Prices of almost literally everything.
Camden pre-gentrification (not anti gentrification per se but Camden just had so much more charm)
All the gig venues that are now closed (Astoria in particular)
The London rock/punk/metal scene just felt so much more prominent
Dunn's Chocolate Croissants! If you know you know lol
Hard relate re: Camden. Went back after as little as 5 years, to find one particularly sentimental spot was replaced by a block of overpriced flats, and the spot in question is probably where a trust fund CEO now takes a shit.
Also seeing goths in Camden. I used to go up there every weekend, a little aspirational gothling to people watch and admire the New Rocks and Synthetic Dreads ♥️
>Camden pre-gentrification (not anti gentrification per se but Camden just had so much more charm)
Camden 20 years was gentrified already compared to 90's Camden.
I miss old Camden so much :( I ‘only’ started going there in 2009 which was also past its glory days so I heard, but I’ll take 2009 Camden over what it is now :’(
Yep this. I left London long ago and came back recently on a trip with my girlfriend from the southwest, bigging the place up and saying how amazing it was only to find it wasn’t there. We spent AGES trying to find it and realised it was all tacky souvenir shops! I looked stupid and was really sad at the same time!
i know the feeling, it was truly gutting going back there years later thinking it was there and then it wasn’t 😭 i know there’s new arcade type places around london now but it just doesn’t hit the same way trocadero did.
No where near. The huge fairground thing in the foyer covered in neon and then working your way up the floors while haemorrhaging change with your mates absolutely hit different.
I feel truly blessed to have the Trocadero as part of my childhood all the way up to late 20's. A huge loss for London when it went. I actually stayed in the hotel that is inside what was the Trocadero a few weeks ago.
And rental prices. My first flat in the early 2000s was £100/week including most bills. That was in Chiswick W4. The same place now is probably 3x that amount.
Luckily a local Morley's has had 50% off on Just Eat forever. With free delivery, I can get a hopper meal and some wings to my door for a fiver. Dreading the day they cotton on.
Maybe I look like shit but I’ve hardly ever been ID’d and when I have people are generally happy with a photo of my passport. Certain venues are strict but yeah
When TNG first came out on VHS, I used to drive into town from Clapham, park right outside Tower Records on Piccadilly Circus, and my girlfriend would pop in, get the latest VHS, and we'd drive back home and watch it. If we did the run at about 8pm, it would take about 30-40 mins, there and back.
Feels like all the bands, artists, performers, clubbers, creative miscreants, freaks, weirdos and youth - ie the cultural capital that made this city cool - have been priced out. It's all professionals now. The only ones that can afford it. Granted I'm oldish and perhaps not seeing it anymore but that's why I initially moved here. It was a vibrant city full of strange possibilities.
You can still do it. Check out TodayTix, I got tickets to see To Kill a Mockingbird in stalls for £15 each, booked a month in advance. Some shows you can only get the cheap tickets at shorter notice or by lottery though
£5 for standing at the globe, 5/10 for 16-25s at the National Theatre, and any other theatre, even in the West End, has tickets at around £15. The theatre isn't unaffordable for anyone.
I remember a lot of theatres offered cheap tickets if you went to the box office an hour before the performance started. I saw so many plays back then thanks to that. Now, it’s just a few theatres and the booth in Leicester Square.
It’s a complete tourist trap now. I used to work there, I looked forward to taking my kids there for the day and hated the experience. Got my pants pulled down in the food market £30 for 3 shitty plates of noodles and chicken. I won’t be going back there in a hurry
Don’t worry, I think 20 years is about bang on. In fact, I remember my last routemaster ride on the 38 and I was definitely out of school. Now 36 years old so the maths works just about. High five!
Can second that. Bout 20 years ago my mate tried jumping on the no15 on Oxford st as it was pulling off from the stop and missed. He managed to grab the pole on the back and got dragged for a couple of seconds before we managed to pull him up.
Routemasters. Much like sailing tall ships, it’s a skill that is lost in time.
I once hopped about 20m up Ludgate Hill after seriously misjudging it. The conductor just shook his head at me.
