Denmark Street - Hidden London Denmark Street, off Charing Cross Road , WC2 Some businesses left Denmark Street during its ‘regeneration’ Denmark Street was laid out in 1687 and named in honour of Prince George of Denmark, who had married Queen Anne four years earlier. Eight of the street’s original properties survive today – and two of these were upgraded from grade II to grade II* listing in 2016. The street is situated in the area once known as St Giles’s , which was long a centre for the printing and distri­bution of ballad sheets, also known as broadsides, which were then sold far and wide by itinerant hawkers. The 20th-​​century successor to the broadside trade was the publication of sheet music and the first such publisher to set up shop in Denmark Street was Lawrence Wright (who also composed under the name Horatio Nicholls), in 1911. He began in the basement of number 8 and after the First World War moved to 19 Denmark Street – which he named Wright House. Wright founded the Melody Maker magazine here in 1926, mainly as a vehicle to promote his own songs.

Soon afterwards the publishers Campbell Connelly moved from Tottenham Court Road to Denmark Street and it began to gain a reputation as London’s Tin Pan Alley, a nickname borrowed from the area around New York’s West 28th Street. By the 1940s most of London’s music publishers were located here and business thrived. This geographical concen­tration had a sound economic rationale. Professional singers (who in those days rarely wrote their own material) would regularly make the rounds of all the publishers, listening to their latest songs and choosing which they wanted to perform, so it made sense for the rivals to be located in close proximity to each other. The New Musical Express, which became the Melody Maker’s great rival and ultimately absorbed it, was launched at 5 Denmark Street in 1952. Two years later, Ralph Elman, a session violinist, opened a recording studio in the street. Regent Sound followed in 1962 and soon almost every square foot of Denmark Street was devoted to rock and pop music, with publishers in upstairs offices (no longer requiring shop windows to display their wares), instrument and equipment retailers at street level, repairers in rear workshops and recording studios in basements.

Just open your ears and follow your nose ’Cos the street is shakin’ from the tapping of toes The Kinks, ‘Denmark Street’ (1970) Many of London’s greatest musical acts rehearsed or made early recordings in Denmark Street, including the Kinks, the Rolling Stones, the Small Faces, David Bowie (who even lived on the street in a camper van for a while) and the Sex Pistols. From further afield, Paul Simon, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder and Bob Marley also recorded here. The Giaconda Café, which was at number 9, was the musicians’ favourite haunt. Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Pete Townshend bought guitars at Rhodes Music. Although it’s not what it once was, Denmark Street is still London’s prime location for the sale and repair of musical instruments, but what remains of its unique character is being further eroded by the regen­eration scheme accom­panying the impending arrival of the Elizabeth line (Crossrail) at Tottenham Court Road station.

The developers stated that no buildings would be demolished on Denmark Street itself, that existing retailers would be retained and that construction work would be phased so that they could stay open and keep trading throughout the process. However, some businesses have since closed or moved elsewhere – though most still appear to be thriving. Selected addresses: Hanks acoustic guitar shop (shown above), 27 Denmark Street, London WC2H 8NJ Regent Sounds Studios (now a guitar and amp shop), 4 Denmark Street, London WC2H 8LP 12 Bar Club, 26 Denmark Street, London WC2H 8NL Nearest station: Tottenham Court Road (Central and Northern Lines) History Denmark Street Copyright © 2011 Contact: denmarkstreet@sfr.fr Tel: +33 612 883 957 Denmark Street’s History London's "Tin Pan Alley" is quite simply Europe’s best music street, filled with specialist music shops and thronging with people passionate about music. There’s hardly a rock and roll legend that hasn’t visited at some time. Music history has been made here; Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles recorded in the basements...

Elton John wrote the classic Your Song on the rooftops... Denmark Street is a short narrow road in central London , notable for its connections with British popular music , and is known as “ the British Tin Pan Alley “. The road connects Charing Cross Road at its western end with St Giles High Street at its eastern end. Denmark Street is in the London Borough of Camden . Denmark Street appears on surveys from the 1730s. The area around it was known as 'the Rookery ', a part of London that had developed in the 18th century as an unplanned slum to the west of the City. Though much of the area was cleared by the end of the 19th century, Denmark Street is one of the few roads in London to retain 17th century terraced facades on both sides. A small court connected by passages (known as Denmark Place) runs along the back of the north side of the street. In short, Denmark Street is forever associated with music. Earning the nickname of London’s Tin Pan Alley in the 1920s, musicians have flocked to this renowned corner of Soho since its origins as a sheet music supplier in Victorian times.

Most of the buildings date from the 1800s when it was considered a fairly inferior area with its proximity to the theatres and pubs of Soho. Rents were cheap, attracting struggling artists, composers, and musicians. Music publishers set up their businesses here around the 1890s, supplying the musicians of the orchestras at nearby theatres and music halls. In the 1930s, shop windows displayed pianos and guitars and the street was becoming renowned for music publishing. In the 1950s and 60s it was where songwriters and publishers were located. In the late 1950s in the cafes around Denmark Street Lionel Bart, writer of the musical "Oliver!", heard the latest R&B brought over by young London Merchant Navy men and was inspired to knock out early British Rock and Roll hits for the publishers of Denmark Street. Venues on Denmark Street have strong connections with the histories of British jazz , rhythm and blues and punk music . Recording studios started setting up in the 1960s, and it was then that Denmark Street’s name was etched into the archives.

Denmark Street’s impact on the contemporary music scene is widely regarded as far greater than the more populist location of Abbey Road. In 1963 ” The Regent Sounds Studio “ was set up at 4 Denmark Street. With The Rolling Stones recording their first album here, the studio took off as the place to be seen to be making music. Many entertainers including Donovan and Jimi Hendrix made their first recording at Regent Sounds Studios. Now home to the specialist music bookshop Helter Skelter, anecdotes abound of The Kinks and ELP recording here in the basements. Denmark Street is the name of a song on the Kinks' 1970 album Lola versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One. In 1970 Elton John wrote "Your Song", his first hit single, in Denmark Street. He then mentioned the street in his 1974 song "Bitter Fingers" off his Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy album. Later, The Sex Pistols lived above number 6, and recorded their first demos there. The street contains London's largest cluster of music shops.

