Denmark Street is a street on the edge of London's
West End running from
Charing Cross Road
Charing Cross Road is a street in central London running immediately north of St Martin-in-the-Fields to St Giles Circus (the intersection with Oxford Street), which then merges into Tottenham Court Road. It leads from the north in the direc ...
to
St Giles High Street. It is near
St Giles in the Fields Church and
Tottenham Court Road station
Tottenham Court Road is an interchange station in the St Giles, London, St Giles area of the West End of London for London Underground and Elizabeth line services.
The London Underground station is served by the Central line (London Undergrou ...
. The street was developed in the late 17th century and named after
Prince George of Denmark
Prince George of Denmark and Norway, Duke of Cumberland (; 2 April 165328 October 1708), was the husband of Anne, Queen of Great Britain. He was the consort of the British monarch from Anne's accession on 8 March 1702 until his death in 1708.
...
. Since the 1950s it has been associated with British
popular music
Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...
, first via publishers and later by recording studios and music shops. A blue plaque was unveiled in 2014 commemorating the street's importance to the music industry.
The street was originally residential, but became used for commercial purposes in the 19th century. At first, metalwork was a popular trade but it became most famous as "the British
Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley was a collection of History of music publishing, music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the American popular music, popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Originally ...
" housing numerous music publishers' offices. This market declined in the 1960s to be replaced by music shops and independent recording studios.
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...
recorded at Regent Sound Studio at No. 4 and popular musicians, including
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...
and the
Small Faces
Small Faces were an English Rock music, rock band from London, founded in 1965. The group originally consisted of Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones and Jimmy Winston, with Ian McLagan replacing Winston as the band's keyboardist in 1966 ...
, often socialised in the
Gioconda café at No. 9.
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...
and
Bernie Taupin
Bernard John Taupin (born 22 May 1950) is an English lyricist and visual artist. He is best known for his songwriting partnership with Elton John, recognised as one of the most successful partnerships of its kind in history. Taupin co-wrote th ...
wrote songs at offices on the street in the 1960s, while the
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they became culturally influential in popular music. The band initiated the punk movement in the United Ki ...
lived above No. 6, and recorded their first demos there. The comic book store
Forbidden Planet
''Forbidden Planet'' is a 1956 American science fiction action film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, produced by Nicholas Nayfack and directed by Fred M. Wilcox (director), Fred M. Wilcox from a script by Cyril Hume that was based on a film story by ...
and the
Helter Skelter music bookshop have also been based on the street. In the 2010s, the surrounding area was redeveloped. Parts of Denmark Street are
listed to protect them, but other parts, away from the street itself, were demolished and redeveloped.
Location
Denmark Street is located at the southern end of the
London Borough of Camden
The London Borough of Camden () is a London boroughs, borough in Inner London, England. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the former Metropolitan boroughs of the Cou ...
, close to its boundary with the
London Borough of Westminster
The City of Westminster is a London borough with city status in Greater London, England. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It contains a large part of central London, including most ...
. It is east of
Soho Square
Soho Square is a garden square in Soho, London, hosting since 1954 a ''de facto'' public park leasehold estate, let by the Soho Square Garden Committee to Westminster City Council. It was originally called King Square after Charles II of Engla ...
, south of
St Giles Circus and close to the
St Giles in the Fields Church.
The street is long and connects
Charing Cross Road
Charing Cross Road is a street in central London running immediately north of St Martin-in-the-Fields to St Giles Circus (the intersection with Oxford Street), which then merges into Tottenham Court Road. It leads from the north in the direc ...
with St Giles High Street. Vehicular traffic is now only allowed to travel westbound. The nearest
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England.
The Undergro ...
station is
Tottenham Court Road
Tottenham Court Road (occasionally abbreviated as TCR) is a major road in Central London, almost entirely within the London Borough of Camden.
The road runs from Euston Road in the north to St Giles Circus in the south; Tottenham Court Road tu ...
, between two and three minutes' walk away.
History
Early history
The land on which Denmark Street stands was formerly part of the grounds of St Giles Hospital, founded as a house for
leper
Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria '' Mycobacterium leprae'' or '' Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve da ...
s in the early 12th century by
Henry I's wife
Matilda (Maud). In 1612, it was recorded as being owned by Tristram Gibbs. The grounds were laid out for development during the reign of
James II and developed by Samuel Fortrey and Jacques Wiseman in the late 1680s. Historical evidence suggests the street was formed between 1682 and 1687, as it was not shown on Morden and Lea's Map of 1682. It was named after
Prince George of Denmark
Prince George of Denmark and Norway, Duke of Cumberland (; 2 April 165328 October 1708), was the husband of Anne, Queen of Great Britain. He was the consort of the British monarch from Anne's accession on 8 March 1702 until his death in 1708.