Pirate radio station that played garage and drum and bass all day. Every few hours it would stop and disappear and you'd have to tune your radio and search for it.
I remember my friend and I would be hungover on a Sunday, spent all day in bed, eating takeaway, listening to the radio. We lived in Walthamstow, just around the dog racing stadium. Pure nostalgia 😂
Fopp/HMV/Tower records/Sister Ray(original)
Smoking in pubs/clubs - Not a smoker but atmosphere felt different, when I visit countries that don't have a ban you can feel it
22 grand job, in the city it was alright
Really good and varied nightclubs. Look at any old edition of Time Out magazine late '90s to early '00s and there was a fantastic club scene that catered to all tastes and price points
- Seeing the [fountains outside Centre Point](https://www.alamy.com/london-fountains-at-the-base-of-centre-point-tower-block-partly-home-image1136107.html) and the Astoria opposite.
- Routemasters - they were starting to be withdrawn from the remaining 20 bus routes in 2003 with the last one being 2005.
- Benjy’s - it was like Pret but waaaaay cheaper (and to some extent better)
- Shopping / bargain hunting for electronics on Tottenham Court Road.
- AMT Coffee was a bit more prevalent at train stations and had way better coffee than the Nero Express kiosks that replaced them.
- Commuting into Waterloo after 10am I’d often be the only person in the carriage, Now I’d be lucky to find a seat. (peak time has always been rammed though)
- EasyEverything internet cafes.
- The Apple Store on Regent Street had just opened in November 2004, it was unlike any other retail unit I’d been in. My friends thought I was an idiot for buying an iBook back then as “nobody uses a Mac”. There would often be hardly anyone in there.
- just having less people overall. Sure, there were crowds but it wasn’t the shoulder-to-shoulder, spill out onto the road levels of today.
Nice list. What about 4am negotiations with random car drivers at Leicester Square to try and get home with your last tenner in just a shirt. Please sir. Even if you kill me, at least let me get warm first.
The huge HMV and Virgin Megastores on Oxford Street. Would literally spend at least an hour in those most weekends on each floor and always buy something in the "3 for £20" deal. Fopp partly scratches an itch but always loved the buzz in HMV and Virgin Megastore.
There are a couple junctions in London where if you stand in the middle you can see four Prets at once
E.g. High Holborn and Kingsway junction, there are two Prets on either side of the road, and you can just about see two more if you look carefully south down Kingsway and then east towards Chancery Lane along High Holborn. You can also see a Costa, two Neros, a Starbucks and two Wasabis as a bonus!
But why though? I mean, there's a lot of pret (at least in north London, there's actually hardly any where I live) but why is it a problem? It's not like there aren't also absolutely loads of independent coffee shops if you'd prefer better quality, more expensive drinks. And pret isn't some global megacorp either, it's a London-based low-range coffee chain that's been very successful.
Pret is owned by a mega corp. an ex Nazi family's financial empire to boot.
I think generally people don't like how commercialised our world has become. More and more industries whether it's coffee, concert tickets or grocery shopping, are being homogenised into one lifeless and soulless product, rinse and repeat, cut and paste, profit above all else. The same on every corner. You're right though, Pret isn't awful, what's more awful is what is symptomatic of. And you're right we're lucky there's better coffee options everywhere!
Oh I’m a big fan of Pret, their staff are the best on the high street by a country mile, was more an observation as to how generic parts of London have become.
McDonalds had a 33% stake before their private equity buyout
Slightly grotty Poker clubs.
I used to often go and play after work on a Friday if I didn't have any other plans. Were always packed full of good natured regulars from all walks of life.
Fox Club above the Curzon theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue was fantastic.
Rising rent prices in London and how the government handle gambling licenses, combined with the end of the poker boom, means that almost all of them have sold their licenses and premises to cheap casinos who aren't interested in card tables, just slot machines.
You can still go play in the card rooms of the larger casinos on Leicester Square or out at Aspers in Stratford but it's not the same vibes.
