversial plan to re-develop the heart of the historic Stables Market. A steel and glass extension was built on the edges of this site in summer 2006. This increases the market's capacity but increases the pressure on Camden Town's streets and transport, already pushed to their limits over the weekend as thousands of tourists come to the area. Camden Council passed the plans for the additional development in October 2006 against much opposition from residents strongly opposed to the modern redevelopment of their town into a homogenised high street area typical of much of London. Certainly there are plans to modernise the catacombs and arches that give the Stables market its unique flavour out of all recognition. The petition to stop the redevelopment attracted nearly 5,000 signatures. http://www.petitiononline.com/StablesM/petition.html
[edit] Bars, clubs, pubs, and restaurants
- The Black Cap pub on Camden High Street is aimed at a clientele of gay men and women. Often confused with the fictitious "Mother Black Cap" featured in cult British film "Withnail and I", the name "Mother Black Cap" is a conflation of "The Black Cap" and the former "The Mother Red Cap", situated nearby and now known as the "Worlds End" (see below). (The actual pub used for the exterior of the "Mother Black Cap" in the film is in Notting Hill, London W11, and has recently changed its name to "The Mother Black Cap" to reflect its fame.)
- The World's End has been a pub since 1778. Formerly known as "The Mother Red Cap" and later "The Red Cap", it is on Camden Road near Camden Town tube station.
- The Underworld is a live music venue with a capacity of 500, located under The World's End.
- Koko, formerly named the The Camden Palace, is a major dance and rock venue on Camden High Street near Mornington Crescent tube station. It hosted the famous Goon Show, and in 2006 hosted Channel 4's Album Chart Show.
- The Edinboro Castle, a gastropub with a beer garden for summer; opposite Dylan Thomas' former residence.
- The Hawley Arms, located by Camden Lock bridge
- The Dublin Castle is an Irish pub and music venue, and has hosted Blur, Travis and Madness, amongst other bands.
- The Lock Tavern, a pub opposite the Camden Lock market with two bars, terrace and a beer garden.
- The Oh! Bar on the corner of Camden High Street and Delancey Street has (in 2006) free wireless networking for customers with suitable portable computers.
- The Camden Tup, hidden on Greenland Place, plays all major Rugby internationals and football matches.
- The Purple Turtle, small music venue near Mornington Crescent
- Electric Ballroom, hosts weekly club nights and acts as a live music venue including recent performances from AFI and Sick of it All
- Quinns is an Irish pub on the Kentish Town Road, it serves a vast range of beers of all kinds of styles
- The Devonshire Arms, a goth themed pub, popularly known as "The Dev"
- The Ice Wharf, a Lloyds No1 Bar.
- Lock 17
- The Camden Barfly, live music venue showcasing up and coming artists.
- The Good Mixer, famous 'muso' pub located on Inverness Street. One time hang out of Britpop band members, especially Graham Coxon of Blur and Noel and Liam Gallagher of Oasis.
- The New Goodfare is a simple restaurant/cafe which has been on the corner of Parkway and Arlington Road for many years.
- A large and constantly changing range of conventional and fast-food restaurants and cafes, both chain (KFC, McDonalds, Burger King, Wagamama, Subway) and independent.
- There are many stalls in the markets selling ready-to-eat food of many types and nationalities, notably in the area of Stables Market. Many stalls sell remaining food at half-price at the end of every day, from before 18:00 until about 19:00.
[edit] Places of interest
- Camden Lock
- Camden Lock Market and other street markets
- Jewish Museum
- London Zoo
- Regent's Canal and its towpath
- Regent's Park
- The Roundhouse
- St Pancras Old Church
- St Michael's Church, Camden Town
[edit] Transport
Many bus routes serve the Camden Town area. Camden Town Underground station is close to the markets and other attractions; other stations are listed below. Black taxis ply for hire in the area, and there are minicab offices. Illegal unlicensed "taxis" tout for business on the street, particularly late at night when other forms of transport are much less available[3]; they often demand excessive fares and are not insured for hire services. In 2005 there were an average of ten sexual attacks and rapes on women by illegal minicab drivers throughout London each month[4].
Camden Town Underground station was not designed for the volume of traffic it handles since the area became popular. It is very crowded all weekend, and, as of 2006, is closed to outbound passengers on Sunday afternoons, the peak time, for safety.
London Underground has made many proposals to upgrade the station. In 2004 a proposal requiring the compulsory purchase and demolition of 'the Triangle' — land bordered by Kentish Town Road, Buck Street and Chalk Farm Road — was rejected by Camden Council after opposition from local people; of 229 letters, only 2 supported the scheme.
