A Camden music history walk: KOKO to the Roundhouse in eleven stops
Bon Scott's last drink, Madness's first residency, The Clash's rehearsal room and Amy's local. A free walk from Mornington Crescent to Chalk Farm through Camden's music history, every stop still standing.
By Only Camden Editorial
Start at Mornington Crescent, finish at Chalk Farm, and allow two hours with a pint stop. It is free, and most of the rooms on it still put on music. This walk follows the same line as the Music Walk of Fame stones on Camden High Street and Chalk Farm Road, and it takes in eleven stops, from a 1900 theatre to an 1846 engine shed.
1. KOKO, 1a Camden High Street
Come out of Mornington Crescent and KOKO is across the road. It opened on Boxing Day 1900 as the Camden Theatre, became a cinema, then a BBC studio from 1945 where The Goon Show and the first Monty Python's Flying Circus album were recorded. In 1977 it reopened as the Music Machine, home to new wave and punk: The Clash, The Jam and The Boomtown Rats all played. It was the last place AC/DC's Bon Scott was seen drinking before his death in 1980. From 1982 it was the Camden Palace, a New Romantic club, and Madonna played her first UK show here.
2. The Music Walk of Fame
Walk north up Camden High Street and look down. The Music Walk of Fame, founded by promoter Lee Bennett in 2019, is laying stones along the route from Mornington Crescent to Chalk Farm over a planned twenty years. The Who got the first stone. Madness were honoured in March 2020, and stones for UB40, Janis Joplin and The Kinks have followed. Bennett's pitch to the council summed Camden up: the Victorian piano industry, Irish music, and The Clash and Led Zeppelin rehearsing at the Electric Ballroom.
3. The Jazz Cafe, 5 Parkway
Turn left into Parkway. The Jazz Cafe moved here in 1990 into a former Barclays bank, and it has had Sun Ra Arkestra, Pharoah Sanders, D'Angelo, Lee Scratch Perry and Amy Winehouse on its stage.
4. The Dublin Castle, 94 Parkway
A few minutes up Parkway, the Dublin Castle is where Madness got their start. They first played here on 16 January 1979, having told landlord Alo Conlon they were a jazz band, and he gave them a residency. In the 1990s it was often the first big London gig for Britpop bands, Blur among them, and Coldplay played their first show under that name here in 1998. It still runs bands most nights: see the current bills.
5. The Electric Ballroom, 184 Camden High Street
Back on the High Street by the Tube, the Electric Ballroom began as an Irish ballroom in the 1930s and took its name in 1978 under owner Bill Fuller. Sid Vicious, Joy Division, The Clash, The Smiths and Madness all played it, and Madness came back forty years to the day after one of their first shows here. In the late 1970s it was briefly a roller disco.
6. The World's End and the Underworld
Opposite the station, the basement under the World's End is the Underworld, which has hosted Foo Fighters, Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden and Fall Out Boy.
7. The Hawley Arms, 2 Castlehaven Road
Head up towards the Lock and turn right into Castlehaven Road. The Hawley Arms dates back to 1851 and was Amy Winehouse's local. The Camden Market fire of 9 February 2008 started in an alley behind it and badly damaged the pub; that night Winehouse picked up five Grammys and told the world "Camden Town ain't burning down". Musicians played a fundraiser at Dingwalls to help rebuild it.
8. Dingwalls, Camden Lock
Dingwalls opened in 1973 in a Victorian timber warehouse, with what was then the longest bar in London and a 02:00 finish. Blondie made their UK debut here, and it was a key room in the pub rock and punk years. In the early 1990s it was home to Gilles Peterson and Patrick Forge's jazz dance club, Talkin' Loud and Saying Something.
9. Rehearsal Rehearsals, the Stables Market
Cross Chalk Farm Road into the old railway yards. The Clash's manager Bernie Rhodes built and ran his Rehearsal Rehearsals studio here, in what became Camden Market, and the area turned into a punk hangout. Rhodes went on to manage Subway Sect, The Specials and Dexys Midnight Runners from the same base. Kate Simon shot the cover of The Clash's 1977 debut album in the alley directly opposite the front door.
10. Amy Winehouse's statue, the Stables Market
In the Stables Market stands Scott Eaton's bronze of Amy Winehouse, 1.59 metres tall, hand on hip, beehive up, Star of David at her neck. Barbara Windsor unveiled it on 14 September 2014, what would have been Amy's 31st birthday. It was meant for the Roundhouse, but the market was easier for the public to reach.
11. Barfly and the Roundhouse, Chalk Farm Road
At 49 Chalk Farm Road, the old Monarch pub became the Barfly in 2000. The Strokes played one of their first London shows upstairs, and Coldplay, Adele and Amy Winehouse came through. After ten years as the Camden Assembly it reopened as the Barfly in June, with Frank Turner on stage.
Finish at the Roundhouse, the 1846 engine shed where Soft Machine and Pink Floyd played the launch of International Times in 1966 and The Doors played in 1968. It was also Amy Winehouse's last public appearance, on 20 July 2011, when she joined her goddaughter Dionne Bromfield on stage. Chalk Farm station is over the road. Check what's on and you might not need to go home yet.
Before you go
- Start and finish: Mornington Crescent and Chalk Farm, both on the Northern line.
- Cost: nothing, unless you stop at the Hawley or the Dublin Castle.
- Read more: the Camden New Journal on the Walk of Fame plan.