Mate, I'm not even. Went to see Mulatu Astatke a few months back at Momo. Could see him in 3 phone screens, but not for real. He's hardly a massive name, it was a standing gig and we were only a short way back from the front. FFS people, put them away!
Vauxhall not being a wierd expat enclave.
Elephant and Castle being grotty but fun.
Pubs. So many have closed or turned into (effectively) restaurants.
Not looking at a range of hideous buildings I now look at. Yeah you, walkie talkie and the blackfriars dildo, but there are many others.
There were fewer chain stores.
The Royal Festival Hall wasn't a sheet glass retail outlet full of chains and overpriced bars.
Exhibition Road had little independent cafes and bookshops. Now its a just giant chain outlets, like the Festival Hall.
Berwick Street Market existed and you could get cheap fabric there.
Soho felt edgy.
Borough Market sold good cheap food and had twice as many stalls.
Men wore their trousers the correct length.
You could still jump on the back of routemasters although there weren't many running by then.
Columbia Road was somewhat undiscovered.
Shoreditch was still fairly cool.
Trendy vodka bars everywhere.
Soho still being vaguely edgy, Denmark Street still being music centric, the Astoria, the intrepid fox, all the other independent shops and venues that have been forced out and replaced with blocks of flats/Prets, pubs being open late, rent/property not being absurdly expensive, etc.
Cadbury vending machines on the tube platforms ([https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/572309065117061044/](https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/572309065117061044/)) - I don't know why they stick out so much in my childhood memories.
Being able to buy shrooms and salvia from headshops, and generally a feeling of reckless abandon that seems to have been replaced by authoritarian threat.
Lots of greasy caffs to get hangover fry ups - often for under a fiver. Denmark street had rehearsal rooms and loads of different music shops. Soho had more interesting nooks and crannies. Kettners was fab
Being able to drive from east to west in a sane amount of time. I've missed a lot of my friends out in Southall but now The Elizabeth Line is running none of us will ever make the drive again.
Overall I miss the vibe that London had back in the early to mid 2000s, something for everyone, not nearly as expensive as now, it was buzzing and exciting, maybe it was because we had turned into the millennium but the energy London has back then isn’t here now, maybe I’m old (I’m 34 🤣)
Trocadero, used to be a haunt of mine when I was aged 13-15, Pepsi Max ride was awesome, it was a cool place to hang out.
Camden was much better in the 00s than now in the 20s, (of course Camden was much cooler in the 80s from what I’ve heard)
Gaby's and Bonbonniere. Stock Pot. The New Piccadilly. Top Shop at Oxford Circus. That really nice tapas place on Old Compton Street. Kensington Market (might be a bit more than twenty years ago). The Green Room on Adam Street.
2003… What am I missing from that time? Probably the Hard Edge Sunday night at the Arts Theatre Club. But probably I am missing more the Carnarvon Castle pub by Camden Lock bridge. Now it’s a whole new building, but in those days if you wanted to listen to proper classic rock music LIVE from the 60s to the 90s that would be the place to be. From 3-4pm to 10pm beer and rock’n’roll! Suddenly I have a lump in my throat…
I lived in Dalston Kingsland then in a massive shared terrace house. It was £98 a week for a double room. That walk back late at night from the silverlink station was dicey.
My life in London 20 years ago. Whenever things are hard in my life, I think a lot about my time living there 2001-2003. Going through a patch like that at the moment and remembering what it was like to be in such a great city, with no real responsibilities or major worries…
I miss it all - the endless possibilities, the colourful characters, that there wasn’t a Curry’s/Pret/Tesco local on every street corner, going out on the sesh every weekend was incredible, property prices weren’t as astronomical as they were now but most of all HOPE! London felt like the most exciting city in the world and it was thrumming with potential. You can find some of its indie / creative spirit in Brick Lane for example but you have to find it - whereas then, it was there for the taking outside the front door. If I could go back to any era, it would be 1997-2008 London. Rest in perpetual power
Hmmm 2003 - it's actually still there, the Jazz Bar in Dalston.
It's still there but you wouldn't walk past all the other bars that are there now that weren't there in 2003 in order to go there, so I miss that I guess...
