I was born and raised in West London so the East was an alien land. Once I traipsed all the way over to the Scala cinema in Kings Cross for a party and walked back to Hammersmith with my sister. Not having Google Maps in those days, we worked our way home by reading the postcodes on street signs (NW = bad, WC = good).
In the 1980s, a school friend moved to Old Street and all we could ask was “Why?” We knew it was somewhere close to Whitechapel Road – and that was the cheapest property on the Monopoly board, right?
Switching sides
But then my centre of gravity changed. I got a place at City Uni and moved into a flat in Angel. My London compass swung round: after a childhood on the East-West District Line, the North-South Northern line became my axis.
The lift shaft at Angel tube station was the deepest in London and when you stood on the narrow platform, the trains would thunder in from both directions. The next stop down was Old Street. In 1992 my friend Dotun Adebayo told me he was starting up a publishing company there, in Hoxton Square.
Where?! I went to Dotun’s new office and all there was in the middle of the square was a great big rubbish dump. Most of the buildings were run down or derelict. In one corner there was a little club called The Blue Note – a tiny, trendy beacon of things to come.
Feeling blue
Fast forward twenty years and wow, how it’s changed. You can’t move for clubs, bars and business start-ups. This part of town has been immortalised in Nathan Barley and mocked by the Shoreditch Twat. The Hoxton Fin may be the epitomy of naff self-consciousness, and the world’s first popup shopping mall beyond parody, but the continued success of this area defies its critics.
Shoreditch House is one of the best members’ clubs in London with its own swimming pool on the roof (open air pools more decadent in London than LA – because you can’t actually use them). Google and Microsoft have set up offices by Silicon Roundabout. Heck! There’s even a Pret on the once-shabby Great Eastern Street.
Shoreditch, you’ve come a long way, baby! It’s a damn shame I’m back in West London.
Disclosure: My short story, Hoxton Babylon, was partly inspired by nights at the Blue Note. You can read it in Westside Storeys (Xpress, 2003).
If you liked this post, try why I hardly left home during London 2012
I remember it well. I lived in the Westminster Halls in Hoxton in 1996…we frequented Blue Note often. I remember going to a house party near there and we had to pay to get in. Then I had my wedding reception in a bar down Rivington Street….went to The book club recently my how the place has changed……
Thanks for your comment Jas.
Yes it’s changed SO much.
Strangely enough, been listening to Goldie again today as his singer/ collaborator Diane Charlemagne just passed away…end of an era – but what a brilliant era it was!
Used to go to Anokha at the Blue note on a Tuesday night in 1997-98
Wow it’s changed for sure . Was such a great vibe then
OMG – used to love that night! Talvin Singh’s Anokha definitely one of my fave albums from that era. Also Goldie’s Metalheadz on a Sunday 🙂
I am a Canuckistanian (Canadian) who lived near Hoxton Square, 1996-97. I only went to the Blue Note once, on a Sunday (Bangra night – it was cheap and I was a cheapass student).
I did frequent – nay, HAUNTG – that bagel place at least weekly. Usually close to 2am.
I looked at the area on Google Maps recently, and didn’t recognize much. It looked way more uber-chromified, the current gentrification du jour.
Hope to get back there one day.
Ooh. Which bagel bakery? There were a few. Maybe Ridley Road market? There were also a couple at the top of Brick Lane. Thanks for your comment Kenji. Hope you get to visit again too. I miss those days!
I used to live in north London in 1996, Stroud Green, Crouch End, Finsbury Park, and a musician I knew took me to some places, we had a different style in music, but I always enjoyed life music, so we went to the 606 club or a small club in Ladbroke Grove, called The Globe, on Talbot Rd.