...
, who had married
Princess Anne
Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950) is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of King ...
in 1683.
By 1691, 20 houses had been completed, of which eight remain standing.
Dr John Purcell, a London physician who published ''A Treatise on Vapours or Hysteric Fits'', lived at No. 10 in 1730, while the Reverend Doctor
John James Majendie – who became
Canon of Windsor – lived there from 1758 to 1771.
The painter
Johann Zoffany
Johan / Johann Joseph Zoffany (born Johannes Josephus Zaufallij; 13 March 1733 – 11 November 1810) was a German neoclassical painter who was active mainly in England, Italy, and India. His works appear in many prominent British collections ...
lived at No. 9. In the late 18th century, the
Jacobite Sir John Murray lived there until the day he was "carried off by a party of strange men".
The area around the street was known as the
rookery
A rookery is a colony of breeding rooks, and more broadly a colony of several types of breeding animals, generally gregarious birds.
Coming from the nesting habits of rooks, the term is used for corvids and the breeding grounds of colony-fo ...
of St Giles, which developed in the 18th century as an unplanned slum to the west of the City, and was described as a "Pandora's box of pollution, plague and pestilence". Though much of the area was cleared by the end of the 19th century, Denmark Street is the only street in London to retain 17th-century terraced facades on both sides.
In 2010, a study by
Camden London Borough Council
Camden London Borough Council, also known as Camden Council, legally The Mayor and Burgesses of the London Borough of Camden, is the local authority for the London Borough of Camden in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one o ...
suggested that only six other streets in London have a comparable heritage to Denmark Street. A small court connected by passages (originally known as Dudley Court, then Denmark Court and now known as Denmark Place) runs along the back of the north side of the street, connecting to it via an opening at No. 27.
The street started being used for commercial purposes at the beginning of the 19th century and houses were converted for this use. Ground floors became used as shops, while upper floors and back rooms were used as workshops, particularly for metalwork, with a rare pre-Victorian smithy, later a blacksmith's forge, surviving (in a building originally constructed as a stable) in Denmark Place, behind no. 26 Denmark Street.
Augustus Siebe
Christian Augustus Siebe (known by his middle name; 1788 – 15 April 1872) was a British engineer chiefly known for his contributions to diving equipment.
Contribution to diving
In the 1830s the John Deane (inventor), Deane brothers as ...
, the pioneer of the diving helmet, lived and worked on the street, and today there is an English Heritage
blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...
commemorating him on the house where he lived. Preempting its later fame, an early musical instrument maker, William John Hanbury, is listed at No. 20 in 1836.
In the 1930s, several Japanese businesses were established in the street, which became known as "Little Tokyo". Azakami and Co. at No. 6 sold books, newspapers, televisions and radios. The Tokiwa restaurant and hotel were based at No. 8 and No. 22, respectively, having moved from Charing Cross Road in 1927. Other businesses included a hairdresser, jewellers, tailor and gift shop.
Music industry
1920s–1950s
Lawrence Wright
Lawrence Wright (born August 2, 1947) is an American writer and journalist, who is a staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' magazine, and fellow at the Center for Law and Security at the New York University School of Law. Wright is best known as ...
was the first music publisher to set up premises on Denmark Street in 1911. He was initially based at No. 8 and moved to No. 11 after World War I. He subsequently founded the musicians' journal ''
Melody Maker
''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...
'' in 1926. The same year, another music publisher, Campbell Connelly, moved from their original offices in
Tottenham Court Road
Tottenham Court Road (occasionally abbreviated as TCR) is a major road in Central London, almost entirely within the London Borough of Camden.
The road runs from Euston Road in the north to St Giles Circus in the south; Tottenham Court Road tu ...
to Denmark Street. The ''
New Musical Express
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a " rock inkie", the ''NME'' would become a maga ...
'' was founded at No. 5 in 1952 and remained there until 1964. By the end of the 1950s, the street had established itself as Britain's "
Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley was a collection of History of music publishing, music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the American popular music, popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Originally ...
" and housed numerous music publishers and other venues connected with the business.
