London Nostalgia: Inverness Street

~ beetleypete

I don’t miss much about living in London. After all, I lived there for 60 years, knew every part of it well, and it holds few if any surprises for me. But I do miss the restaurants. For 12 years before I left the city, I lived in Camden Town, just a short walk from the street in the photo above.
(Which can be enlarged by clicking on it.)

During the day, there is a small street market there. At one end, there is a popular pub, ‘The Good Mixer’. https://www.thegoodmixer.co.uk/ Here you might see famous actors and pop stars alongside local people enjoying a drink. Nobody pretends to notice, and they are just part of the crowd. At the other end, it opens out into Camden High Street, and a short walk will take you to the quirky and iconic Camden Market, a mecca for both tourists and local people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camden_Market

For me, the attraction of Inverness Street was that almost every building on it is a restaurant. In that one street you could sample Spanish Tapas, Brazilian food, French Bistro, Singaporean cuisine, Belgian specialities, or just enjoy a basic meal in Bar Solo. If you were not hungry, you could sit outside with a coffee or a glass of wine, and just watch the world go by.

And it is a real London street, not just for tourists. As well as the celebrities, you might well see someone falling-down drunk, off their head on some Class A drugs, or spot some Somalis on the far corner dealing drugs to a steady stream of customers. It is a street that is alive, and even more so when the market closes at night.

So, I am nostalgic for the food choices, the edgy atmosphere, the relaxed mood in the restaurants, the music played in them, and the eclectic mix of fellow diners. If you are ever visiting London, take the Tube to Camden Town, or ask a black cab to take you to Inverness Street. See for yourself how good it is.

So far, I haven’t found anywhere in Norfolk to compare with it, and I doubt I ever will.

45 thoughts on “London Nostalgia: Inverness Street”

  2. I’ve walked around Camden a couple of times, but not visited any places there. You lived in an interesting part of the city, not that there are any boring ones. Thanks for sharing this, Pete.

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    1. It is easy to walk past Inverness Street when visiting Camden, as it is tucked away from the main places of interest. But if you ever go back to London, it is a great street to find a variety of places to eat.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  8. I love London for its vibes and its eateries just like I love Bangkok but a few days is enough and then I’m ready to go back to the peace of my home..both wonderful cities for a visit…thank you for the virtual tour of Camden , Pete x

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    1. Yes, she lived in Camden Square, but was actually from further north in London. The borough of Enfield.. We we often saw her around, especially in Inverness Street. She was a regular at The Good Mixer.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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        1. No, though we would we would see her regularly. In her last years, she usually had some very large bodyguards around her to keep the press away. We saw her in an open-air concert early in her career, when she had just released her first album. She was a support act for The Isley Brothers and Kool and The Gang. On that occasion, she was happy to wander around the crowd eating an ice-cream, and saying ‘hello’ to people. She is one of my all-time favourite British performers, but the end of her life was tragic.

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  11. Camden i never went to, was vaguely aware of the market & never heard of Inverness St. Yeah London so beautiful in all aspects. . . ahh Pete ya just raising the canal levels an inch.

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    1. I did quite a few calls in the area, but got to know it best when I lived in Redhil Street on The Crown Estate. 2000-2012. (Bill O’Neill lived just across from me until he moved to Oxfordshire. Don’t know if you ever met him.)
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  12. Pingback: London Nostalgia: Inverness Street — beetleypete | Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News

  14. Pete, I was recently in New York, and there are so many streets like this one – they go on for block after block after block…vibrant cafes of all kinds, filled with people enjoying life and food and conversation and whatever beverage adds to the enjoyment….it really helps remind me we are all in this together, so why so much hatred and distrust?

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    1. Thanks, John. I have never been to NYC, but I can imagine many districts a lot like those in Inverness Street. I think you have to have grown up with a ‘City Mentality’ for such places to have that appeal.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  15. (1) I don’t know about famous actors, but I do see “Duke” horsing around in the middle of the urban trail. Yeehaw!
    (2) There is a Market Street in Camden, New Jersey.
    (3) My friend Han wants to know if there are belligerent aliens in Bar Solo.
    (4) Off their heads? Henry VIII must have enjoyed going there on dates…
    (5) I’m more familiar with Eliot Ness, who enforced Prohibition, than I am with the bars of Inverness, where patrons get stone drunk.

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        1. I couldn’t handle the noise in my flat in Redhill Street at the end. Noisy neighbours, Euston Station, police helicopters, and there was that 24/7 ambient light pollution too. I enjoyed it while I was there, but would never have wanted to be retired from work and still living there.

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  18. We sometimes went to Camden when my son was playing in his band, before he learned how to drive. He played at the Purple Turtle and the Fiddler’s Elbow. I’m not nostalgic for restaurants, as I only like plain food and prefer to cook it myself. However, I’m nostalgic for the River Thames. I love sitting along the Embankment and watching it, preferably within the sound of Big Ben.

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    1. I used to spend many an hour along the South Bank, Stevie. Sometimes I would buy a glass of wine (or two) at the Festival Hall cafe, and sit outside watching the river and the people walking by. But I really enjoyed all the different foods on offer in Camden too.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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