He, two other girls and me, went to the Blue Note for an exhibition opening upstairs. There was a white bench on the side. We all sat down, and when I got up, he started to laugh. My buttocks where white, so were the other girls’. He had sat on the sign ‘Do not sit here’ and was fine 😀
That evening I must have picked up a flyer for the Metalheadz Sessions, and from that day I went there every Sunday afternoon. I had been into Drum and Bass before, I loved it. No drugs, just dance. Me at least. 😀
Hi Paula, thanks for your comment. Sounds like your musician friend gave you a great tour! And glad you got to go to Metalheadz. Chances are we were partying there at the same time! Such a brilliant night – and 1996 a seminal year for drum & bass 🙂
Hi Jemima,
In the 80’s I worked just round the corner in City Road. The building just up from Moorfilelds Eye Hospital.
Wen to the Blue Note a few times, but mots memorably was to see Roy Ayers in around 1989.
I just had an email through from Ronnie Scots to say that he is playing at the Ally Pally Theatre on 29th October. Tickets available now with discount in the next 24 hours.
I also remember 15, Jamie Oliver’s first restaurant opening. It was bang opposite the office so was REALLY handy for client lunches as only 100 yards to stagger back to the office!
How times have changed!! Lol
And for Jamie
If you ever fancy a drink in the area let me know. Sorry that is VERY forward and not meant how it looks in print!
Hi Martin, thanks for the offer – if I still still out East I’d have loved to! Roy Ayers at the Blue Note must have been quite something 🙂
I have experiences of this area going all the way back to 1980, when I was a child with an eye problem visiting Moorfield’s eye hospital in Old Street. Thanks for mentioning the Angel: such a dangerous tube station before it was done up – heard tales of people getting pushed on to the rails – and Upper Street was derelict, as was Old Street. One can be romantic when reminiscing on simpler, humbler times, but London is an ever-changing beast.
Cheap rents brought art and entrepreneurs to this area (cultural history has many examples of such migrations), the early forms of which were much needed and refreshing, but money creates a certain person… and people make a place. I’ve seen this area change dramatically over the decades, and like West London (Notting Hill, etc.), only a certain type of person can afford to live there… and I can’t, nor won’t.
Hi Tommo, you’re right – it’s hard to imagine now how different things were back then. Islington was all a bit of a dump – bankers didn’t want to live there because of the so-called “loony left” council. And all the shops on Upper Street were shut on a Thursday afternoon. The big Victorian houses were full of squats. I watched that new movie “Misbehaviour” the other day – gives a good flavour of what those Islington communes used to be like 🙂
I used to spend many a Saturday night in the Blue note. It was owned by Acid jazz records/ Eddie Piller. I remember one night there was a Bob Marley photo exhibition upstairs. Fantastic venue.
Hi Hugh – yes it was a fab venue. Staircases at the back and the front were kind of cool – you could never get stuck, however crowded it got. Never made it on a Saturday though – sounds like you had a blast!
I used to Deejay at the Note on a Sunday Afternoon at at a session we called the “Sunday Soul Affair” . We used to have the upstairs bar area, playing Soul Funk Rare Groove etc from 1 til 6pm, with Snowboys “High Hat” Jazz dance sessions downstairs at the same time.
At 6pm the Metalheadz boys used to turn up, and we knew it was time to switch our gear off and be on our way.. Happy days indeed.
Eddie Piller and his team, including curator Sav Remzi created a musical legacy that still holds true to today… and became folklore in the halcyon days of London’s clubland.
A visionary club, one that unfortunately will never be repeated.
Hey Chris. I didn’t know about Eddie Piller and Sam Remzi so thanks for sharing that. I just looked up Eddie Piller and saw he co-founded Acid Jazz records with Gilles Peterson. Interesting. Blue Note was legendary. Such a shame Hackney Council took the licence away. I guess the newer locals – who moved there for the vibe – decided they no longer wanted that vibe!
I remember. I was there in ’98 for some drum and bass. Aba Shanti was in the house. “Have you heard the word? Legalize herb!!!” The memories….
Wow blast from the past. I worked at a due diligence / document review company on the square for a very short time in 1997 while waiting for my training contract to begin – can’t remember the name of the company – but I DO remember the Blue Note! A little oasis…