Larry Parnes became a successful manager and entrepreneur of pop singers during the mid-1950s, and regularly took material from songwriters and publishers based in Denmark Street.
Lionel Bart
Lionel Bart (1 August 1930 – 3 April 1999) was an English writer and composer of pop music and musicals. He wrote Tommy Steele's "Rock with the Caveman" and was the sole creator of the musical ''Oliver!'' (1960). With ''Oliver!'' and his work ...
, writer of the musical ''
Oliver!
''Oliver!'' is a stage musical, with book, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the 1838 novel ''Oliver Twist'' by Charles Dickens.
It premiered at the Wimbledon Theatre, southwest London in 1960 before opening in the W ...
'', started his writing career for publishers and was subsequently known as "the king of Denmark Street".
1960s
The music publishing trade on Denmark Street began to decline during the 1960s, as the traditional producers lost touch with changing tastes and groups like
the Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...
showed it was possible to write their own material. For example,
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter known for his solo work and his collaborations with Art Garfunkel. He and Garfunkel, whom he met in elementary school in 1953, came to prominence in the 1960s as Sim ...
was based in London at this time but
Mills Music
Irving Harold Mills (born Isadore Minsky; January 18, 1894 Odessa, Ukraine – April 21, 1985) was a music publisher, musician, lyricist, and jazz promoter. He often used the pseudonyms Goody Goodwin and Joe Primrose.
Personal life
Mills w ...
, at No. 20, told him that his songs "
Homeward Bound" and "
The Sound of Silence
"The Sound of Silence" (originally "The Sounds of Silence") is a song by the American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, written by Paul Simon. The duo's studio audition of the song led to a record deal with Columbia Records, and the original ac ...
" were uncommercial.
Recording studios began to be operated in the street.
Regent Sound Studio at No. 4 was founded in July 1961 to serve as a unit for publishers to record their songs. The studio was based above the offices of Essex Music and was frequently used by then Stones manager
Andrew Loog Oldham. The band recorded their first album at Regent in 1964
and the single "
Not Fade Away" became their first major hit to be recorded there. Oldham liked the atmosphere in the studio as he could "stretch out a bit, experiment and learn from our mistakes". The studios eventually expanded and moved into new premises on Tottenham Court Road, while the Denmark Street premises became the sales office. They were subsequently bought by Eddie Kassner at the end of the 1960s. Publishers
Box and Cox had their offices at No. 7. Their greatest hit was "
I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts
"I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" is a novelty song composed in 1944 (as "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Cocoanuts") by Fred Heatherton, a songwriting pseudonym for a collaboration of English songwriters Harold Elton Box and Desmond Cox, with Le ...
". Southern Music, at No. 8, also had a studio in the ground floor, which was used to record
Donovan
Donovan Phillips Leitch (born 10 May 1946), known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter and record producer. He emerged from the British folk scene in early 1965 and subsequently scored multiple international hit singles ...
's hit, "
Catch The Wind
"Catch the Wind" is a song written and recorded by Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan.
Pye Records released "Catch the Wind" backed with "Why Do You Treat Me Like You Do?" as Donovan's debut release (Pye 7N.15801) in the United Kingdom on 28 ...
".

The
Carter & Lewis songwriting partnership evolved when John Carter and Ken Lewis arrived in London in 1959 and decided "if you want to be in the music business, that
enmark Streetwas the place to be, that was the rule". Session musicians such as
Jimmy Page
James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician and producer who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the Rock music, rock band Led Zeppelin.
Page began his career as a studio session musician in Lo ...
and
John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 – July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-born naval officer who served in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War. Often referred to as the "Father of the American Navy", Jones is regard ...
regularly played in Denmark Street studios. In 1964,
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in London in 1963 by brothers Ray Davies, Ray and Dave Davies, and Pete Quaife. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British ...
recorded "
You Really Got Me
"You Really Got Me" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks, written by frontman Ray Davies and released as their third single in 1964. The song, originally performed in a more blues-oriented style, was inspired by artists such as Lead B ...
" in one of the basement studios.
Musicians often socialised in the
Gioconda café at No. 9.
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...
recruited his first backing band, The Lower Third, in the bar, while the
Small Faces
Small Faces were an English Rock music, rock band from London, founded in 1965. The group originally consisted of Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones and Jimmy Winston, with Ian McLagan replacing Winston as the band's keyboardist in 1966 ...
formed after the original members socialised at the Gioconda. Other regular patrons included
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...
and
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...
