The heart of Swinging London in the ’60s, punk rockers in the ’70s and mod cons in the early ’80s, Soho’s Carnaby Street was where the young, cool and fashionable — The Rolling Stones, The Sex Pistols and The Jam among them — came to shop and hang out.
Carnaby fell out of favor in the ’90s, but today this pedestrian area, made up of 13 streets, is once again thrumming with life: Indie boutiques rub shoulders with well-known British and international brands like Ben Sherman, Scotch & Soda, The Kooples and American Apparel.
And a new dining court has sprung up with trendy bars and restaurants of all stripes.
Here are our picks for where to shop, eat and party in the 21st-century Carnaby Street.
Shopping
On the quarter-mile-long main thoroughfare of Carnaby Street — think Broadway in NYC’s SoHo — you’ll find the big-name stores, but don’t dismiss them outright just because there’s an outpost in the US. Many offer limited-edition items and signature services found exclusively here.
The Dr. Martens flagship (48 Carnaby St.) is the only location to offer bespoke boot service — get measured and choose the leather, stitching, eyelets and more to create a one-of-a-kind shoe.
And while you’ve likely shopped the San Francisco-based beauty brand Benefit, the London outpost (10 Carnaby St.) is the sole one with a champagne bar, so you can sip a glass of Krug, Veuve Cliquot or Moet while indulging in a manicure, blowout or eyebrow shaping.
You won’t find Pretty Green (57 Carnaby St.) outside of the UK; this is the flagship of the retro-style menswear label designed by Oasis’ Liam Gallagher, with two levels of shirts, sweaters, scarves and more all reminiscent of the groovy ’60s.
Steps from Carnaby is the Newburgh Quarter, lined with small independent boutiques catering mainly to men, like Pankhurst London (10 Newburgh St.), stocking male skincare and haircare lines — a favorite of Brits Daniel Craig and Clive Owen — and where you can also get a shave or trim; and Peckham Rye (11 Newburgh St.), a venerable shop for ties, men’s scarves, handkerchiefs and tailored suits.
But the biggest draw is the chocolate emporium Choccywoccydoodah (30/32 Fourbert’s Place), two floors filled with extravagant edible chocolate creations and an upstairs café with decadent cakes, sundaes and milkshakes (try the white chocolate truffle, $5.50).
On the other side of Carnaby Street are a host of concept stores including Johnny Cupcakes (10 Foubert Place), a hipster US tee brand with a London collection exclusive to this location; Other/shop (21 Kingly St.), with hard-to-find international labels like Novesta, Lika Mimika and Steve Mono along with its own designs; and Year Zero (37 Beak St.), featuring unique cartoon and graffiti silk-screened shirts.
Eating and Drinking
A wholly new dining concept for London, Kingly Court, with an entrance just off Carnaby Street, encompasses three levels of around 20 restaurants and bars surrounding an open-air brick courtyard.
Afternoons from 3 to 5 p.m., stop by the bi-level Whyte & Brown for its Crafternoon Tea, a twist on the typical English tea that includes a trio of substantial open-face sandwiches — chicken liver pate; crab; and ricotta, parmesan and cherry tomato on crusty wedges of bread — and three dessert cakes, accompanied by your choice of tea, craft beer or champagne ($20-$32).
Brace yourself for the weighty cocktail menu at The Rum Kitchen, a Caribbean beach shack-inspired bar and resto famous for its 100-plus varieties of rum. Most popular is the Rattle Skull Punch, a lethal blend of juices, liqueurs, Wray & Nephew Jamaican rum and Kraken dark spiced rum ($14.50).
If you’ve got a sweet tooth, try the Guinness Punch, a mug of over-proof rum, condensed milk, chocolate bitters and Guinness stout served over ice — the creamy concoction recalls a White Russian ($12.75). They all taste better with some spicy bites — try the plantain and chilli dip ($6.50) or the jerk chicken wings with a kicky, house-made scotch bonnet swamp sauce ($11.25).
You might think you’re in the American Deep South instead of the heart of London at Stax Diner; no surprise since the chef here is a Virginia native, Bea Vo. Turning out comfort food from the tiny kitchen — be prepared for a long wait to get into the snug space — Vo works her magic on chicken and waffles (the tender bird is soaked in buttermilk for eight hours then coated in corn and wheat flour and fried to perfection, $20).
Other favorites are the Cajun Onion Blossom (a k a, a blooming onion) and the burgers, which are ground in-house. Everything here is organic and made on-site, including the ice creams for the “hard” milkshake cocktails (try the Dalmatian, with vanilla ice cream, Oreos, butterscotch and Baileys, $12.50).
In New York, you can’t walk a block without hitting a pizza joint, but that’s not the case in London, where pizza is a rarity. Enter James and Thom Elliot, two British brothers who started selling slices out of a food truck and now have two bricks-and-mortar locations of Pizza Pilgrims; the Kingly Court spot opened in late summer.
The chef, Marco, is imported from Naples, and though the brick oven is heated by gas, not coal, the pizzas he turns out are as authentic as they come. (Though there are riffs, like the Carbonara — a white pizza with roasted pancetta, parmesan, pecorino, black pepper and an egg yolk, $16.)
Beyond the pies, there are Italian specialties like carciofi fritti (deep-fried artichoke hearts, $6.50) and arancini (risotto balls with smoked mozzarella, $7.25). And the brothers even created their own limoncello, with lemons from Amalfi blended with a local potato spirit from Chase Distillery ($5.50/shot).
Clubbing
The pubs may close early in London, but that doesn’t mean the party has to end. DISCO, set on a subterranean level of Kingly Court, takes a page from ’70s-era Studio 54, replete with giant glitter balls, zebra-print booths and Keith Haring-style murals for décor; thumping disco favorites (Bee Gees, Donna Summer) on the stereo; and cocktails that involve sipping your beverage out of a Michael Jackson head-shaped mug.
Be sure to get a peek at the Rolling Stones “lips” urinals in the men’s room. It’s a tongue-and-cheek scene that’s actually fun. (Thursday to Saturday, 10 p.m. to 3 a.m., $32 entry fee; email to get on the list, getdown@disco-london.com).
For a guide to all the Carnaby Street spots — along with upcoming holiday events — visit carnaby.co.uk.
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