Pedestrianisation!

Quite the hot topic around these parts, as high profile schemes in Oxford Street and Camden High Street both took huge steps forward (feel free to groan) over recent days.

For now, any ‘debate’ is mostly political gripes, teething troubles and motoring lobby pushback, but it feels inevitable that one day in the not too distant future, we’ll look back upon the era when diesel vehicles thundered past densely packed pavements outside Camden Town tube, and rows of busses choked up the crowds in front of glitzy Selfridges, with the same retro-horror we view a Dickensian London of smog, horse shit and buildings blackened by airborne filth.

If, as we hear so often, the traditional High Street is transforming from a retail-centric function to an experience-based one, then making the environment nicer and more human is glaringly obvious. Doing so in two of London’s most famous such strips is therefore an entirely natural evolution, and one we probably should have embarked upon a couple of decades back.

However, I don’t think that new trees, benches and some nicer flagstones are going to fully fix the issues of shuttered units, money-laundering salons and dubious candy stores that plague the places we once visited to buy our daily provisions.

A truly regenerated high street needs a cyclical, 24-hour cultural offering at its heart, if it is to really tempt back the crowds for those much-touted new ‘experiences’. Everything from after school clubs to after hours clubs is needed to offer something of interest to all sectors of the community, dropping in and out right around the clock.

And here’s where residents groups can end up looking a little silly. Up and down the UK, such activists valiantly battle the bland chainification of their high streets, but also regularly protest against late licenses and change of use of long defunct buildings into more lively hangouts.

Busy high streets mean inviting bustle, but that can’t just be during office hours.

As the nation’s flagship retail strip, Oxford Street, goes all in with its pedestrianisation, numerous towns, cities and boroughs will no doubt be looking closely at the street for ideas of how to reinvent their own.

They’d do well to look up, too.

Towering above the freshly minted, car-free stretch of Westminster is the former London College of Fashion, a brutalist 1960s tower that also once had BHS at ground level, (the failed department store possibly most emblematic of the decline of the pre-internet big retail model).

Plans are afoot to use the empty university floors for exactly the kind of project that could make sense of unused high street units everywhere, from individual shops to vast ex-department stores and offices spaces.

I was given a rare tour through the sprawling floors the other day, through a succession of endless empty spaces, former labs, lecture theatres and outdoor terraces which have largely sat unused since LCF upped sticks for their purpose-built megastructure over at East Bank in the Olympic Park, leaving this prime yet abandoned 60s-era building in limbo, until its fate is decided by planning authorities.

In the Meanwhile period, it has been taken over for a limited time by the people behind Lost Club, the ultra-secretive party that previously happened just down the road, inside the equally temporary-but-tastyu, shuttered Odeon Shaftesbury Avenue.

That venue became the hottest club in town, in no small part down to its strict ‘no phones, no line-up’ policy, which added genuine intrigue for witnessing an actual afterhours experience in today’s endlessly Instagrammed culture. True to form, this new home is going to be just as deliciously mysterious.

I’m therefore sworn to secrecy about what I saw and all I heard there, my phone tightly sealed inside a lockable pouch for the duration. All I will say is that if this place takes off as intended, it could genuinely showcase a culture-led future for the problematic UK High Street model, while potentially forming an unexpected centrepiece of the new traffic-free Oxford Street.

“We have uncovered a city within a city. A 24-hour district in the heart of London. We want to build it with you” is all that the Lost website has offered on the wider thinking. But if all goes well, the first parties will take place at the end of this month, and you’ve got until 1pm today to register as a founding member, which teases the potential to secure ticketed entry, perform at an event, or rent studio space within the artistic community that will soon gravitate to being based here.

We’ll be following the Lost story closely here at Camdenist, because I’ve always been convinced in the power of the rave and non-corporate arty adventures as a way to make our high streets great again.

Oxford Street is the biggest one in the country, so a vast former fashion college is the absolute perfect setting. Now’s the time to activate it.

Removing road traffic is great, but things are about to get really interesting in the space above street level…

If you are in any way a fan of hip hop as the defining cultural movement to emerge from the street scene of New York in the 80s and 90s and go on to conquer the world, then the return of the original scratch and DJ skills contest the DMC World DJ Championships to KOKO next weekend, Sat 14th Nov, is a big deal.

See main pic above of DJ Koco from Japan, who will be playing across the whole weekend of events, from heats at (the ex-Proud Cabaret venue) Theata by Embankment tube on Fri 13th to the official post-KOKO after party at Dingwalls on the Saturday night.

