It’s Saturday night, 11.30pm in Camden Town. Drunken revellers are falling out of pubs, shouting at each other while snippets of loud music emerge when the doors open. Two chaps are having a skirmish in front of HSBC; a group of girls waddle barefoot towards the bus stop, stilettos in their hands. So messy is Camden’s weekend nightlife scene that a new scheme has been brought in where police hand out flip flops, condoms and biscuits to the inebriated masses, in a bid to avoid tripping over heels and unprotected casual sex up Pleasant Row. The biscuits are naturally for the purpose of soaking up the alcohol and inducing sobriety, as they’re obviously easier to carry around than bags filled with doner kebabs.
While it may seem odd to imagine a policeman handing out Hob Nobs at the stroke of midnight (“Had a bit too much to drink have we? Here’s a cookie”), it only highlights how raucous Camden Town’s night time shenanigans are. But was the area always a setting for licentious behaviour? You bet it was.
Next to where the World’s End pub is today was once a public execution site which used to attract large crowds keen to watch the gruesome proceedings, and you can’t get much rowdier than that. Crime and punishment aside, this pub used to be called the Mother Red Cap, and has been in existence since the late 1600s. Back in those days Camden was practically barren; the River Fleet, now a subterranean river, used to flow from the Hampstead and Highgate Ponds all the way down to Camden via Kentish Town Road. The roads were frequented by highwaymen, making them a no-go area, particularly after dark. Today, Camden is far more family-friendly: the highwaymen have been replaced by amiable drug dealers and pickpockets.
\n\nMother Red Cap earned the nickname ‘The Halfway House’, as it was a stop off point for many travellers, who in those days had the added bulk of a horse-drawn carriage rather than the ease of a backpack. The pub is said to be named after Jinny Bingham, also known as ‘The Shrew of Kentish Town’ and ‘Mother Damnable’, who lived on the premises before the public house was opened. Her parents, a brick maker and a pedlar, were hung for witchcraft, and the father of her child was executed at Tyburn (where Marble Arch is today) for the unforgiveable depravity of stealing sheep. She is said to have had a series of lovers who she either poisoned with magic herbs or burnt to death in the oven - she certainly can’t be accused of lacking imagination. Punters at the Underworld, the live music venue in the basement of the World’s End, have claimed to have seen her ghost, however it’s debateable whether they merely mistook her for a passing goth.
A few metres south on Camden High Street stands the Black Cap, now a gay pub hosting drag performances and karaoke. Its title (originally Mother Black Cap) may have been named after the same woman; sadly there is no illustrious modern day equivalent to compare her to, unless unkind parallels to a certain bee-hived, wild-eyed pseudo-tragic chanteuse are to be drawn.
It wasn’t all witchcraft, murder and highway theft of course; there were more pleasant elements in Camden Town. The Lyttelton Arms opposite Mornington Crescent station - called The Crescent up until recently - was once a coaching inn named The Southampton Arms. Despite this being one of the only buildings in the vicinity as the surrounding area was empty wasteland, the inn was popular due to its well maintained garden. This became a meeting place for highly respected members of the clergy, who would gather here for tea and cake, until one rendezvous ended in physical violence when several attendees complained the results of a motion involving taxes had been fixed. Police were called, a court case ensued and it all ended in tears for the uppity protestors, who no doubt fancied a bit of a ruckus in the adjoining field.
\n\nWhile many Camden pubs have always been pubs (Tommy Flynn’s, Camden Head, Blues Kitchen) some venues started life in very different incarnations. The Electric Ballroom nightclub is on the site of the old local Turkish baths, opened in 1878 to promote and raise awareness of hygiene, something which perhaps the local council ought to think twice about when dishing out flip flops in rainy weather. Muddy feet are never a good look on a night out, why not throw in a few pairs of Converse for aesthetic purposes?
The Roundhouse was first erected in 1847 to house locomotives, but when these increased in size the venue could no longer accommodate them. It was subsequently transformed into a corn and potatoes distribution centre, with nothing more daring going on than a bit of reckless peeling. Things may have got a little more exciting when W & A Gilby Ltd used it as a gin store, however it wasn’t until the 1960s when The Doors and Pink Floyd would wow the crowds with their groovy psychedelic shows, daddio. Predictably, during Thatcher’s reign funding was cut and the building had a stint as a squat house, hopefully playing host to some epic acid house raves before the inhabitants were evicted in 1992. Since 2006 the Roundhouse has once again been operating in its glorious guise as performance venue, attracting swarms of people who on certain nights queue all the way up Regents Park Road.
Love it or hate it, Camden has always been inhabited by colourful characters, from mother damnables and bandits to punks, goths, bohemians and sightseers along with the places of their recreation. Now, with free snacks being handed out to whoever gets sloshed, it’s unlikely Camden will lose its debauched reputation anytime soon.