The studio was supplied with the latest in 1970s music technology, with a reverb room at the back of the present day bookshop, and a cutting-edge 16-track machine housed in the basement that drew the likes of Stevie Wonder in 1974.The studio closed in the late 70s, becoming a comic bookstore The Forbidden Planet, before opening as Helter Skelter in 1995. As well as publishing their own titles and moving heaven and earth to get you that rare tome in record time, the specialist store also houses an impressive range showcasing the genre - biographies, anthologies, tributes, and retrospectives - making it an essential destination for music lovers. Ever since David Bowie notoriously set up residence in a camper van on the street near his studios, celebrity musicians have flocked here. Bob Marley famously bought his very first guitar here and Lou Reed whiled away many a "perfect day". Noel Gallagher, Paul Weller, Andy Kershaw, Eric Clapton and The Beatles’s producer George Martin are frequent visitors. The now defunct Giaconda Café became the place to relax, drink and mingle with like-minded musicians and workers in the industry.

The Sex Pistols even took up residence here in the mid-1970s. It functioned as almost a recruitment center for jobbing musicians seeking work the easy way. Producers were renowned for coming to the café to find musicians to join their bands. A niche community developed which still remains today, in the friendly atmosphere of a street with a shared enthusiasm - or more accurately, obsession! And there’s always music wafting from basements, shop windows and balconies. The street still houses recording studios, publishers and even manufacturers. Orange Music Electronics Company has a long history of supplying amps and electrical goods throughout the world - all from a basement in Denmark Street. Many of the present day music shops have a long musical history. Rose Morris at number 11 was set up in 1919 by Charles and Leslie Rose and Victor Morris, expanding to six floors of musical instruments and printed music. In the late 1960s, Rhodes opened at number 22, making it one of the oldest guitar shops in the country. The London PA Centre at number 23 is home to a vast range of musical electrical supplies, as well as a black-caped and evidently musical resident Victorian ghost!

Denmark Street in popular culture 1950s ▪In the 1950s and 60s it was where songwriters and publishers were located. ▪In the late 1950s in the cafes around Denmark Street Lionel Bart, writer of the musical "Oliver!", heard the latest R&B brought over by young London Merchant Navy men and was inspired to knock out early British Rock and Roll hits for the publishers of Denmark Street. Regent Sound Studios Music shop in Denmark Street 1960s ▪ The Rolling Stones recorded their first album at Regent Sounds Studios on Denmark Street in 1964. ▪Regular Denmark Street session muso's included: Jimmy Page, Big Jim Sullivan, Colin Falconer, Ray Smith, Geoff Livingstone, Jerry Donahue . ▪Many entertainers including Donovan and Jimi Hendrix made their first recording at Regent Sounds Studios. ▪ George Harrison of The Beatles bought a nylon string acoustic guitar on Denmark street to play on the song "Till There Was You" on their second album With The Beatles 1970s ▪In 1970 Elton John wrote " Your Song ", his first hit single, in Denmark Street.

He mentioned the street in his 1974 song "Bitter Fingers" on the semi-autobiographical concept album [Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy]. London's Forgotten Disasters: The Denmark Street Fire | Londonist London's Forgotten Disasters: The Denmark Street Fire By M@ Last edited 51 months ago M@ London's Forgotten Disasters: The Denmark Street Fire On the evening of 16 August 1980, a fire ripped through two nightclubs on Denmark Street. 37 people were killed. This was London's worst fire since the Second World War , more deadly even than the famous King's Cross fire seven years later. Although the conflagration took place just yards from Centre Point on one of London's most famous streets, and within the lifetime of many readers, we suspect that few will know about it. Wikipedia makes no mention . Nor does the London Encyclopedia. Denmark Street, also known as Tin Pan Alley, is famed for its musical connections . Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, the Sex Pistols and many others lived or recorded tracks down this short street. To this day, it's lined with guitar shops, small venues and other musical distractions.

Back in the early '80s, the street had a reputation for unlicensed nightclubs and illegal gambling dens. Two in particular — Rodo's and El Hueco — were popular with immigrant workers from South America, attracted to one of London's first salsa spots. Both clubs were illegal and were scheduled for closure by authorities just two days later. 150 people were packed into the three-storey building that night. One of their number was thrown out for fighting; the front door was locked behind him. Disgruntled, he returned with a can of petrol, poured it through the letterbox and started a fire. With dozens of people locked inside, in what were essentially wooden buildings, and with no proper fire escape, tragedy was inevitable. John Withington, in his excellent book London's Disasters , describes the horrific scenes that awaited Soho's fire brigade: "One fire officer said 'People seem to have died on the spot without even having time to move an inch.' Some were slumped at tables. Seven were at the bar and appear to have fallen as they stood, with drinks still in their hands." The desperation of those trapped inside is shocking, and you may want to skip the next quote.

"Some people had ripped shutters from the windows and broken the glass with their bare hands, then jumped to the ground with their clothes on fire, smashing bones. Survivors spoke of the screaming, the skin peeling off faces, of trying to get out by the back door but finding it locked." The blaze claimed 37 lives. It was the most fatal peacetime fire in central London since Medieval days. Yet, as we saw with the Colney Hatch fire , the victims, illegal immigrants for the most part, were from an under-appreciated sector of society. Many of the survivors, including the injured, walked away from the scene, not wanting to attract the attention of the authorities. The tragedy was soon forgotten by most people. As far as we know, it is not commemorated by any memorial. We should finish by acknowledging that the horrific events of that night are, of course, not forgotten by the survivors and the relatives of those who perished. And, doubtless, a fair few readers will remember the news reports of the time. But we suspect that this appalling event will be utterly unknown to most Londoners.