Without sounding toooo nostalgic, Cutmaster Swift’s epic, crowning 1989 set, performed upon a giant Technics 1210 set at the Royal Albert Hall, no less, is one of the defining TDK D90 tapes of my youth 😉 and the incredible technical performances that have continued to innovate the craft, as it’s moved from vinyl to digital in the decades since, remain awe-inspiring and crowd-pleasing every time.

Yet turntablism is another part of our shared culture that doesn’t really get it’s cultural dues, despite delivering real global impact. As the DMC finals travelled the world from Paris to Tokyo, the scale of their legacy is largely marginalised by the mainstream musical narrative, yet the competition is as deeply woven into our local musical history as Britpop, Punk and the rest.

In 2002, I remember attending a launch event at the offices of the amazing Nordoff-Robbins music therapy charity, just off Highgate Road, where DMC founder Tony Prince was expanding the finals into a World DJ Day concept to coincide with the competition held at Brixton Academy that year.

That annual idea didn’t really stick, however the artform of manipulating turntables for wild cut-and-scratch performances certain has, meaning that the KOKO championships are a proper homecoming for many of the scene’s biggest stars.

Iconic turntablist trio the Scratch Perverts will reunite for their first set together in over 20 years(!), former World Champion JFB will play using seven Technics turntables, with female rapper Monie Love alongside the UK BBoy Champs Allstars bring live breaking battles to the main stage.

For a taste of the ever-evolving face of turntablism culture on our doorstep, this is about as good as it gets.

The Knowledge Quarter’s flagship conference, The Future of Knowledge returns next week, Tues 11th Nov for another stimulating all-dayer focused on all the place-based innovation going on within the square mile around King’s Cross.

It’s happening for 2026 at The British Library, with highlights including one of the first chances to hear Holborn & St Pancras MP, Sagal Abdi-Wali, discuss her plans for representing a large chunk of Camden now she’s replace Keir Starmer in the role.

There’s plenty to explore from the local biotech cluster too, plus AI, heathcare, community and more, plus a free screening of the National Emergency Briefing, a film that brings together leading evidence on the climate and nature crisis and what it means for the UK, followed by a panel discussion.

We’ll be sharing some of the post-event content via our social channels, as the themes of how and where Camden’s community meets the tech, education and science behemoths that also call the Borough home is one that continues to need careful management to ensure the best outcomes really can cut through the usual bluster.

EXHIBITION 🧷 A landmark exhibition celebrating the pioneering women who changed punk, God Save The Queens has been curated by the Up Yours! Collective, and brings together rare archive material, unseen photos and artwork at the Museum of Youth Culture. Runs until Sun 22nd Nov. It’s free, but good to book your slot.

FOOD 🍽️ Pop-up restaurant concept Table and Candle bring Mayfair’s Michelin-starred chef Thom Lemercier’s French-Asian fusion L’Orient to Kentish Town cafe Neighbourhood Organic this weekend Fri 6th-Sat 7th Nov, and also Fri 13th too. You can expect six courses of fabulous plates with a special PAris26 cocktail to start, and optional wine parings, too.

SHOW 🎭 Book now for Camden Canal Museum’s fabulous Gatti’s Music Hall which sees their historic home - including the deep wells that ice cream entrepreneur Carlo Gatti used to store his precious Norwegian import ice in - transformed into a Victorian era music hall for one night only on Sat 21st Nov. The New Players Theatre Company from Charing Cross will provide the entertainment and it all supports the great work of the museum.

MUSIC 🎶The first woman to perform professionally on the distinctive guitar at the heart of Portuguese fado, Marta Pereira da Costa’s sound weaves Brazilian chorinho, Cape Verdean morna and subtle shades of jazz, while honouring fado’s history. Catch her at the Jazz Cafe this Wed 11th Nov.

GIFT🥕 We all need occasional reminding to eat a more balanced diet and to cook with what nature is providing seasonally, without the air miles. The local Vegbox seasonal veg calendar doesn’t do that alone, it also helps supports the work of their collective in serving the good people of Camden and beyond with weekly selections of organic veg. Pre-order now before 1st Dec.

POP-UP🍛Pub-trotting Sri Lankan kitchen pop-up Kamu is currently brining their fiery street food and pub classics with a Sri Lankan twist to Soho’s Sun and 13 Cantons.

It’s been a while since we ran regular short videos to watch at the end of this newsletter, and I’m not entirely sure why. So here’s the nasal transport aficionado Jago Hazzard’s new video, uncovering no less that 7.5 lost or abandoned railway stations across the King’s Cross neighbourhood. As ever, it’s a revealing gander through out industrial past…