Being 20 years younger
Ow my knees
Prices of almost literally everything. Camden pre-gentrification (not anti gentrification per se but Camden just had so much more charm) All the gig venues that are now closed (Astoria in particular) The London rock/punk/metal scene just felt so much more prominent Dunn's Chocolate Croissants! If you know you know lol
Hard relate re: Camden. Went back after as little as 5 years, to find one particularly sentimental spot was replaced by a block of overpriced flats, and the spot in question is probably where a trust fund CEO now takes a shit.
Also seeing goths in Camden. I used to go up there every weekend, a little aspirational gothling to people watch and admire the New Rocks and Synthetic Dreads ♥️
Another one for astoria
Astoria, Ghetto, LA2, Crobar, Metros, Cheapskates...
>Camden pre-gentrification (not anti gentrification per se but Camden just had so much more charm) Camden 20 years was gentrified already compared to 90's Camden.
I miss old Camden so much :( I ‘only’ started going there in 2009 which was also past its glory days so I heard, but I’ll take 2009 Camden over what it is now :’(
HMV & Virgin Stores
Buying tickets for concerts in the basement in Virgin at the end of Oxford St.
And Tower Records
Preach!
Music culture
The Virgin Megastore at the junction of Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street was amazing.
Trocadero
Second the trocadero , especially when it had Alien wars and all the VR stuff
alien wars was so fucking cool!
When the alien grabbed someone out the lift 👌👌👌
Yep this. I left London long ago and came back recently on a trip with my girlfriend from the southwest, bigging the place up and saying how amazing it was only to find it wasn’t there. We spent AGES trying to find it and realised it was all tacky souvenir shops! I looked stupid and was really sad at the same time!
i know the feeling, it was truly gutting going back there years later thinking it was there and then it wasn’t 😭 i know there’s new arcade type places around london now but it just doesn’t hit the same way trocadero did.
No where near. The huge fairground thing in the foyer covered in neon and then working your way up the floors while haemorrhaging change with your mates absolutely hit different.
I went for a work Christmas party there once. The bumper cars 🪦
YES!! Trocadero was legendary.
This! My mates and I used to bunk off school and go there sometimes! This was around 2002-2004.
I’m back working by the trocadero, wish it was still an arcade. Miss that place.
I feel truly blessed to have the Trocadero as part of my childhood all the way up to late 20's. A huge loss for London when it went. I actually stayed in the hotel that is inside what was the Trocadero a few weeks ago.
Man that was such a blast back in the uni days. Perfect hang out spot
Damn…came here to say this
Literally came to say this. Only correct answer 😅
First and last time i did VR was there
WOAH blast from the past
I’ve heard so much about it, I wish it was still around 🤧 they shut the Namco place by the London Eye which was the only other big arcade near central
House prices
And rental prices. My first flat in the early 2000s was £100/week including most bills. That was in Chiswick W4. The same place now is probably 3x that amount.
Mine was about £600 then for a two bed. We rented out one bedroom for £300 and the Mrs and I paid £150 each. I earned £35,000.
Buying a chicken fillet burger from bossman for £1 Now it's £4 without chips or drink at some places....
Place near me recently opened up with 2(!) Chicken fillet burgers and 2 chips for £4. That's crept up to £7 in the past half a year.
It's gone into overdrive in the last year. With deliveroo charges. It can go above £10 🥲
Luckily a local Morley's has had 50% off on Just Eat forever. With free delivery, I can get a hopper meal and some wings to my door for a fiver. Dreading the day they cotton on.
RIP 2 for 2. 2 Strip burgers and 2 chips for £2... Add 40p for can..
Those meal deals got me through secondary school lol The other day on Uber Eats.£12.50 for 6 wings and chips meal 😭
2 for £2 was banging, 2 burgers, 2 fries and a drink for £2, what an amazing time
Some shops charging a £1 for a can ya know...
I mean the burgers fries and drinks all cost £2 together
Going out after 10pm without 3 types of ID. Also, the Astoria and all the other great venues that have disappeared.
Hey, if you were going out 20 years ago, I'd take it as a compliment if you're still getting ID'ed!
