End of line for Camden Town's buzzing night life?

Published: 18 March 2010
by JOSIE HINTON

IT has long had a reputation as the epicentre of London’s live music scene, synonymous with legendary band Madness and home to the celebrated Camden Crawl music festival. But now Camden Town is under threat of losing its status as a night-time hotspot as its venues face almost a year-and-a-half of early Tube closures.

Publicans and nightclub owners have spoken of their fears that they will not survive if Tube Lines, the firm upgrading the underground, goes ahead with plans to close Northern Line stations an hour ­early every night, starting from July.

The plans would see all stations shut at 11.30pm and the service reduced from 8.30pm, with the last trains leaving central London as early as 10.30pm.

Henry Conlon, landlord of the Dublin Castle music pub in Parkway, said the plans would cripple Camden’s bars and clubs – the second biggest tourist attraction in London.

“People don’t come here to go to the big chain stores, they come here for the pubs and the bars and that’s who’s going to suffer,” he said. 

“Already it’s starting to affect trade as people are confused about when these closures are, and are going elsewhere just to be safe, knowing they can at least get home at night.” 

He fears they may ­never return to Camden Town.

“Everyone will suffer: the restaurants, pubs, pizza men and music venues,” he warned. “The bands won’t travel to Camden if people aren’t there to see them and A&R men won’t come out to sign them in case they can’t get home.”

Pat Logue, landlord of the Sheephaven Bay in Mornington Street, echoed Mr Conlon’s concerns. “What we fear is a mass exodus of people going home early and no trade,” he said. 

“People have to go home, so they’re not going to hang around and pay £20 in a cab when they can leave early and pay £1.20 on their Oyster card. They’ll want to drink closer to home.”

Camden Town station is a key interchange. People come from across London to visit the area’s attractions, including the Roundhouse cultural venue, where thousands can be seen queueing around the block for concerts. Kate Clough, manager of the nearby Lock Tavern, said she feared these numbers would soon decrease. 

“There are obvious concerns,” she said. “These kinds of closures affect the footfall, and obviously no people means no trade. It particularly affects tourist trade, and I can see that being a big problem.” 

A spokeswoman for Tube Lines said the work would transform the “sluggish” Northern Line by providing a new signalling system which would allow more trains to run per hour.

A spokesman for Transport for London said a “robust” rail replacement service would be in operation.

Mind the gap – Shops fear takings slump

LIB Dem London Assembly member Caroline Pidgeon wants “short, sharp bursts” of upgrade work on the Northern Line rather than months of weekend closures.

Ms Pidgeon, chairwoman of the assembly’s transport committee, met traders from Camden Town and Hampstead last week. 

She said: “It is no exaggeration to say that the proposed 82 weekends of closure of the Northern Line put at risk the future of many traders, especially in Camden.

“A different approach must now be considered. Close down a few underground stations completely for a few weeks at a time. If people are given plenty of advance notice of the block closure they will be able to make alternative arrangements during these short periods.”

Other suggestions put forward by Ms Pidgeon include express shuttle bus routes in place of the standard rail replacement service, which would see sections of the road closed to other traffic for faster journey times.

But a spokeswoman for Tube Lines dismissed her suggestion  that the system should be closed down for a shorter period. Block closures would create “dead time” where the line was closed but not being worked on.

She added: “Unfortunately, there is no way round it. If we could do the work without closing the line at weekends then we would, but it is not possible.”