[edit] Nearby places
[edit] Nearest tube stations
[edit] Nearest railway stations
[edit] External links
[edit] In literature
In Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Bob Cratchit and his family live in Camden Town.
In John Le Carré's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, a mole at the heart of MI6 is exposed in the climax of the plot at a meeting in a safe house at Five, Lock Gardens, Camden Town (a fictitious street).
Cayce Pollard, the protagonist of William Gibson's Pattern Recognition, is based in Camden when in London.
[edit] In music
- The 1996 Lush single "Ladykiller" contains the lyric "I'm hanging out in Camden / Drinking with my girlfriends on a Saturday night".
- "Come Back To Camden" from Morrissey's 2004 album You Are the Quarry.
- "Camden Town", from Uffington Horse's debut album Enchantment.
- "Camden Town", from the album The Lone Ranger by Suggs, Madness's vocalist. There is a signed poster of the song in Madness' spiritual home, The Dublin Castle pub.
- Madness make many references to Camden Town in their music. Arlington House (a hostel for the homeless) in Arlington Road, near Parkway, inspired vocalist Suggs to write "One Better Day" about the sadness of living in London. The joke and fancy dress shop Escapade on Camden High Street features in the video to "House of Fun".
- The record company 2 Tone Records was located on Camden High Street.
- The Pulp song "Sorted for E's and Wizz".
- Puertorican singer and songwriter Robi Dräco Rosa refers to Camden Town in his song "La Flor Del Frio" from album Vagabundo.
- Camden is mentioned in the song "Ain't No Lie", by famous Camden resident guitar player Graham Coxon. Coxon also refers to Britannia Junction, near Camden Town tube station, in his song 'What's he got'.
- Punk band The Clash recorded their seminal album London Calling at an address in Camden Town. Also, their song The Prisoner makes reference to Camden Town.
- Ben Mitchell (singer/songwriter) lived and performed in Camden while writing and recording The Stars Can See. It was in Camden where Mitchell also started and hosted Acoustic Trip (at The Lock Tavern then Caenarvon Castle.)
- Coldplay made their debut appearances in Camden at the Dublin Castle pub whilst Chris Martin was studying at University College London, which is in the Borough of Camden.
- Bon Scott, former lead vocalist of the Australian hard rock band AC/DC, died of alcohol poisoning at the age of 33 after a night's heavy drinking in Camden Town.
- Hip-Hop and Rap artist Akala, was born and grew up in Camden Town, and did most of his early work there. He won a MOBO award for Best Hip-Hop artist in September 2006, beating, amongst others, Sway, another London born Rapper, and Plan B.
- DJ The Camden Slags formed in Camden during it's Britpop era in 1994-7.
Morrissey has a song on his 2004 album 'You Are The Quarry' entitled 'Come Back To Camden'
- Belle & Sebastian refer to many of the sights of Camden Town in their song Mornington Crescent.
- Plan B's "Suzanne" , from his mixtape Paint It Blacker tells the story of the Camden Ripper.
- "Camden Town" is the name of the track produced by the famous italian Disk Jockey Emanuele Inglese in 2006
- "Camden Town" is mentioned in the song "Out Of The Dark" by the unsigned band Chimera Rouge.
[edit] In Film
- The cult film Withnail and I starts and ends in Camden Town.
- This Year's Love is filmed almost entirely in and around Camden, showing many local landmarks, shops, restaurants and bars.
- The famous Christmas film, A Christmas Carol ends with Scrooge Sending a young boy to buy a turkey from Camden.
[edit] In Television
- The ship from the BBC sci-fi sitcom Hyperdrive is called the HMS Camden Lock. The town has been featured in the Channel Four sitcom Spaced.
- Television actress Tamsin Greig grew up in Camden as a child.
- Camden town was featured on an episode of the Sky one show, Brainiac: Science Abuse, as well as the Channel 4 show, Big Brother's Big Mouth.
[edit] Gallery
 Camden Lock in early spring |
 Britannia Junction in Camden Town |
 The Regent's Canal in Camden Town |
 Punks close to the Electric Ballroom |
 Camden Market |
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] External links
- Camden Town Online: events and activities
- Alternative Camden "energising civil society v pseudo-democracy"
- Camden Markets web site
- Camden Guide "guide to everything that happens in Camden"
- Pub and bar reviews
- The Camden New Journal Newspaper
- Camden Primary Care Trust: health services
- Camden Council web site
- Map showing Camden Town markets
- Map of Camden Town and surrounding areas
- Camden Town Methodist Church