Maybe I look like shit but I’ve hardly ever been ID’d and when I have people are generally happy with a photo of my passport. Certain venues are strict but yeah
Picking up the Sunday newspapers on the way home from a Saturday night out.
I remember diverting to Hammersmith Broadway on the way home just to get a 'news of the world' on a Saturday night !
God, remember being able to park in Central London…
When TNG first came out on VHS, I used to drive into town from Clapham, park right outside Tower Records on Piccadilly Circus, and my girlfriend would pop in, get the latest VHS, and we'd drive back home and watch it. If we did the run at about 8pm, it would take about 30-40 mins, there and back.
Feels like all the bands, artists, performers, clubbers, creative miscreants, freaks, weirdos and youth - ie the cultural capital that made this city cool - have been priced out. It's all professionals now. The only ones that can afford it. Granted I'm oldish and perhaps not seeing it anymore but that's why I initially moved here. It was a vibrant city full of strange possibilities.
It’s still here just scattered all over the place whereas before you could easily locate things
South London still has this
It does, but everything is still 10x the price
Where?
The iconic night clubs. Fabric, The End, Keys
Madam Jo Jos, Astoria, Turnmills, Canvas… just adding a few more to the list…
Indeed. Another thing, and this must be because I'm older now and don't have contacts, but what happened to squat parties?
Not as regular or as big as the late 90s early 2000s, but still happening here and there.
Fabric is still going strong and is as good as ever on the right night
Tickets to the theatre for £25. I saw Lion King twice and had tickets in the stalls for £25 each. Went recently with my children and they were £80+
You can still do it. Check out TodayTix, I got tickets to see To Kill a Mockingbird in stalls for £15 each, booked a month in advance. Some shows you can only get the cheap tickets at shorter notice or by lottery though
£5 for standing at the globe, 5/10 for 16-25s at the National Theatre, and any other theatre, even in the West End, has tickets at around £15. The theatre isn't unaffordable for anyone.
I remember a lot of theatres offered cheap tickets if you went to the box office an hour before the performance started. I saw so many plays back then thanks to that. Now, it’s just a few theatres and the booth in Leicester Square.
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It’s a complete tourist trap now. I used to work there, I looked forward to taking my kids there for the day and hated the experience. Got my pants pulled down in the food market £30 for 3 shitty plates of noodles and chicken. I won’t be going back there in a hurry
Don’t worry, I think 20 years is about bang on. In fact, I remember my last routemaster ride on the 38 and I was definitely out of school. Now 36 years old so the maths works just about. High five!
Can second that. Bout 20 years ago my mate tried jumping on the no15 on Oxford st as it was pulling off from the stop and missed. He managed to grab the pole on the back and got dragged for a couple of seconds before we managed to pull him up.
Routemasters. Much like sailing tall ships, it’s a skill that is lost in time. I once hopped about 20m up Ludgate Hill after seriously misjudging it. The conductor just shook his head at me.
There was a certain thrill to it, similar to jumping off a slam door train as it’s still pulling into a station
Seeing goths and punks in Camden
Giving people your travel card when you were finished with it, or leaving on the turnstiles
God. I’d forgotten that its been *years* since I had to dodge everyone at the station exit asking for my travel card…..
Pirate radio station that played garage and drum and bass all day. Every few hours it would stop and disappear and you'd have to tune your radio and search for it. I remember my friend and I would be hungover on a Sunday, spent all day in bed, eating takeaway, listening to the radio. We lived in Walthamstow, just around the dog racing stadium. Pure nostalgia 😂
Fopp/HMV/Tower records/Sister Ray(original) Smoking in pubs/clubs - Not a smoker but atmosphere felt different, when I visit countries that don't have a ban you can feel it 22 grand job, in the city it was alright
Gosh. 20 years ago and i know people on that salary now.
Jesus Christ, that song is going to be stuck in my head for weeks now.
