Carnaby Street

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Carnaby Street is a street in London, in the district of Soho, near Oxford Street, and just to the east of Regent Street. It is named after Karnaby House, a large building located to its east which was erected in 1683. It is not known why the house was so called. The street was probably laid out in 1685 or 1686 and first appears in the ratebooks in 1687. It was almost completely built up by 1690 with small houses.

Carnaby Street was made popular by followers of the Mod style in the 1960s, and became closely associated with the Swinging Sixties, when many independent music shops, fashion boutiques, and designers such as Mary Quant were located there.

Today, Carnaby Street is more mainstream, being mostly chain stores and restaurants, with few independent outlets, and is popular with young shoppers and tourists. Carnaby Street was also the address of high-profile fashion retailer boo.com from 1999 until its bankruptcy in May 2000.

Nearby places of interest include Broadwick Street, where you can see a replica of the water pump that John Snow famously sealed up to stop an outbreak of cholera in 1854; the toy shop Hamleys and the rest of Regent Street; and Golden Square just to the south, which during the summer is crammed with office workers trying to catch the sun.

The street and the area surrounding it are partly pedestrianised. The nearest underground station is Oxford Circus tube station.

The following partial list of mod clothing stores doing business in London and Brighton in 1966 is copied from the back of a receipt for items purchased in June 1966 at one of the stores in the John Stephen organisation (Head office: Stephen House, Carnaby St., W.1.):

JOHN STEPHEN STORE - 52/55, Carnaby St., W.1. JOHN STEPHEN MANSHOP - 49/51, Carnaby St., W.1. ADAM W.1 - 47a, Carnaby St., W.1. DOMINO MALE - 46a, Carnaby St., W.1. HIS CLOTHES - 41, Carnaby St., W.1. MALE W.1 - 38, Carnaby St., W.1. HIS CLOTHES - 189, Regent St., W.1. HIS CLOTHES - 40, Old Compton St., W.1. JOHN STEPHEN TAILORING - 9, Carnaby St., W.1. JOHN STEPHEN - 33, Old Bailey, E.C.4. HIS CLOTHES - 63, Queensway, W.2. HIS CLOTHES - 171, Earls Court Road, S.W.3. JOHN STEPHEN - 97, Kings Road, S.W.3. HIS CLOTHES - 201, Kings Road, S.W.3. JOHN STEPHEN - 272, High Road, Loughton. HIS CLOTHES - 7 East St., Brighton. TRES CAMP - 46, Carnaby St., W.1.

See also

• Haight-Ashbury

Trivia

• In a song by The Kinks called 'Dedicated Follower of Fashion' there is a mention of "the Carnabetian army" which is (probably) derived from the name of this street.

 "They seek him here, they seek him there,
 In Regent Street and Leicester Square.
 Everywhere the Carnabetian army marches on,
 Each one a dedicated follower of fashion."

• There is a song by The Jam called Carnaby Street, written by bassist Bruce Foxton. It was the B-side of single All Around The World, released in the UK on 8th July 1977, reaching a chart position of #13. It never appeared on any studio album, but can be found on the collected works of The Jam boxset Direction Reaction Creation.

• There is also a song about Carnaby Street by the ska-band The Volecanoes called "Carnaby Street".

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