Carnaby Street

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Carnaby Street

Carnaby Street is a pedestrianised shopping street in London, United Kingdom, located in the area of 'Carnaby' in the district of Soho, near Oxford Street, and just to the east of Regent Street. The area around Carnaby Street is known simply as 'Carnaby'. It consists of twelve pedestrianised streets with 168 fashion and lifesyle retailers, including a large number of independent fashion boutiques. The nearest London Underground station is Oxford Circus tube station (Bakerloo, Central and Victoria Lines).

[edit] History

The street derives its name from Karnaby House, located to its east, which was erected in 1683. It is not known why the house was so called. The street was probably laid out in 1685 or 1686 and first appears in the ratebooks in 1687. It was almost completely built up by 1690 with small houses.

In the 1960s, Carnaby Street was made popular by followers of the Mod style. Many independent fashion boutiques, and designers such as Mary Quant and 'Lord John' were located in and around Carnaby Street as well as various underground music bars such as the 'Roaring Twenties'. With bands such as The Beatles, Small Faces, and Rolling Stones appearing in the area to work, shop, and socialize, it became one of London's coolest destination associated with the Swinging Sixties.

There are two Westminster City Council green plaques on Carnaby Street: the first can be found at 1 Carnaby Street and is dedicated to fashion entrepreneur John Stephen, who was responsible for beginning the Mod fashion revolution here. The second plaque, located at 52/55 Carnaby Street, is dedicated to the Mod pop group 'Small Faces' and their manager 'Don Arden'.

[edit] Popular culture

In 1969, Peggy March recorded an album called In der Carnaby Street, with a hit song of the same name.

There is a song by The Jam called "Carnaby Street", written by bassist Bruce Foxton. It was the B-side of single "All Around The World", released in the UK on 8 July 1977, reaching a chart position of number 13. It never appeared on any studio album, but can be found on the collected works of The Jam boxset Direction Reaction Creation.