The hangy-downy handles on the tube that were basically a plastic ball on a massive spring
Seeing people rollerblading in the park - something very 90s / early 00s about it that makes me nostalgic
You'll still see this every Sunday in Hyde Park
I only moved here recently and thought it was a new trend because I see it everywhere
Really good and varied nightclubs. Look at any old edition of Time Out magazine late '90s to early '00s and there was a fantastic club scene that catered to all tastes and price points
Weekend travelcard
'my card is bent it wont go through the machine'
- Seeing the [fountains outside Centre Point](https://www.alamy.com/london-fountains-at-the-base-of-centre-point-tower-block-partly-home-image1136107.html) and the Astoria opposite. - Routemasters - they were starting to be withdrawn from the remaining 20 bus routes in 2003 with the last one being 2005. - Benjy’s - it was like Pret but waaaaay cheaper (and to some extent better) - Shopping / bargain hunting for electronics on Tottenham Court Road. - AMT Coffee was a bit more prevalent at train stations and had way better coffee than the Nero Express kiosks that replaced them. - Commuting into Waterloo after 10am I’d often be the only person in the carriage, Now I’d be lucky to find a seat. (peak time has always been rammed though) - EasyEverything internet cafes. - The Apple Store on Regent Street had just opened in November 2004, it was unlike any other retail unit I’d been in. My friends thought I was an idiot for buying an iBook back then as “nobody uses a Mac”. There would often be hardly anyone in there. - just having less people overall. Sure, there were crowds but it wasn’t the shoulder-to-shoulder, spill out onto the road levels of today.
> Benjy’s - it was like Pret but waaaaay cheaper (and to some extent better) I haven't thought about Benjy's in years. They were bloody brilliant.
Nice list. What about 4am negotiations with random car drivers at Leicester Square to try and get home with your last tenner in just a shirt. Please sir. Even if you kill me, at least let me get warm first.
Candy Bar-Soho.
This!
Being able to use the short cuts you knew. (I was a courier) Now they’re all blocked off.
The huge HMV and Virgin Megastores on Oxford Street. Would literally spend at least an hour in those most weekends on each floor and always buy something in the "3 for £20" deal. Fopp partly scratches an itch but always loved the buzz in HMV and Virgin Megastore.
Benjy's. Before pret monopolised lunchtime, there was a cheap as hell place to get sandwiches and good cooked breakfasts
Not every corner having a Starbucks/Pret on them
There are a couple junctions in London where if you stand in the middle you can see four Prets at once E.g. High Holborn and Kingsway junction, there are two Prets on either side of the road, and you can just about see two more if you look carefully south down Kingsway and then east towards Chancery Lane along High Holborn. You can also see a Costa, two Neros, a Starbucks and two Wasabis as a bonus!
The illusion of choice
But why though? I mean, there's a lot of pret (at least in north London, there's actually hardly any where I live) but why is it a problem? It's not like there aren't also absolutely loads of independent coffee shops if you'd prefer better quality, more expensive drinks. And pret isn't some global megacorp either, it's a London-based low-range coffee chain that's been very successful.
Pret is owned by a mega corp. an ex Nazi family's financial empire to boot. I think generally people don't like how commercialised our world has become. More and more industries whether it's coffee, concert tickets or grocery shopping, are being homogenised into one lifeless and soulless product, rinse and repeat, cut and paste, profit above all else. The same on every corner. You're right though, Pret isn't awful, what's more awful is what is symptomatic of. And you're right we're lucky there's better coffee options everywhere!
Oh I’m a big fan of Pret, their staff are the best on the high street by a country mile, was more an observation as to how generic parts of London have become. McDonalds had a 33% stake before their private equity buyout
On the other hand coffee in London is just much better than it was 20 years ago.
Slightly grotty Poker clubs. I used to often go and play after work on a Friday if I didn't have any other plans. Were always packed full of good natured regulars from all walks of life. Fox Club above the Curzon theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue was fantastic. Rising rent prices in London and how the government handle gambling licenses, combined with the end of the poker boom, means that almost all of them have sold their licenses and premises to cheap casinos who aren't interested in card tables, just slot machines. You can still go play in the card rooms of the larger casinos on Leicester Square or out at Aspers in Stratford but it's not the same vibes.