It certainly has far less resonance than the King's Cross Tube fire which, although devastating in its own right, killed fewer people. For this reason, we don't feel uncomfortable including such a recent tragedy in our series on “forgotten” disasters. It deserves to be more widely known. See also: You know Wikipedia can be edited by anyone, right? HoosierSands The fire was actually on Denmark Place, the little alley just north of the buildings on Denmark Street. The fire brigade apparently had some difficulty getting their vehicles in (if they ever did) because of the narrow access. This crime was a dreadful incident and merits some form of commemoration. Just to clarify the perpetrator, John Thompson, sentenced to life for this, wasn't South American or an illegal immigrant by the way. Hooligan Just caught up with this thread. There is quite a detailed report on this in a book called "Salsa For People Who Probably Shouldn't" by Matt Rendell. Mainstream Publishing 2011.

Nicola Reid My dad was one of the men killed in this fire,his name was alexander smith reid,I was 5 :( MichelleC HI everyone, I know this is a long shot, but I am trying to find out about someone who died in the fire. His name was Badereddin El Bulati, he was a Libyan national, working in London - if anyone remembers him could you let me know, his son only recently found out how his father died and he is desperate to find out more information. Many thanks. ps does anyone know which police station investigated the fire - was it Soho, Met? Angela Smith Reid Hi there my name is Angela Smith Reid my dad Alexander Smith Reid died in that fire my mum was 4mths pregnant with me at the time so i never got to meet my dad my two older sisters remember him my big brother was a yr old 3days after my dad died so he didn't remember him either, if anyone knew my dad it would be nice to hear what he was like.. Sadly my big brother passed away on the same month my dad died he would of been 23 2wks after died (they are together now) so august isn't a good month for us..

I would like to thank the people who are trying to get a memorial plaque put up on Denmark Place for all of our loved & lost one's, thank you so much for taking the time to try & make this happen.. I have been looking for information about what happened that night for yrs & I've never found a thing about it, if it wasn't for the tiny bit about it in the paper when it happened i would of been questioning whether it was true or not because there was nothing about it, which is terrible!!!! So again thankyou so much for xx dawn My father died in this fire, I would really like to find more information on this, can anyone point me in the right direction please? Suki I'm trying to find the daughter and son(Bernice and Barnaby) of Christine who also died in this fire, I was told after their mothers death they were moved to Australia? I would love to hear from them, we were very close growing up together (Wandsworth road) we were devastated when they moved away. Christine was my mothers best friend and my mother would had been with her that night but she couldn't get a babysitter.

(Thanks god) RIP to those that lost their lives and my condolences to those who've lost a friend/family member x Mel By Gods grace I was not in the Spanish rooms that night - I used to go in there when I couldn't get home until the morning - it was cheaper than getting a cab. I was in Amsterdam when the fire happened. This is the first time I have found anything concrete about victims etc as all that was on the internet was a posting from the London Fire Journal. I think I met Alex - was he Scottish - also Scottish Mary who may have been Maria - she had short blonde hair and was always with a younger companion also with short blonde hair. The Spanish Rooms was full of characters who tended to live on the edge. I remember one lady of the night - a black woman who always wore an Afro wig - I believe she died but I don't remember her name - she was only in her twenties and she was a warm and wonderful person - I've always felt so sad about this fire - its as if the people never existed in the first place. What happened to Victor? Simon Usborne Hello anyone reading this. And apologies for bombarding people in this comments thread with messages.

I am a writer at The Independent and am researching this fire, being similarly surprised by how it seems to have been forgotten, and have found it difficult to find survivors and families of victims. If any of you want to contact me, please don't hesitate. s.usborne@independent.co.uk is probably the best way to start. Kind regards, Simon Tracey Carroll My uncle Leonard Carroll died in the fire. And even after all these years I still can't get over it 😔 GHPB I went there today, and they have finishing tearing it down. Just a big old hole in the ground. JRNorway Fernando Hi first of all RIP to all the souls that lost their lives that night. I read a section of that book by Mat Rendall and I discovered that may parents had shared the same living quaters as one of the latin DJs that were living at 21 Glendhow road. They had also got to know his girlfriend at the time who also perished that night. I would really like to find out more and possibly push as a group a documentary to be made if that was ever possible before.

Most of the latin community do not know about this incident, yet I feel its also part of our history in London.Thank you. Denmark Street: remembering its rich legacy Mick Brown 27 September 2015 • 8:00am Walking its barely one hundred yards length today, it is hard to hear the echoes of Denmark Street as the birthplace of the British music business. The guitar shops that once lined both sides of the street are dwindling in number. The music publishers, managers and agents that once occupied virtually every office in every building on the street have long gone – as have the studios where David Bowie , the Rolling Stones, Donovan and the Kinks made their first recordings. The dingy basement club where Adele, Jeff Buckley and scores of other artists got their early breaks is boarded up. Brick dust and the clamour of heavy building equipment now fill the air. Less than 50 yards away the land has been laid waste to make way for the Crossrail development , scheduled to open in 2018.

Part of a conservation area with a number of listed buildings, the fabric of Denmark Street itself is to be preserved; the developers have made assurances that existing music businesses will be retained, and the street’s musical heritage respected. But campaigners and tenants talk darkly of the prospect of Denmark Street being “Disneyfied” into a characterless tourist destination – another of London’s endangered neighbourhoods. Nostalgia, of course, is an essential currency of popular music – memories are made of songs – and, as George Harrison sang, all things must pass. That’s George Harrison of the Beatles, whose priceless catalogue of material was handled by a music publisher named Dick James. He retired counting his blessings, and his royalties, ever grateful for the day early in 1963 when Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ manager, walked into his Denmark Street office, having been stood up by another publisher, and offered James the group’s publishing rights – almost for a song.

