London Shopping London Shopping Niches Denmark Street - MusicDenmark Street - Music
I have fond memories of Denmark Street, from my student years. I bought my first proper guitar here after visiting a few dozen times to hone my choice and lap up the atmosphere - yep, I think I was wearing fingerless gloves too (sigh). It's a tiny street 
about 100 metres in length, off the Charing Cross Road between Cambridge Circus and Tottenham Court Road Tube station.
Denmark Street is the place to visit for musical instruments - and also sound production equipment, effects, DJ gear and similar. The 12 Bar Club is a small venue that hosts live bands (you can read more about it, by following the link) and the alley nearby still hosts a message board covered in flyers with tear-off phone numbers, if you have an inkling to join a band.
The street has played host to many recording artists. The Rolling Stones recorded demos for their first album in a tiny studio here, with egg-box cartons lining the walls, and The Beatles & Jimi Hendrix also recorded tracks in the street. The Radio station 'Total Rock' broadcasts from Denmark Street - set up by Alan 'Fluff' Freeman in 2000, the 'Godfather of Rock' in the UK.
The Giaconda Cafe, which used to be at 9 Denmark Street was a Mod hangout in the late sixties and the place where David Bowie met his first backing band (The Lower Third) and Vince Taylor - the unhinged influence for his alter-ego: Ziggy Stardust. It was later a place for early punk bands to fill up their days drinking tea and was frequently haunted by The Clash and The Slits, while the Sex Pistols lounged around their grubby flat, a few doors down at number 6. The Giaconda Cafe is currently an Indian Restaurant.
Ray's Jazz Cafe is nearby if you need a coffee and snack and short walk away is the Cross Keys pub, if you need something stronger.
Denmark Street, London, WC2.
Tottenham Court Road or Leicester Square Tube