. Macaris was the first modern music shop to open on the street in 1965 followed by Top Gear Music , opening in 1969 and soon Denmark St became a hub for major guitarists of the day. In April 2014, a number of music industry figures, including disc jockey
Mike Read
Michael David Kenneth Read (born 1 March 1947) is an English radio disc jockey, writer, journalist and television presenter.
Read has been a broadcaster since 1976, best known for having been a DJ with BBC Radio 1, and television host for mus ...
, unveiled a blue plaque above the premises that included a
QR Code to access a multimedia presentation about the history of music.
1970s
In 1970
Bernie Taupin
Bernard John Taupin (born 22 May 1950) is an English lyricist and visual artist. He is best known for his songwriting partnership with Elton John, recognised as one of the most successful partnerships of its kind in history. Taupin co-wrote th ...
and
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...
wrote "
Your Song", John's first hit single, at No. 20 Denmark Street.
John had started work at a music publisher in the street in 1963, and Taupin wrote the lyrics while sitting on the roof ("I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss") while waiting for John one morning. They mentioned the street in their 1974 song "Bitter Fingers", on the semi-autobiographical concept album ''
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy''. Also in 1970, a song named "Denmark Street" appeared on
the Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in London in 1963 by brothers Ray Davies, Ray and Dave Davies, and Pete Quaife. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British ...
' album ''
Lola versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One''.
Manager
Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren (22 January 1946 – 8 April 2010) was an English fashion designer and music manager. He was a promoter and a manager for punk rock and new wave bands such as New York Dolls, Sex Pistols, Adam and the Ants, and ...
asked architect
Ben Kelly to refurbish a basement rehearsal room he had bought from
Badfinger
Badfinger were a Welsh rock music, rock band formed in Swansea in 1961. Their best-known lineup consisted of Pete Ham (guitar), Mike Gibbins (drums), Tom Evans (musician), Tom Evans (bass), and Joey Molland (guitar). They are recognised for th ...
.
The Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they became culturally influential in popular music. The band initiated the punk movement in the United Ki ...
rehearsed in this room, lived above No. 6, and recorded their first demos there.
Johnny Rotten
John Joseph Lydon ( ; born 31 January 1956), also known by his former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a British-born singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. He was the lead vocalist of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols, which was ...
drew cartoons of the members as graffiti which was later revealed in an archaeological survey of the site.
Scott Gorham
William Scott Gorham (born March 17, 1951) is an American guitarist and songwriter who is one of the "twin lead guitarists" for the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy. Although not a founding member of Thin Lizzy, he served a continuous membership after ...
bought his first guitar with
Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy are an Irish rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. The band initially consisted of bass guitarist, lead vocalist and principal songwriter Phil Lynott, drummer Brian Downey, guitarist Eric Bell and organist Eric Wrixon although Wr ...
on Denmark Street. He had turned up at the audition with a Japanese Les Paul Copy—when he got the job,
Phil Lynott
Philip Parris Lynott (, ; 20 August 1949 – 4 January 1986) was an Irish musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the co-founder, lead vocalist, bassist, and primary songwriter for the hard rock band Thin Lizzy. He was known for his distinctive ...
took him shopping on Denmark Street. After being told several guitars were too expensive, he settled on a Sunburst
Gibson Les Paul Deluxe. Andy's Guitars was established in 1978 at No. 27
and survived for many years before closing in 2007 because of increased shop rates.
The comic and science-fiction bookshop
Forbidden Planet
''Forbidden Planet'' is a 1956 American science fiction action film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, produced by Nicholas Nayfack and directed by Fred M. Wilcox (director), Fred M. Wilcox from a script by Cyril Hume that was based on a film story by ...
was established at No. 23 in 1978 before moving to
New Oxford Street and becoming an international chain. When
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author, humorist, and screenwriter, best known as the creator of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the ...
attempted to attend a signing for the first ''
The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' book in October 1979, the queue to the shop was so long that Adams thought a
demonstration was taking place elsewhere.
1980s–present

By 1980, there were a number of
unlicensed nightclubs operating on Denmark Place, running adjacent to the street. The clubs were housed in buildings that had previously functioned as a hostel for musicians, which adjoined a music shop on the street, and the fire brigade had insisted that a fire escape be fitted. By the time the clubs were in operation, the shop had closed and the fire escape had fallen into disrepair. 18 Denmark Place was home to two such clubs; on the first floor was "Rodo's", a salsa club popular with South American immigrants and above that "The Spanish Rooms" on the second floor which was a late-night bar frequented by locals including Irish and Jamaican immigrants.
