Come Back to Camden
Spent a frantic week explaining to students why I can't shower them with free money. Now stuck at home with a cold sulking. So, I'm thinking, time to resurrect the Rocketleaf.
Not that anyone actually reads the Rocketleaf these days, but it allows me to convince myself I'm not actually just talking to myself and going slowly mad as I sit here whiling the time away.
So I thought I'd have a rant about Camden Market.
If you want something that's factually correct you can look at this website. From there, if you feel so inclined, you can peruse your way through reams of bureacratic sputum known as "planning application and related documents" generated by Camden Council under the guise of democracy. If you want an openly biased opinion from someone who's actually lived opposite the place concerned, read on...
Don't get me wrong - Camden Market is in many ways a rotten place. It's fully of people trying to sell you weed and nick your wallet, or pierce your nipples before wandering, drunk and aimless, into the middle of the road in front of your car, which has been crawling down the road for some time already because the dosy schoolgirl tourists dressed as punks won't get out of the pissing way. It's full of people who think £10 is a good deal for a shirt proclaiming "I'm a Virgin (this is an old T-shirt)". It's full of people who think that dying your hair purple makes you an individual, wearing a red T-shirt makes you subversive and throwing things into the canal makes you well'ard.
But, actually, most of these things aren't the result of the market. They're the unfortunate overspill that's led to all the crap shops opening up on that dire stretch of road between the Stables and the tube station and turned previously-genteel roads like Inverness Street into a proverbial cattle market.
But these aren't the bits that are being "redeveloped". No, the part that's being redeveloped is the Stables Market - the part that, in contrast to the above, could almost be said to be refined. The Stables is the part that plays host to various independent traders, allowing them to make something of a living out of whatever skills they are showcasing. This includes artists, photographers, independent clothes designers, vendors of various ethical products, independent foodstores - it's the type of place where you can buy pretty much anything you don't need but might just fancy, particularly if you're hunting Christmas presents. It's also the home of a fabulous photography gallery with a sort of afterthought of a bar on the top floor and where they play The Jam on the loop. The area set for the chop includes the pretty balconied section that faces out onto the canal, with the second-hand bookstores, jewellery stalls and specialist dress shops (er...by specialist I mean, amongst others, the beautifully named "Fairy Gothmother"). Outside there are a mesh of semi-permanent stalls that sell bespoke furniture, antiques, freshly-squeezed orange juice, second-hand CDs and an array of stuff made in Africa - models of aeroplanes and cars made out of old coke cans - as well as the usual joss sticks and pseudo-hippy gloop. And yes, all of this is earmarked for demolition, though I'm assured the crap bit with Cyberdog and the Che Guevara posters is staying.
So what are they actually doing to it? Making the semi-permanent stuff properly permanent? Encouraging the small-businessman? The artist? The designer? Er, no, actually. They're opening a mini shopping mall. You know, like Brent Cross, only smaller. Full of shops like Top Shop whose clothes only go up to size 8 and are made by Bangladeshi children for 60p a day. Oh so in keeping with the area. And so original, too. I mean, at the moment it can take people at least 15 minutes on a direct bus to Oxford Street to get all of that.
So that, in a nutshell, is why I'm annoyed. I'm not arguing Camden's a great place - I was seriously miffed when Reckless closed down, and even mifter when Fopp selff-destructed, having only been open a couple of years. But this is getting rid of the one part of Camden that was actually semi-salubrious.
If you feel moved by this, oh mighty readership of three, sign the petition on the link above. If you don't, then, well, it's nice to be back.
xx
Not that anyone actually reads the Rocketleaf these days, but it allows me to convince myself I'm not actually just talking to myself and going slowly mad as I sit here whiling the time away.
So I thought I'd have a rant about Camden Market.
If you want something that's factually correct you can look at this website. From there, if you feel so inclined, you can peruse your way through reams of bureacratic sputum known as "planning application and related documents" generated by Camden Council under the guise of democracy. If you want an openly biased opinion from someone who's actually lived opposite the place concerned, read on...
Don't get me wrong - Camden Market is in many ways a rotten place. It's fully of people trying to sell you weed and nick your wallet, or pierce your nipples before wandering, drunk and aimless, into the middle of the road in front of your car, which has been crawling down the road for some time already because the dosy schoolgirl tourists dressed as punks won't get out of the pissing way. It's full of people who think £10 is a good deal for a shirt proclaiming "I'm a Virgin (this is an old T-shirt)". It's full of people who think that dying your hair purple makes you an individual, wearing a red T-shirt makes you subversive and throwing things into the canal makes you well'ard.
But, actually, most of these things aren't the result of the market. They're the unfortunate overspill that's led to all the crap shops opening up on that dire stretch of road between the Stables and the tube station and turned previously-genteel roads like Inverness Street into a proverbial cattle market.
But these aren't the bits that are being "redeveloped". No, the part that's being redeveloped is the Stables Market - the part that, in contrast to the above, could almost be said to be refined. The Stables is the part that plays host to various independent traders, allowing them to make something of a living out of whatever skills they are showcasing. This includes artists, photographers, independent clothes designers, vendors of various ethical products, independent foodstores - it's the type of place where you can buy pretty much anything you don't need but might just fancy, particularly if you're hunting Christmas presents. It's also the home of a fabulous photography gallery with a sort of afterthought of a bar on the top floor and where they play The Jam on the loop. The area set for the chop includes the pretty balconied section that faces out onto the canal, with the second-hand bookstores, jewellery stalls and specialist dress shops (er...by specialist I mean, amongst others, the beautifully named "Fairy Gothmother"). Outside there are a mesh of semi-permanent stalls that sell bespoke furniture, antiques, freshly-squeezed orange juice, second-hand CDs and an array of stuff made in Africa - models of aeroplanes and cars made out of old coke cans - as well as the usual joss sticks and pseudo-hippy gloop. And yes, all of this is earmarked for demolition, though I'm assured the crap bit with Cyberdog and the Che Guevara posters is staying.
So what are they actually doing to it? Making the semi-permanent stuff properly permanent? Encouraging the small-businessman? The artist? The designer? Er, no, actually. They're opening a mini shopping mall. You know, like Brent Cross, only smaller. Full of shops like Top Shop whose clothes only go up to size 8 and are made by Bangladeshi children for 60p a day. Oh so in keeping with the area. And so original, too. I mean, at the moment it can take people at least 15 minutes on a direct bus to Oxford Street to get all of that.
So that, in a nutshell, is why I'm annoyed. I'm not arguing Camden's a great place - I was seriously miffed when Reckless closed down, and even mifter when Fopp selff-destructed, having only been open a couple of years. But this is getting rid of the one part of Camden that was actually semi-salubrious.
If you feel moved by this, oh mighty readership of three, sign the petition on the link above. If you don't, then, well, it's nice to be back.
xx
posted by RLS at 4:44 pm
4 comments
