RIP Denmark st, affectionately known as Tin Pan Alley

Kebabkid

impmann said:

Shame but since Andy's went a few years ago, there haven't been any shops worth a light.

The best shop around there was Allbang and Strummits - and they weren't on Denmark St and went under years ago!

Yep, those were the glory years. Allbang carried some excellent gear and they were just around the corner going toward Covent Garden.

Until recently, I used to work 10 mins walk away and was a frequent visitor over the years but not so much in the last 5. Wunjo injected some of the old magic back into the street. If that side of the street is to be affected, does that mean Brian's shop is going too?

I played 3 times last year at The Alley Cat and that had a certain small club charm. That's on the opposite side which seems to be safe.

I'll try and get down there soon before it all goes belly up

Bucket

Well one shop I won't miss is Hank's, in the three-storey building Music Ground used to be in. It's shit - most of the staff wouldn't even look up when anyone walked in, let alone offer to help. Same is true of Macari's, certainly the one on Denmark Street and to an extent the one on Charing Cross Road. Nice stock in the Denmark Street one, but I'd be buggered if I was going to buy from them.

The rest though, I like(d), some of them very much. Westside, Wunjo and Regent Sounds will be sad losses.

Corvus

It was Ok-ish barely in the 80s, but full of posers behind counters. Hanks was always shit. Even shitter now. Andys was dodgy, though a tech kindly gave me a small piece of ebony once. Wunjo mostly OK but on last visit a guy did the crappy sales technique PMT and all those have been trained to do. Meh.
Did buy a banjo from them, and my Hofner came from a place on Charing X Rd donkeys ago, the name escapes.

But it is/was a centre, somewhere to go try a whole range of guitars & amps that we can only dream of in this town. And was a place to go with my lad. Never the greatest place to buy gear (not guitars anyway...) but a small centre of 'something'. It'll not come back (there or anywhere else). So not too much of a loss in pure guitar shopping terms, still, fuck the developers.

bigdawg

Correct Denmark Street isnt a patch on what it used to be but once its gone its gone.  Theres as much history in that street as there is in some of the historic monuments and buildings in London, only difference is no one makes money off it...  The recording studios, the cafes where the beatles used to bump into the Who or the stones, Clapton and page advertising for work, and now world famous guitars bought by people destined to be stars

In the last couple of years Denmark Street has improved itself with Macaris moving in, Wunjos and Angel, and Westside opening up too.  It as quite encouraging once the shadow of the two crooks began to lift.  Obviously not back to the heyday of the 60s and 70s but encouraging none the less.

And now with the sterilisation of soho and the surrounding areas everything is just being trampled to make way for faceless offices and pathetic overpriced bars and coffee shops.  Any excuse (incl some engineered and made up ones) is being used to demolish the last decent part of London.

I virtually spent my teens and 20s in Soho, djing in soul clubs, hunting and buying records, hunting out clothes and cloths to make clothes, and spending too much time in between in the Picadilly or Bar Italia....  

For me at least part of my life is being demolished Im quite sad..

xSkarloey

So much woe! 

I'm not belittling anyone who regrets the passing of Denmark Street because their memories are bound up in it. Far from it. I completely understand your regret. 

Thing is though, London's a bleeding nut house in planning terms. Always has been. Always will be. Decent buildings get pulled down. Eyesores get put up. Areas get gentrified. Some areas go to the dogs. C'est la vie in a city where money talks and the real vandals happen to be the blokes with the most cash. 

You think it's bad now and getting too corporate? Don't worry. Give it another ten years and I bet the current flood of investment and gentrification will have all but stopped. Then it'll be going on a downward cycle again. It's happened before, so the chances are it'll happen again. 

As I said in an earlier post on this thread, the best shops with something to offer and a decent business plan will find alternative premises and carry on. It's not guitar-related, but the shop Sax is moving to bigger premises in north London for example. 

It's up to the current and following generations to make their own scene somewhere else now. But that's also the nature of London. 

Exorcist

Its a sad day! Not so much for buying anymore, long gone are the days of bargains and hidden gems (90-95 era for me), but it was still a nice place to wander round. And I've played plenty of shows at the 12Bar (tiny and great fun!) so will be sad to see it go.

Evilmags

History apart, the shops were all pretty grotty and the behaviour of more than one has sent a lot of potential customers elsewhere. I can think of at least two guitars I did not buy for snotty service.

Gru

I think I have only visited twice in the last few of years, until I joined this site I am sad to say I had never heard of it.

Unfortunately both trips were a disappointment, the only shop worth mentioning was Wunjo, the rest were so unwelcoming.

Personally I wont miss the shops. (ok maybe Wunjo)

There are two other shops just off of Tottenham Court Road. Disappointingly, Chappells of London is now only Yamaha. I visited it a few times before they changed, sadly haven't been back since.

Cant remember the other one, but I remember it sells Vintage and Fret King. The Fret King Tele I had with Strat style pickups was amazing, still don't know why I sold it, bit that's another story.

imalone

Gru said:

I think I have only visited twice in the last few of years, until I joined this site I am sad to say I had never heard of it.

Unfortunately both trips were a disappointment, the only shop worth mentioning was Wunjo, the rest were so unwelcoming.