On 16 August 1980 John Thompson, a local petty criminal, was ejected from The Spanish Rooms following a fight which may have been caused by a dispute about being overcharged.
Thompson returned shortly thereafter and poured
petrol
Gasoline (North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When formul ...
into the ground floor of the building and ignited it. The
Denmark Place fire resulting from this act of
arson
Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...
killed 37 people from eight different nationalities and was described as the worst fire in London in terms of loss of life since World War II. Thompson was imprisoned having been convicted of murder and died in prison in 2008 on the anniversary of the tragedy.
Numbers 1–3 had become a
Job Centre by the 1980s, specialising in vacancies for the catering industry. The serial killer
Dennis Nilsen
Dennis Andrew Nilsen (23 November 1945 – 12 May 2018) was a Scottish serial killer and Necrophilia, necrophile who murdered at least twelve young men and boys between 1978 and 1983. Convicted at the Old Bailey of six counts of murder and two ...
worked there and brought in a large cooking pot, in which he had boiled his victims heads, as a utensil for preparing a Christmas 1980 party.
The last major music publisher in the street, Peer Music, moved from No. 8 in 1992, completing the gradual transformation of premises from publishers to instrument stores. In May 1990, Andy Preston, owner of Andy's Guitars, set up a traders association and attempted to have the street re-branded as "Music Land", similar to
Drury Lane
Drury Lane is a street on the boundary between the Covent Garden and Holborn areas of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of London Borough of Camden, Camden and the southern part in the City o ...
being marked
Theatreland
West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London.Christopher Innes"West End"in ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 1194–1195, ...
and Gerrard Street as
Chinatown
Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...
.
Helter Skelter was set up as a bookshop dedicated to music titles in 1995 by Sean Body. The shop operated at the old Essex Music and Regent Sound building at No. 4 until rising rents forced it to close in 2004.
Redevelopment
In 2009, Denmark Street was identified in
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...
's "Heritage at Risk" register as being at risk in view of the nearby development of
Crossrail
Crossrail is a completed railway project centred on London. It provides a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system, akin to the Réseau Express Régional, RER in Paris and the S-Bahn systems of German-speaking countries, kn ...
. Particular attention was drawn to No. 26, which is a Grade II listed building. In 2010, Camden London Borough Council identified the street and adjacent properties as a Conservation Area.
In 2013, the council announced that Denmark Street would be redeveloped by the architectural firm ORMS as part of a major development in conjunction with the Crossrail construction work around Tottenham Court Road tube station and
Centre Point. The proposed development includes the construction of an 800-seat subterranean performance venue.
Numbers 1–6 and 17–21 Denmark Place, which run parallel along the back of the street, and the York and Clifton Mansions will be demolished, along with partial demolition of No. 21 Denmark Street.
The scheme has been condemned by the local music industry and shopkeepers. Writer Henry Scott-Irvine launched a petition to stop the planned redevelopment, which has gathered 10,000 signatures. In an interview to ''
Mojo
Mojo may refer to:
* Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in Hoodoo
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* ''Mojo'' (2017 film), a 2017 Indian Kannada drama film written and directed by Sreesha Belakvaadi
* '' ...
'', Scott-Irvine said "This should be stopped", adding that Denmark Street "should be given full heritage status like
Covent Garden Market,
Hatton Garden
Hatton Garden is a street and commercial zone in the Holborn district of the London Borough of Camden, abutting the narrow precinct of Saffron Hill which then abuts the City of London. It takes its name from Sir Christopher Hatton, a favourit ...
and
Savile Row
Savile Row (pronounced ) is a street in Mayfair, central London. Known principally for its traditional bespoke tailoring for men, the street has had a varied history that has included accommodating the headquarters of the Royal Geographical ...
".
He discovered that, although demolition was scheduled to start in late 2014, the plans were approved by the newly elected borough council. Consolidated Developments, developers for the new site, stated they were "committed to preserving and enhancing the rich musical heritage of Tin Pan Alley".
The
12 Bar Club was at No. 26 Denmark Street, a small live music venue with a capacity of about 100 people which was established in 1994. The building was originally stables, built in 1635, before becoming a blacksmiths until after World War I. It closed in January 2015 as part of the redevelopment work, while the actual smithy (forge) in which it had operated was retained intact as a historic building, being moved temporarily by crane after stabilization so that construction could be carried out beneath it, then replaced in its original position.