The Rolling Stones outside the Tin Pan Alley Club in 1963 Credit: Getty As Ray Davies of the Kinks put it in his ironic tribute song to the street, “You go to a publisher and play him your song/He says, ‘I hate your music and your hair is too long/But I’ll sign you up because I’d hate to be wrong.’” “It’s definitely not what it was,” the songwriter Guy Fletcher says. “In those days everybody who was anybody in the business was on Denmark Street.” We are sitting in the cafe Giaconda – or rather what used to be the Giaconda, once the favourite meeting place for publishers, singers and writers in search of a deal or a break, where you could stand your spoon in the frothy coffee, and almost choke on the cigarette smoke. Horse-trading, the hustle and the sort of conviviality that could be properly understood only by men who could drink a horse under the table and still spot a hit tune at 50 paces, were the lifeblood of Denmark Street.

"No developer is going to plan a dirty little basement bar, but Denmark Street is unique and its spirit needs to be preserved" La Giaconda is now a steak restaurant – and a rather good one, but it doesn’t serve coffee, we are told. Fletcher sighs. What’s the world coming to? Fletcher arrived in Denmark Street in 1964, to work for the music publisher Keith Prowse. Shortly after his arrival his boss called him to look out of the window. Peering out from his third-floor office, Fletcher could see every window of every building was flung open, people craning their necks to look down the street. Walking down the middle of the road at a regal pace was a man dressed in an ankle-length camel-hair overcoat and a Homburg hat, with a rose in his lapel, accompanied by a retinue of flunkies. As he processed down the street the man was waving up at the craning heads, a king accepting the obeisance of his subjects.

The songwriter Jimmy Kennedy in 1976 Credit: Times Newspapers The man was Jimmy Kennedy, the writer of such songs as The Hokey Cokey , Red Sails in the Sunset, Teddy Bears’ Picnic and Love Is like a Violin – as well as other, less celebrated numbers such as They’re Moving Father’s Grave To Build a Sewer. “The Hokey Cokey, Teddy Bears’ Picnic…” Fletcher says, laughing. “These are songs that just exist: you can’t imagine that someone actually wrote them.”Nor can one imagine just how much in royalties the titles must have accrued. Guy Fletcher had been a backing singer for the record producer Joe Meek, a tormented, saturnine figure who in his tiny studio above a leather-goods shop in north London recorded a string of hits in the early 1960s, including Johnny Remember Me and Telstar (improbably, Margaret Thatcher’s favourite tune). Reasoning that there was more money to be made from songwriting, Fletcher took the step to Denmark Street. With his co-writer, Doug Flett, he would pen hits for Cliff Richard , the Hollies and Tom Jones, and become the first British songwriters to have their work recorded by Elvis Presley.

Denmark street today Credit: Rick Pushinsky Keith Prowse Music (KPM) was a family business run by a man named Jimmy Philips. One day in 1954 Philips instructed his son, Peter, that a special visitor would be arriving at 6 o’clock. Peter was to let him in and offer him a drink before bringing him to Philips’s office. At the appointed hour Peter opened the door to find Charlie Chaplin standing on the pavement outside. He duly ushered Chaplin up to his father’s office, from where Philips and Chaplin emerged two hours later having written the lyrics for Smile. The song would become the biggest-seller in the company’s catalogue, and be recorded by dozens of artists, including Michael Jackson. It was sung at Jackson’s funeral by his brother Jermaine. Until the early 1960s, much of the popular music heard on the radio was performed live by dance bands and orchestras, and KPM, like every other Denmark Street publisher, had built its fortunes largely on the sales of sheet music. Fletcher recalls seeing an elderly man in a brown overall churning out sheet music from a small litho printer in the basement.

Printed at the top were the words tears, as recorded by ken dodd, price 2s 6d. Tears would become the biggest-selling single of 1965. “It hit me like a hammer,” Fletcher says. “This was a licence to print money. The composers got 10 per cent of sheet music sales, all the rest went to the publishers. They were printing thousand of sheets an hour, at a cost of next to nothing. We sold 250,000 copies of Tears.” The earliest buildings on Denmark Street date from the late 17th century, the street named in honour of Prince George of Denmark, who in 1683 married the future Queen Anne. In the 18th century, the area around it was known as the Rookery, the scene of Hogarth’s Gin Lane and the haunt of reprobates and thieves. The street first became associated with music in the 1900s, when its cheap rents and proximity to the West End theatres began to attract music publishers, selling their songs and sheet music to impresarios, band leaders and arrangers.

They were followed by variety agents, managers and promoters; by the 1940s Denmark Street had become the centre of London’s music business, nicknamed Tin Pan Alley after its bigger, more boisterous counterpart in New York. Andrew Loog Oldham, who produced the Rolling Stones' first album, in a Denmark Street studio in 1964 Credit: Getty “Short, shabby Denmark Street, just off Charing Cross Road, an inhospitable place, full of brutish men,” as Andrew Loog Oldham – the man who discovered and managed the Rolling Stones – described it in his memoirs 2Stoned: “The wooden hanging signs that denoted the five or six music publishers per square foot swayed in the afternoon breeze, eerily reminding one of Shylocks and pawnbrokers, while the storefront windows were flooded with the sheet music of the day.

The piano copies were fronted by 8 x 10 glossy shots of young, tousled men with eight-quid guitars and crucifixes, worried 30ish crooners in cardigans and sucking on pipes à la Bing Crosby, and/or wasp-waisted, flair-skirted, peroxide-topped, smiling damsels of song.” Oldham first visited the street in the late 1950s, when as a schoolboy at Wellingborough, infatuated with the “Nabob of Sob”, Johnnie Ray (Oldham wore a piece of string in his ear as a tribute to Ray’s hearing-aid), he attempted to broker a song he had written called Boomerang Rock, knocking on every door and being sent away with a flea in his ear. "It always seemed to me that there were a lot of dustbins lining the pavements - probably full of rejected songs" Credit: Alamy He would return in triumph a few years later to a small basement recording studio called Regent Sound, “no larger than an average good-sized hotel room”, where in 1964 he produced the first album by the Rolling Stones , and their single Not Fade Away.

