Conran, Michon, and Strummer

Joe Strummer lived in the top floor room of this large terraced house in 1976, as a guest of world-famous designer Sebastian Conran, a student at the time, who – as the union treasurer at St Martin’s College – had booked the Sex Pistols for their first gig on the 5th of November 1975.

Electric Ballroom

At the glorious Electric Ballroom in 1978, was held the Sid Sods Off party to bid farewell to Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen, who were about to leave for New York to never return.

Don Arden’s Offices

Here, at at 52-55 Carnaby Street, once were Don Arden’s offices. Small Faces’ Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones, and Jimmy Winston arrived on 7 June 1965 and met Arden at 10am to discuss a management contract. After some discussions, they were offered £20 a week, a percentage of record sales and an account at all the major shops on Carnaby Street.

Apple Boutique

94 Baker Street was the site of the now dissolved Apple Boutique clothing store, owned in the 60s by Apple Corps Ltd, a company formed by The Beatles.

Studio 51

Behind this unassuming door at 10 Great Newport Street, once was the glorious Studio 51, famous for its Ken Colyer Club. It’s here where, when Rhythm and Blues took over in the ‘60s, Eric Clapton played his first gig with The Yardbirds and where The Beatles gifted The Rolling Stones with their first big hit, I Wanna Be Your Man.

Kilburn National Ballroom

Many famous musicians including Killing Joke, New Order, Echo and The Bunnymen, Johnny Cash, David Bowie (with Tin Machine), The Smiths (the live album Rank was recorded here on the 23rd of October 1986), Cocteau Twins, The Pogues, Jesus and Mary Chain, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (on July 14th, 1988), the Sonic Youth (on March 23, 1989, with Mudhoney as support act), Pixies (on July 5th, 1989), Primal Scream, The Fall, Fugazi (September 19th, 1990), Blur and even Nirvana (on December 5th, 1991) played the legendary Kilburn National!

Where the Sex Pistols’ Logo Was Born

In this flat at 93 Bell Street, in Marylebone, Helen Wellington-Lloyd created the “blackmail” style lettering logo for the Sex Pistols, in 1976, when she designed the band’s early promotional material with Nils Stevenson and Malcom McLaren, who moved in with her for a while.

The Roxy

The Roxy was started by Andrew Czezowski, Susan Carrington and Barry Jones in December 1976. The first show, on the 14th of December, was Generation X, a band Czezowski managed. The second on the following night was The Heartbreakers. The third, on 21 December, featured Siouxsie and the Banshees and Generation X. However, it was The Clash and The Heartbreakers that headlined the official gala opening on the 1st of January 1977 – which was filmed by Julien Temple and finally screened on BBC Four on 1 January 2015 as The Clash: New Year’s Day ’77.

101 Walterton Road

Here on 101 Walterton Road once stood the famous squat that gave birth and name to Joe Strummer’s pub rock band The 101’ers in 1974 (although it was for a time rumoured that they were named after “Room 101”, the infamous torture room in George Orwell’s novel 1984).

The 100 Club

In September 1976, the 100 Club (which had operated since 1942 as Feldman Swing Club) played host to the first international punk festival, which helped push the new punk movement into the mainstream. The Sex Pistols, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Clash, Buzzcocks, The Jam, The Stranglers, and The Damned all played at this event.