After the 12 Bar Club's closure and clearance of Enterprise Studios on Denmark Place, a group of musicians and supporters
squatted
Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...
in the club's premises and staged a
demonstration in the street, protesting against redevelopment. Former owner of
Creation Records
Creation Records Ltd. was a British independent record label founded in 1983 by Alan McGee, Dick Green, and Joe Foster. Its name came from the 1960s band The Creation, whom McGee greatly admired. The label ceased operations in 1999, although ...
,
Alan McGee supported the protestors, saying "you really couldn’t say a bad word against any of them. And they know the law, so they can't just be thrown out of there." However, a report in ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' judged the protest to be misguided, as most shops along the street were still trading. Opened in 2022, a new and enlarged venue "The Lower Third" has been constructed on the site, incorporating the previous 12 Bar Club/"forge" building as one of its function rooms.
Current occupants
On the corner of the street with Charing Cross Road is Chris Bryant's Musical Instruments. Denmark Street Guitars claims to have over 3,000 instruments in stock and to have the largest selection of guitars in the UK. Regent Sounds, formerly the recording studio, which specialises in
Fender and
Gretsch
Gretsch is an American company that manufactures and markets musical instruments. The company was founded in 1883 in Brooklyn, New York by Friedrich Gretsch, a 27-year-old German immigrant, shortly after his arrival to the United States. Fri ...
guitars and Essex Music at No. 4; the Alleycat Bar and Club sits in the basement below the store. No.Tom Vintage and Classic Guitars has a store at No. 6. Macaris, a guitar retailer, was established in 1958 and specialises in
Gibson models. As well as their shop at No. 25, they have an additional shop nearby on Charing Cross Road.
The sheet music shop Argents is currently based at No. 19. It was founded by
The Zombies'
Rod Argent
Rodney Terence Argent (born 14 June 1945) is an English musician. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Argent came to prominence in the mid-1960s as the keyboardist, founder and leader of the rock band the Zombies, and went on to form the ba ...
as a keyboard shop
and was previously based next door, at No. 20. Since then it has undergone two changes of owners and now specialises in sheet music and DVD sales, covering a wide variety of styles including
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
and
classical.
Rose, Morris & Co have been established in Denmark Street since 1919. Originally based at No. 11, they now occupy No. 10 in the former offices of Southern Music Publishing.
The company became the first British distributor of
Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker International Corporation is a string instrument manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California. Rickenbacker is the first known maker of electric guitars, with a steel guitar in 1932, and produces a range of electric guitars and bass ...
guitars in 1962, which had a surge in popularity after musicians noticed the Beatles'
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...
playing one. Rose Morris purchased instruments directly from Rickenbacker's factory instead of their sales office, in order to keep up with demand. The models that were ordered by Rose Morris from Rickenbacker and that were then sold and distributed in Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand had unique model designations such as the Rose Morris '1996', the equivalent of a Rickenbacker 325 model but with f-foles, or the Rose Morris '1999' model, the equivalent of a Rickenbacker 4001 bass guitar.
There has been a recording studio in the basement of No. 22 since Tin Pan Alley Studios was established in 1954. It was founded by session violinist Ralph Elman, and was previously the premises of the
Acid Jazz Records label. In 2013, producer
Guy Katsav took over management of the premises, renaming them Denmark Street Studios.
Cultural references
The office and attic flat of private detective
Cormoran Strike was located above the
12 Bar Club. The entrance is described as a "nondescript, black-painted doorway ... to the left of the 12 Bar Café."
Listed buildings
Denmark Street has eight Grade II
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
s. Though the refurbishment plans allow modernisation of these buildings, the council are keen to ensure that the affected properties remain solely in use for the music industry. A report added, "Music industry activities make a fundamental contribution to the special character of Denmark Street and support associated retail provision."
References
Footnotes
Citations
Bibliography
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External links
London's Best Music shops– Twenty Something London
London's Tin Pan Alley—
Danny Baker
Danny Baker (born 22 June 1957) is an English comedy writer, journalist, radio DJ and screenwriter. Throughout his career he has largely presented for London's regional radio and television.
Baker was born in Deptford to a working-class fa ...
's Musical History Tour on
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...
{{coord, 51, 30, 55, N, 0, 07, 46, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title
1691 establishments in England
Buildings and structures completed in 1691
Transport infrastructure completed in the 1690s
Shopping streets in London
Streets in the London Borough of Camden
British popular music
Prince George of Denmark