The basement is now a bar, accessed by a narrow metal staircase flanked by a wall papered with fading copies of Melody Maker from the 1950s. Both Melody Maker and New Musical Express once had offices on the street. Directly opposite was the office of Mills Music, where in 1965 17-year-old Reggie Dwight got his first job in the music business, parcelling up sheet music and making tea – a period he would commemorate as Elton John in the song Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy with the lines, “Two teas both with sugar please, in the back of an alley.” It was around the same time that Lucien Salama, a costing clerk whose hobby was making home movies of the streets of London, happened to be filming on Denmark Street. Ten years ago Lucien’s son Joe was transferring his father’s collection of cine film to DVD when he noticed something striking: an unmistakeable figure – tall, slim and elegantly dressed in a light grey Carnaby Street suit – walks into the frame.

Noticing that he is being filmed, he smiles at the camera, as he will smile at a million cameras in the future – as if it is his destiny to be recognised and captured for immortality. Eighteen-year-old David Jones, or David Bowie , as he would later become, was a regular visitor to Denmark Street. A few months earlier, at Central Sound Studios, in the basement of number 9, he had made one of his first recordings with his group the Manish Boys, a cover version of the R&B song Hello Stranger (which was never released), and he was regularly to be found next door in the Giaconda, trading dreams and tales of woe with a Small Face or a Kink or two. The songwriter Geoff Stephens (Semi-Detached Suburban Mr James, the Hollies hit Sorry Suzanne, Winchester Cathedral), worked at Southern Music (number 8 on the street). Like many of his contemporaries, at around midday Stephens would make the short, brisk stroll to the Royal George pub on Charing Cross Road , where a group of songwriters and producers would spend the next three hours drinking and playing darts. “I think you’d call it networking today,” he says.

Among them was Mickie Most, who would produce hits by the Animals, Herman’s Hermits, Suzi Quatro and many others, and a man named Mike Smith, who worked in the A&R department at Decca Records. It was Smith who had supervised the abortive recording of David Jones and the Manish Boys, failing to see the star that Jones would become. But he was haunted by an even greater loss. “Mike’s boss was Dick Rowe,” Stephens remembers. “Mike had two acts he wanted to sign up. One was Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, and the other was the Beatles . Dick Rowe said to him, you can only sign one of them. So he signed Brian Poole and the Tremeloes on the strength of the fact that they lived near him in Barking in Essex.” The Tomcats, produced by Bill Wyman, on Denmark Street, 1964 At 3pm Stephens would stroll back along Denmark Street. “It always seemed to me,” he recalls, “that there were a lot of dustbins lining the pavements – probably full of songs that had been rejected, sheet music that had failed to sell.” Number 6 is a palimpsest of Denmark Street’s history.

One of the properties built in the late 17th century by Nicholas Barbon, a developer described as “notoriously unscrupulous”, it was variously occupied over the years by a silversmith, a tailor’s and a hairdresser’s. Between 1946 and 1987 the ground floor was a bookshop, Zeno’s; a workshop at the back housed a jukebox repair business. The premises are now occupied by a music shop, No.Tom, an Aladdin’s cave of classic and vintage guitars: there is a Zemaitis acoustic guitar made for Ronnie Lane for £25,000; a Gibson Les Paul for £19,995; and a pair of National Steel guitars from the 1930s, as sleek and gleaming as Airstream trailers. "We took offices in Denmark Street but everybody had packed up and gone to west London years before" Credit: Rick Pushinsky The owner, Ronnie Smith, leads the way into a courtyard at the back and up rickety stairs to an attic office space.

In the early 1970s this was occupied by the group Badfinger, who wrote Without You, which was a hit for Harry Nilsson. In 1976 a boutique-owner named Malcolm McLaren rented the rooms, where a group he had put together called the Sex Pistols rehearsed while rats scurried across the floor. Two of them, Steve Jones and Paul Cook, slept there. When the Sex Pistols moved out, they left behind walls scrawled with graffiti, still intact and with something of the exotic mystery, if not the artistic refinement, of Paleolithic cave paintings. There are crude drawings of “Fatty Jones” Sid Vicious and his ill-fated inamorata “Nanny Spunger”; a caricature of McLaren clutching pound notes, captioned “Muggerage”, and a cry of angst: “Depressedd Miserable Tired Ill Sick Booed & Bored”. Jones would later admit that the premises were particularly convenient for stealing downstairs under cover of darkness, smashing the window of a neighbouring guitar shop and helping himself. Happy days!

By the late 1970s the publishers and agents, the men in camel-hair coats and Homburg hats, had largely gone. The guitar stores had been joined by a betting shop and a job centre – where the serial killer Dennis Nilsen once worked. The drinking clubs had become even more disreputable. In August 1980 fire swept through a building on Denmark Place, the pedestrian alleyway at the back of Denmark Street housing two illegal drinking clubs, killing 37 people. It had been started by a disgruntled customer who had been thrown out for fighting. “People seem to have died on the spot,” a fire officer reported. Several were found with drinks in their hands, having apparently fallen where they stood. The 12 Bar Club, which relocated to north London earlier this year, after more than two decades at number 26 Denmark Street Credit: Alamy In 1989 Eddie Piller, who had recently founded a record label, Acid Jazz, moved into offices at num-ber 21, which had formerly been occupied by EMI Music . “Everybody said that’s where the music business was based,” he recalls.