Personally I wont miss the shops. (ok maybe Wunjo)

There are two other shops just off of Tottenham Court Road. Disappointingly, Chappells of London is now only Yamaha. I visited it a few times before they changed, sadly haven't been back since.

Cant remember the other one, but I remember it sells Vintage and Fret King. The Fret King Tele I had with Strat style pickups was amazing, still don't know why I sold it, bit that's another story.

Sounds like Ivor Mairants. I actually like Regent Sounds, and the Macari's on TCR have been helpful when I've been in.

terada

One part of me thinks this is really sad, but then I remember the arrogant staff and difficult returns processes and I kind of then start to think, well, meh.

I have purchased 5 guitars from Denmark street, from Regent Sounds, Macaris, Andys, Hanks and Westside. All were lovely instruments, and I liked the fact that I had bought them from that world famous street. I spent a great deal of my youth nosing around the shops and trying things, and when I’m in the area, I will always have a little look down there. My band has also rehearsed in one of the studios there.

But the way I see it is that music stores have seen a radical change. It used to be that the small independents had miniscule stock and were really old fashioned in the way that they guarded their merchandise (usually with the store owner also being present in the store). Whereas on Denmark Street there was tonnes of choice, and staff that were a bit more chilled in their approach, arrogant sure, but arrogant was better than the ‘do not touch’ attitude of other stores.

Since then, a number of those smaller independent shops have turned into much larger businesses, which often carry as much variety of stock as Denmark Street, and due to their online presence, have better (more relaxed) store policies relating to returns and refunds. Moreover, the staff seem more friendly than they used to (as growth has meant that the old shop owner plays a less direct role in the store), leaving a much more easy-going buying experience.

By contrast Denmark street has lost none of its arrogance, but is now more expensive than its competitors (without haggling), and hasn’t moved to a more modern returns policy. Most of the stores are now owned by a couple of individuals, so they are not the romantic little stores that they at first appear to be either.

At the end of the day, I live quite close to Denmark Street, it is by far the easiest way for me to go and buy a new guitar, and the street has been a large part of my past. Yet when I go to buy a new guitar now, I drive for about 1.5 hours to one of the larger independents, and that says it all really.

richardhomer

Was probably last there somewhere around 1990....

I suspect it's a similar tale in most big cities. I know this place was considered 'iconic' but Manchester's equivalents are long-gone; A1, Barratts, Renos, Mameloks, and others I'm struggling to remember the names of.

The difference with Denmark Street is they are all on one road....

Still a shame though.

GuitarMonkey

The iconic Frank Hessy's is long gone too.

scrumhalf

I used to enjoy Denmark Street, about 20-30 years ago. I was at university not far away and also used to work round the corner and would go for a nose around there at least once a week. There was also a music bookshop at one end, possibly next door to Roka's, which in pre-internet days was a goldmine.

I last went down there about a year ago, it was the same street in name only.

GuitarMonkey

scrumhalf said:

I used to enjoy Denmark Street, about 20-30 years ago. I was at university not far away and also used to work round the corner and would go for a nose around there at least once a week. There was also a music bookshop at one end, possibly next door to Roka's, which in pre-internet days was a goldmine.

I last went down there about a year ago, it was the same street in name only.

When Andy's went that was it for me. 

Yes, in the main Andy's was full of overpriced tat, but interesting overpriced tat. I do remember an early 60s Sherwood Green Esquire that seemed like a lot of money at the time but I wish I'd bought it.

rossi

Played my first Strat ,a burst, in  the early  60;s in a shop  Shaftsbury Avenue .Forget the name .Me and our  lead  guitarist played some stuff and a voice behind says "nice playing boys" It was Dave Clark .its all been down hill since then and I wanted decades to get a real Fender .At least the shop guys let us play for ages with no visible sign of money in our pockets .

Kebabkid

Following this report, I took a trip down there today to see what's going on and I wanted to say goodbye to Brian "Hello brother", the manager at Wunjos, and see if we were to believe that that side of the street was to be demolished.

I'm pleased to report that whilst a few shops like Rockers and the Sax Shop have closed, the shops haven't been demolished and Wunjos, Westside and Regent remain.

I don't know if things have changed since the article was written, or if things were reported incorrectly in the first place, but at worst, some shops have lost some some of their floor space at the back.

Seems the 12 Bar has definitely gone but has a new location
http://www.12barclub.com/

toescantalk

lustycourtier said:

Slight link, heres the a new video by the Blow Monkeys (who I work for) which is about that part of london....

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFkGsmOfQ5Q

Nice, surprised how many memories that brought back from my visits to that area, going to gigs etc. Good tune too!! (Not as good as Man from Russia though - what a tune that is).

matt1973

Always used to enjoy the busker with the Chapman Stick back in the 90s.

Aside from him, the shops were bloody awful, the stock overpriced and the staff were monumetally bad. But, the place oozed charm back then, loved it

ToneControl

they should all move into soho

Kebabkid

matt1973 said:

Always used to enjoy the busker with the Chapman Stick back in the 90s.

Aside from him, the shops were bloody awful, the stock overpriced and the staff were monumetally bad. But, the place oozed charm back then, loved it

That busker is a pal and his name is Jim Lampi. He taught Nick Beggs amongst others and was once spotted by the late, great John Martyn playing  and drafted him immediately into his band.
http://www.johnmartyn.com/magazines-and-newspapers/interview-with-jim-lampi/