Found a new vintage guitar/bass/amp shop in London, and it's excellent.

[Lw.]

There seems to be a lot of completely off topic bitching & moaning in this thread, odd considering there are plenty of other threads covering the topics...

Cheers to the OP for bringing this new shop to my attention, I will be sure to check it out next time I'm over that way. It's always good to have more gear options.

I will save my opinions on Denmark street, St Giles High Street, Shoreditch, Private Members clubs, rubbish music venues, capitalism & the state of the NHS for other more appropriate discussions.

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='Mr Arkadin' timestamp='1422441777' post='2672592']
Well it seems I'm out of touch with modern thinking and all these venues deserve to be knocked down to become garish office blocks, Tesco Metros, Starbucks and flats for Chinese businessmen. I guess we'll get the London we deserve.
[/quote]

Good grief, man, did you actually know the area before they built the "garish monstrosity" you seem to be obsessed with?

I did. I've worked around there for 20 years, and just like Molan my office window directly overlooked the site throughout the demolition and building (I was at the back of Castlewood House, which fronts onto New Oxford Street).

The building that the Renzo Piano design replaced was possibly the ugliest 60s office block in the entire West End, a title for which there is a fair amount of competition. Originally the main MI6 building in London (no, really it was) it then stood idle and increasingly derelict after MI6 moved into the ridiculous pile on the South Bank that features in all recent James Bond movies.

The demolition of that heap of crap was welcomed by pretty much everyone in the area, the "garish monstrosity" actually livens up the place no end and introduces a small but much-needed public space where there was none before.

Exactly what do you feel has been lost through this re-development?

[Mr Arkadin]

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1422446252' post='2672695']

Exactly what do you feel has been lost through this re-development?
[/quote]

True that area was crap, but replacing '60s crap with newer crap doesn't make it good, it just makes it newer. Anyhow I was referring to the planned Denmark St redevelopment rather than that one behind Denmark St. I was just using the nearby garish development as an example of the level of architecture we can expect these days (which in my view is poor). I'm certainly not obsessed by it.

I'm definitely not saying no redevelopment should ever happen under any circumstances.

There are some nice old buildings there that need a scrub up admittedly, but there's plenty other stuff like Centre Point and the rubbishy '60s thing behind it that deserve to go before Denmark Street which has at least some character.

As I said I guess I'm out of touch with what I thought London was about, quirky streets and such rather than buildings that could just as well be in Dubai.

Edited January 28, 2015 by Mr Arkadin

[wateroftyne]

[quote name='Mr Arkadin' timestamp='1422459649' post='2672962']
As I said I guess I'm out of touch with what I thought London was about, quirky streets and such rather than buildings that could just as well be in Dubai.
[/quote]

What would you have them build instead? Whatever it is will look modern.

The thing is, London is stuffed full of architecture that is quintessentially London. Having it punctuated with brave, ambitious and exciting (and polarising) buildings that replace the 60's cack is a good thing, IMO.

[Mr Arkadin]

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1422459899' post='2672967']
The thing is, London is stuffed full of architecture that is quintessentially London. Having it punctuated with brave, ambitious and exciting (and polarising) buildings that replace the 60's cack is a good thing, IMO.
[/quote]

I don't disagree (although there is some '60s architecture I actually like and is also bold). In this instance I was talking about Denmark St which is mostly not '60s architecture. Also there's a difference with punctuating the quintessential architecture and just wholly replacing it.

Edited January 28, 2015 by Mr Arkadin

[Johnm93]

So, anyone been to Vintage Guitar Shop...?

Looks good on t'interweb.....

[taunton-hobbit]

Slightly off-topic, but I'll risk this - I was standing on a green patch in Uxbridge in around 1971 when a council-hired jcb went deliberately straight through a row of 16th century cottages and flattened the lot - I could have cried......

Edited January 28, 2015 by taunton-hobbit

[Musky]

[quote name='taunton-hobbit' timestamp='1422481398' post='2673348']
Slightly off-topic, but I'll risk this - I was standing on a green patch in Uxbridge in around 1971 when a council-hired jcb went deliberately straight through a row of 16th century cottages and flattened the lot - I could have cried......


[/quote]
Unfortunately that wouldn't surprise me. Kensington Council pulled the same stunt on the old Town Hall until the JCBs revealed the beautifully painted ceilings in the vestibule and passersby physically stopped the demolition. ..