“Of course it wasn’t – everybody had packed up and gone to west London years before. It was just a load of empty offices with very cheap rents.” Piller also took over the basement recording studio next door, which had been damaged in the 1980 fire. “No one had bothered doing it up. So we rebuilt it. I had some performance artists who basically spent a weekend taking Mexican hallucinogenics, stripped naked and painted it in Aboriginal art style. It looked very conducive to the kind of recordings we were doing at the time.” Piller’s mother had run the Small Faces fan club in the 1960s, and the group’s drummer, Kenny Jones, donated a drum kit and showed Piller how to arrange the microphones to get the best sound. Over the next couple of years Piller would record Jamiroquai, the Brand New Heavies and Gregory Isaacs there. In 1992 Piller and Acid Jazz moved out of Denmark Street, to Shoreditch. His old studio – Denmark Street Studios, as it is now known – is still in business: Mumford & Sons and Noah and the Whale are among those to have used it in recent times.

But that and the guitar shops aside, the music business has all but died on Denmark Street. Earlier this year the 12 Bar Club, a sweaty cellar that had hosted live music for more than 20 years, closed down after the building was condemned. Since 1994 Denmark Street, and the area around it, has been owned by the London property company Consolidated Developments. Denmark street today Credit: Alamy Crossrail will turn the area into one of the busiest urban hubs in the world, with an estimated 500,000 to 600,000 people a day moving through the piazza above the new station. The area immediately behind Denmark Street will be dominated by the so-called Now building, incorporating a vast atrium called the Outernet, a 50ft-high space that will be covered with 20,000sq ft of electronic screens, beaming information, news and advertisements.

Laurence Kirschel, the chairman of Consolidated, says he intends to maintain Denmark Street as “a living exhibit of British music history”; Denmark Place, which has already being cleared, is being turned into an arcade that will feature a “virtual walk of fame” of British musicians, and what Kirschel describes as “an authentic fish and chip shop” and “a rock’n’roll tattoo artist”. There will be an entrance into a subterranean 2,000-seat music venue – “the first new music venue to be built in the West End since the war”, according to Kirschel – while an area behind the buildings on the other side of Denmark Street is being developed to include a hotel and club for musicians, provisionally named Chateau Denmark, after the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood. Denmark Street itself will be lined with blue heritage plaques, from which information about the artists concerned can be downloaded. Local planning regulations stipulate that a number of buildings along the street must be retained for what is described as “Tin Pan Alley uses” – music-related businesses including shops, instrument makers, publishers and agents.

Refurbishment of some properties has already begun, but Kirschel says that he is committed to the music shops remaining there. “We’ve proved our position by keeping the street music-related for the last 21 years. We could have emptied the whole street at any time over that period if we had that intention, but we haven’t, and we will continue to ensure those music shops stay in business, because that’s what Denmark Street is.” The Save Tin Pan Alley campaign was founded by Henry Scott-Irvine, a music-documentary producer and writer, and supported by a number of prominent music business figures, as well as the area’s former MP, Frank Dobson. Regent Sounds Studio on the street today Credit: Rick Pushinsky Scott-Irvine is concerned that while the fabric of the street will be preserved, its “content and character” will change, and the upstairs premises where music publishers once wheeled and dealed could become “elitist flats for the millionaire classes”. He would like to see the street designated a “music zone”, with rents and rates at an affordable level. A proposal for zero rates for all music-related businesses on the street has been tabled by Sue Vincent, a councillor for the local authority, Camden.

But some shop owners remain concerned for the future. The brothers Joe and Larry Macari opened the first guitar shop on Denmark Street, in around 1963. In music circles Macari’s is particularly famous for its Tone Bender Fuzz Pedal, as used by Jimmy Page , Jeff Beck, Mick Ronson and many more. The shop is now owned by Joe and Larry’s sons, Anthony and Steve. “The developers have made noises that we’ll be OK,” Anthony says, “but nobody has told me what the rent will be. We’d like to stay. But it has to be economically possible to do so.” The struggle for Denmark’s Street soul is, in many ways, the classic one between sentiment and business. In music, as Jimmy Kennedy knew, sentiment is good for business: “Love is like a violin/With its strings around your heart/Soft and sweet as dreams begin…” In property development, soft, sweet dreams are less of a priority. Perhaps blue plaques, a “rock’n’roll tattooist” and the Chateau Denmark are preferable to total oblivion. As Macari points out, “No developer is going to come along and say, we’re planning a dirty little basement bar, scrawled with graffiti.

I’m not so stupid as to think that things don’t change. But Denmark Street is unique and its spirit needs to be preserved.” Macari has another shop, just around the corner on Charing Cross Road. American tourists, he says, frequently come in asking where they might find number 84, the address of the famous bookshop that inspired the book and film of the same name. “I have to tell them it’s now a McDonald’s.” Follow Telegraph Music Premium 08 Dec 2016, 3:04pm Not pretty, not vacant: Sex Pistols' London home given listed status | Music | The Guardian Sex Pistols Not pretty, not vacant: Sex Pistols' London home given listed status House where band lived in 70s is decorated with graffiti drawn by John Lydon, and has been awarded second highest form of listing Interior decorator … John Lydon in 1976.

Photograph: Tony McGrath for the Observer Tuesday 22 March 2016 05.25 EDT First published on Tuesday 22 March 2016 04.41 EDT Close This article is 10 months old Punks may have been the sworn enemies of government and all its institutions but that is not stopping the heritage body Historic England bestowing on them a rare privilege. It has announced Grade II* listing status for two 17th-century townhouses in Denmark Street, London, one of which was a base for the Sex Pistols in the mid-1970s. The outbuilding of 6 Denmark Street also still has fascinating traces of the Pistols in the form of unflattering caricatures and graffiti made by John Lydon, cheery reflections such as: ”DEPRESSED MISERABLE TIRED ILL SICK BOOED & BORED.” Pinterest John Lydon’s drawing of the Sex Pistols manager, Malcolm McLaren. Photograph: Historic England He also drew his bandmates and manager, Malcolm McLaren, who is given the title Muggeridge, after Malcolm Muggeridge , and is shown with a fistful of cash.