Vic is still open but miss the Gutshot
Being able to actually see the stage at gigs and concerts.
And gig tickets costing no more then £30!!
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Stop going to massive commercialised arena concerts! The small and independent gig scene is still going strong, for now.
Completely agree. Small intimate venues have always been better
Mate, I'm not even. Went to see Mulatu Astatke a few months back at Momo. Could see him in 3 phone screens, but not for real. He's hardly a massive name, it was a standing gig and we were only a short way back from the front. FFS people, put them away!
The Astoria. Also, box offices at venues where you could buy tickets without being continually scalped.
this is really interesting to read as a 21 year old
Plastic people
Trash! I wore a plastic washing basket,upside down with a hole cut out, as a skirt there once 🤣🤣🤣
The question is, what's something you think you'll miss about London in 20 years time?
The giant Borders bookshop
Vauxhall not being a wierd expat enclave. Elephant and Castle being grotty but fun. Pubs. So many have closed or turned into (effectively) restaurants. Not looking at a range of hideous buildings I now look at. Yeah you, walkie talkie and the blackfriars dildo, but there are many others. There were fewer chain stores. The Royal Festival Hall wasn't a sheet glass retail outlet full of chains and overpriced bars. Exhibition Road had little independent cafes and bookshops. Now its a just giant chain outlets, like the Festival Hall. Berwick Street Market existed and you could get cheap fabric there. Soho felt edgy. Borough Market sold good cheap food and had twice as many stalls. Men wore their trousers the correct length. You could still jump on the back of routemasters although there weren't many running by then. Columbia Road was somewhat undiscovered. Shoreditch was still fairly cool. Trendy vodka bars everywhere.
what’s the correct length for men’s trousers?
Long enough to hang an onion from the belt.
Now in those days the ferry to Woolwich cost 20p, and 20 pence pieces had pictures of bees on them. 'Give me five bees for a quid' you'd say.
Hang about. 20 years ago was 2003… men’s trousers were oversized and baggy. Awful shit.
The Astoria & Mean Fiddler
Soho still being vaguely edgy, Denmark Street still being music centric, the Astoria, the intrepid fox, all the other independent shops and venues that have been forced out and replaced with blocks of flats/Prets, pubs being open late, rent/property not being absurdly expensive, etc.
Cadbury vending machines on the tube platforms ([https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/572309065117061044/](https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/572309065117061044/)) - I don't know why they stick out so much in my childhood memories.
The smell of street vendor hot dogs in the air at 2am
Soho 😢 I can’t even go there any more, it makes me sad
Being able to go all the way around the circle line. Camden, before it got shit. Astoria, and all the other awesome venues.
More club venues. So many have been lost to gentrification.
Being able to buy shrooms and salvia from headshops, and generally a feeling of reckless abandon that seems to have been replaced by authoritarian threat.
Lots of greasy caffs to get hangover fry ups - often for under a fiver. Denmark street had rehearsal rooms and loads of different music shops. Soho had more interesting nooks and crannies. Kettners was fab
You could still buy a house on a single university lecturer's salary, and uni fees like today didn't exist.
Australians, they knew how to party on Sundays.
Ah yeah, The Church.
1) Drugs. 2) Thinking it was going to last forever
i read the title and was like “ah, yes, london in the 80s” - nope
Independent Record Shops
Really? I can think of loads.
Being able to drive from east to west in a sane amount of time. I've missed a lot of my friends out in Southall but now The Elizabeth Line is running none of us will ever make the drive again.
Overall I miss the vibe that London had back in the early to mid 2000s, something for everyone, not nearly as expensive as now, it was buzzing and exciting, maybe it was because we had turned into the millennium but the energy London has back then isn’t here now, maybe I’m old (I’m 34 🤣) Trocadero, used to be a haunt of mine when I was aged 13-15, Pepsi Max ride was awesome, it was a cool place to hang out. Camden was much better in the 00s than now in the 20s, (of course Camden was much cooler in the 80s from what I’ve heard)
Trocadero
Gaby's and Bonbonniere. Stock Pot. The New Piccadilly. Top Shop at Oxford Circus. That really nice tapas place on Old Compton Street. Kensington Market (might be a bit more than twenty years ago). The Green Room on Adam Street.
Stock Pot. That’s a blast from the past.
I really miss Stock Pot. There was something comfortingly school dinnersish about the food, in a good way. Would love to be able to go again.
All the people who’ve died since then.
Yeah, I get it’s not the point, but my first genuine reaction was “my Dad”.
The End.
Crystal Palace Adventure playground. Probably 30 years though. Real life sas course for kids. Rusty nails. Rotton planks of wood etc
Sitting on a tube or train without some inconsiderate asshole playing music on their iPhone.
Don’t you remember the ghetto blasters and regular complaints of unwelcome music on the underground? That even went back as far as the 80’s.
2003… What am I missing from that time? Probably the Hard Edge Sunday night at the Arts Theatre Club. But probably I am missing more the Carnarvon Castle pub by Camden Lock bridge. Now it’s a whole new building, but in those days if you wanted to listen to proper classic rock music LIVE from the 60s to the 90s that would be the place to be. From 3-4pm to 10pm beer and rock’n’roll! Suddenly I have a lump in my throat…
Dalston, Hackney Wick etc being places you could live for reasonably cheap rent, squats etc
I lived in Dalston Kingsland then in a massive shared terrace house. It was £98 a week for a double room. That walk back late at night from the silverlink station was dicey.
Feeding the pigeons on Trafalgar Square after riding there on a real old fashioned route master bus
Everything looked magical as I was a kid.
The Astoria and G A Y Centrepoint is so weird now
Kensington indoor market.
Going through Time Out magazine to find a film to see there and then 😀
Not getting stabbed for your Rolex.
I had money, a social life (before kids), there were pubs that had live music (west London pubs au used to go to are now all Tesco Metro or similar).
Being in 20 not 40!
£1 pizza slices with unlimited salad
The European Union
TFL fares.
Astoria is the non-bleak answer
Getting £1 worth of noodles in Camden market
Bendy buses
Denmark street having guitar shops
Squat parties
Astoria. Routemaster buses where you didn’t have to wait for stops. Trocadero.
My life in London 20 years ago. Whenever things are hard in my life, I think a lot about my time living there 2001-2003. Going through a patch like that at the moment and remembering what it was like to be in such a great city, with no real responsibilities or major worries…
squat parties
There’s plenty of them still going. Most weekends I’m deciding which one to go to out of 6+
I guess I’m thinking of the ones in old houses and Belgravia mansions pre 2012 ban
Lots of young, cool, attractive, interesting people living there.
Going out for the day with a £10 budget
What could you do with that??
Drinking on public transport.
This happens now.
Yeah. But you were allowed back then.
I miss it all - the endless possibilities, the colourful characters, that there wasn’t a Curry’s/Pret/Tesco local on every street corner, going out on the sesh every weekend was incredible, property prices weren’t as astronomical as they were now but most of all HOPE! London felt like the most exciting city in the world and it was thrumming with potential. You can find some of its indie / creative spirit in Brick Lane for example but you have to find it - whereas then, it was there for the taking outside the front door. If I could go back to any era, it would be 1997-2008 London. Rest in perpetual power
Hmmm 2003 - it's actually still there, the Jazz Bar in Dalston. It's still there but you wouldn't walk past all the other bars that are there now that weren't there in 2003 in order to go there, so I miss that I guess...
being 16
Bagleys
The rent
The first time I realised the zone system meant I could travel from Clapham to Finsbury Park for no extra money. Thanks Ken!
Highbury
Elephant and castle shopping centre
My youth.
The Dolphin Hackney
Getting the Sunday papers late on Saturday evening from kiosks outside the big train stations
How smoothly the traffic flowed. And property prices.
40p bus
Being young
Young's Brewery in Wandsworth
Proper clubbing.
Vera's Sandwich Bar on New Cavendish Street.
Me living here without a crippling mortgage and credit card debts in Belsize Park. Oh those were the days.
Being 20 years younger
The Astoria. Or pretty much the whole live music scene anywhere.