The drawings, too, get extra protection as 6 and 7 Denmark Street are upgraded by the government from Grade II to Grade II*, the second highest category that only 5.5% of listed buildings are in. The action may be freighted with irony but Posy Metz, the listings adviser who assessed the buildings, said she did not see a conflict between the Pistols’ anti-establishment stance and listing. “The purpose of listing is to flag things which are of historical and cultural importance and I think punk is a really important part of our cultural history and including it in the listing is a way of recognising that. “The alternative is saying: let’s forget all about punk because they don’t want to be remembered as part of our history.” Pinterest No 6 Denmark Street, which now houses a vintage guitar shop. Photograph: Historic England She said it was important that people who did not live through the punk era should be aware of it as an important cultural phenomenon. “Punk can teach us a lot in our modern lives in terms of freedom of expression and not conforming ... it is really important these things are understood and valued.” Metz also stressed that, while important, it was not the main reason for the listing.

That was the remarkably well preserved architectural detail, fittings and character of the two buildings, she said. “Punk was not the clincher but it certainly adds a layer of interest.” The buildings are two of eight original buildings, dating from 1686 to 1691, to survive on the street. They would have been built for the middle classes but during the 18th and 19th century the area became a notorious slum, which may, in heritage terms, have been a good thing in that there were no wealthy owners updating and upgrading them. By the 19th century the houses began to be used commercially with shops and, in the outhouses, metal-working businesses. Pinterest A pop group arrives for a recording session in Denmark Street, back when it was known as London’s Tin Pan Alley. Photograph: PA In the 20th century, music publishers began moving in – Melody Maker was founded there in 1926 – and by the 1960s and 70s Denmark Street was at the heart of the British music industry. Denmark Street, nicknamed Tin Pan Alley, has many musical claims to fame.

It was where the Rolling stones recorded their first album; where David Bowie camped in a converted ambulance hoping to meet the right people ; and where Elton John, on a roof, wrote Your Song. And, crucially, between 1975-77 it was where Malcolm McLaren took a lease on the outbuilding of No 6, the downstairs used as a studio and the upstairs, for a time, as somewhere for Steve Jones and Glen Matlock to live. London's music scene rocked by the death of Denmark Street Read more The listing is announced in the 40th anniversary year of punk with a number of events and exhibitions organised under the umbrella of Punk London . The celebrations have horrified the son of McLaren, Joe Corrée, who last week vowed to burn his collection of punk memorabilia, worth an estimated £5m, on 26 November to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the release of Anarchy in the UK. He said punk had been appropriated by the mainstream.

“Rather than a movement for change, punk has become like a fucking museum piece or a tribute act.” Denmark Street | Music Heritage UK - A Charity to Promote, Protect & Preserve Contact Save Denmark Street Music Heritage UK is proud to be supporting the campaign to save Denmark Street, also known as London's "Tin Pan Alley". London's Denmark Street should require no introduction. The street became known for housing numerous music publishers, which is why the street is known as Britain's "Tin Pan Alley", before being replaced in the 1960s with music shops and independent recording studios. Denmark Street was home to Regent Sounds Studio which saw recording sessions by the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Mott the Hoople, and Black Sabbath. Meanwhile musicians like The Small Faces, David Bowie and Marc Bolan socialised at the Gioconda Cafe and Elton John got his first job in music on the street. The Sex Pistols lived in a flat above a studio where they recorded their first songs/demos at Number 6. In 2011, graffitti by the Sex Pistols was rediscovered on site.

In 1994, 12 Bar Club opened its doors and became a popular new music and punk venue, as well as a legendary late night alternative venue in the centre of London. Two years later Consolidated Developments bought up property on and around the north side of the street. The arrival of Crossrail and a new train station at Tottenham Court Road led to the destruction of the Astoria, LA2 and Metro Club, three iconic London venues and alternative landmarks which closed in 2009. Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone agreed that a new venue would be built nearby to replace the Astoria. In 2013, Consolidated Developments' plans to redevelop the north side area were approved by Camden Council. These plans include a new mid-sized music venue and work on the Denmark Street buildings. Crucially, Camden ensures that the retail and commercial units be restricted to "Tin Pan Alley" uses only. In 2014, the 12 Bar Club are given notice and move to a new building on Holloway Road in January 2015, as building work towards the rear of the north side of Denmark Street starts.

The Save Denmark Street campaign is now focused on attracting as many music businesses back to the street as possible, while urging the council to recognise the special nature of the street and its businesses with rate exemptions. The campaign is also focusing on ensuring Camden Council do not accept subsequent Planning Amendment Applications which might potentially water down the planning protection for this special street. The Campaign would like to see Denmark Street's special status formerly recognised as a music or heritage zone. Put simply... if we let Denmark Street die then there's not much hope for the rest of the country's popular music heritage. News Updates: Full news and updates can be found on Henry Scott-Irvine's dedicated campaign site . December 2016 - Tin Pan Alley Tales crowdfunding campaign ends raising more than £22,000 towards film's costs . Campaign Founder Henry Scott-Irvine is heavily featured in Guardian article on future of Denmark Street , as is Amy Lame, London's new Night Tsar. Autumn 2016 - Tin Pan Alley Tales (the film, see below) is crowdfunding at Phundee.com . Get involved and show your support! Rewards include mentions in the film, exclusive gigs and film screenings, badges and t-shirts.

July 2016 - Henry Scott-Irvine announces plans for Tin Pan Alley Tales, a crowdfunded film documenting the history of the street in ten characters who lived and worked in the Street. Trailer below and interview with Henry on our blog . May 2016 - Campaign shares fears over plans to move Grade II listed Forge and shares photos showing building site neglect. Read more . March 2016 - Historic England grant number 6/7 Denmark Street Grade II* listed status (which includes the historic Sex Pistols graffiti) after behind the scenes work by campaign leader Henry Scott-Irvine. Read more on our blog . February 2016 - Relocated 12 Bar Club in Holloway Road closes as landlords Enterprise Inns revoke their lease . November 2015 - Denmark Street Day Out Street Party to take place on Saturday 28th November. Details in their facebook event . November 2015 - Cats in Space release new song, 'Last Man Standing' whose video heavily features Denmark Stree t.

October 2015 - Michael Monroe (formerly of Hanoi Rocks) joins the campaign on the same week the Mayor of London launches rescue plan for live music venues in the Street. The report calls on the creation of 'music zones' across the capital, mirroring the campaign's calls for Denmark Street's special status to be formerly recognised. August 2015 - Independent on Sunday covers changes in Denmark Street in relation to investigative story on the Denmark Street arson attack of 1980 . August 2015 - 5 year, 10 point plan shared by Save TPA group to secure the future of Denmark Street as a "music mecca". Covered in Music Week . July 2015 - Music businesses are urged to return to the street and help create a Music Zone by the campaign through music industry stakeholder groups and the media. Interested music businesses and individuals can get in touch with Richard Metcalfe at Consolidated Developments for units on Denmark Street.

The Section 106 Clause for "Fair Rents" as per "Tin Pan Alley (Music) uses" cited in Section 5 Paragraph 1 of the legally binding Section 106 Agreement, recently signed-off on by both Camden Council and Camden Council's Planning Department, should make these units financially attractive to potential tenants. June 2015 - Campaign group successfully secures clarification around 106s Agreement to planning application. Legal protection is secured for 'music offices' on 2nd floors, and 'music retail' at ground/basement level through this newly signed-off '106' deal between Camden Council Planning Departments and Consolidated Developments. However, owing to colour code 'usage' errors in the original architect plans, all of the 'other' diverse music-related businesses within Tin Pan Alley remain threatened by potential eviction, including recording studios, music schools, the Alley Cat music venue, the luthier and sole remaining guitar maker on the street. Beyond 2018 rental agreements remain vague. June 2015 - New film is trailed online, 'The Demise of Denmark Street' by RoundBoy pictures.

June 2015 - Campaign group heads to Westminster for committe meeting with recently elected local MP Sir Keir Starmer QC, on June 3rd 2015. Frances Wheat (Development Control Service Manager and Deputy to Ed Watson, The Head of Environment and Regeneration at Camden Council) and Stuart Minty (Planning Officer at Camden Council) are also in attendance. May 2015- Filmaker Tali Clarke releases 'A Riot of Our Own' online. A 45 minute documentary on the last days of the 12 Bar Club on Denmark Street. Watch the video below. Petition now has over 29,000 signatories. April 2015 - Music Heritage UK release podcast on the campaign, closure of 12 Bar Club and future of Denmark Street. March 2015 - Music shop forced to vacate following accidental building work damage . February 2015 - Music Heritage UK chief executive James Ketchell joins Save Denmark Street campaign group. February 2015 - The Bermondsey Joyriders release 'The 12 Bar Beat' in memory of the 12 Bar Club.

February 2015 - Squatters evicted from site of the old 12 Bar Club on Denmark Street. Focus of the campaign now on attracting music businesses back to the area and urging council to recognise the special nature of the street and its businesses with rate exemptions. February 2015 - Band of Holy Joy allow their 2007 song 'Denmark St' to become the official soundtrack to the campaign. January 2015 - Members of music industry bodies (BASCA, MU, PPL, PRS, MCPS, The MPA, UK Music), Music publishers (including David Stark of Songlink), Camden councillors, and the Mayor of London's office, joing Save Denmark Street campaign group. Janurary 2015 - The Blow Monkeys write the song 'The Lions Of Charing Cross' in support of the campaign. The song will be officially released in April. January 2015 - 12 Bar Club is evicted from premises on Denmark Street. Almost immediately it is squatted by #Bohemians4Soho campaign. By the end of the month, the petition hits 27,000 signatories.

Music Heritage UK records podcast with the squatters: Special Report - Squatting to save Denmark Street by Music Heritage UK on Mixcloud December 2014 - The petition reaches 25,000 on Christmas Day. December 2014 - Pete Townshend of The Who pens letter to The Times , "Boris Johnson and Camden Council please make Denmark Street a Heritage Zone. Otherwise a massive chunk of rock music history will be lost forever. Progress is important, but so are the local landmarks of our great city". December 2014 - 12 Bar Club announce they are given notice to leave. Petition reaches 17,500 signatories on the same day. Partly inspired by Denmark Street events, Music Heritage UK writes Huffington Post piece on the demise of London which is widely shared online. November 2014 - Englebert Humperdink comes out in support of the street on BBC's The One Show and ITV News. June 2014 - Petition reaches 10,000 signatories.

May 2014 - The campaign is launched by Henry Scott-Irvine following a spoken word night at the 12 Bar on 7th May 2014. By the end of the month, two facebook pages are created and an online petition is launched to petition Camden Council to, "Preserve the heritage and integrity of Denmark Street, Tin Pan Alley and in particular the 12 Bar Club and to give the area the same special conservation status as Hatton Garden and Savile Row." Campaigners are asking for street to become special business/heritage zone with rate exemptions for music related businesses. November 2013 - Consolidated Development's plan for Denmark Street given green light by Camden Council who state that ground floor, upper floor retail and commercial spaces on Denmark Street are to be restricted to "Tin Pan Alley" uses only. 1996 - Property company Consolidated Developments acquire property on, and around, Denmark Street. What you need to do now! 1. Visit the campaign website and share it with all your friends!

Question: Denmark Street in London is also known by what nickname?
Answer: Tin Pan Alley