Walthamstow · Romford · Chappel · New Cross · Mile End · Wembley
Under starter’s orders. Six traps, six places.
The band on the Parklife record were photographed at a dog track in Walthamstow; the dogs on its front ran at Romford. Thirteen real places, from a railway goods shed in 1989 to Wembley in 2023.
Thirteen posts · 1988 to 2023
Each post on the rail is a real place, in time order. Run the hare a post at a time or a whole lap, and pick the trap you are backing.
Post 1 of 13, Childhood: Fillebrook Road, Leytonstone. Trap 3, white, leads the chase. 1 of 13 posts reached.
Post 1 · Childhood · Leytonstone, east London: a private house
Damon Albarn was born at Whipps Cross Hospital, nearby, and lived on Fillebrook Road before his family moved to Colchester.
Waltham Forest Council includes the house on its Leyton and Leytonstone heritage walk.
A private house. Named here, never mapped. Leytonstone station, on the Central line, is the nearest Tube.
Leytonstone to Colchester, and back into London
A childhood street, a goods shed, a station concourse and a college front: four stops before the band were famous.
Leytonstone · Childhood
Damon Albarn was born at Whipps Cross Hospital, nearby, and lived on Fillebrook Road before his family moved to Colchester.
Waltham Forest Council includes the house on its Leyton and Leytonstone heritage walk.
A private house. Named here, never mapped. Leytonstone station, on the Central line, is the nearest Tube.
Chappel and Wakes Colne · 1989
Blur played their first gig in the museum’s Goods Shed in 1989.
On 30 November 2009 the museum was given the first PRS for Music Heritage Award, a plaque marking that first gig.
On Saturday 13 June 2009 the band came back and played to about 150 people.
Open Wednesdays and weekends: 10am to 5pm from April to October, 10am to 4pm from November to March.
Liverpool Street · Before 1994
Damon Albarn came into Liverpool Street from Colchester again and again. Watching the commuters gave him songs such as Tracy Jacks and Ernold Same.
A main-line station, open to everyone. Trains to Colchester leave from here.
New Cross · 1989
Alex James met Graham Coxon on his first day studying French at Goldsmiths, then befriended Dave Rowntree and Damon Albarn. He joined Blur in 1989.
Time Out says James later lived in a squat near New Cross Gate station.
On 22 June 2009, warming up for the reunion, Blur played the college where Coxon and James first met.
A working college. See the front of the Richard Hoggart Building from Lewisham Way; New Cross and New Cross Gate stations are close.
Walthamstow and Romford · 1988 and 1994
Every photograph of the band on the Parklife record and CD packaging was taken by Paul Postle at Walthamstow Stadium, the dog track in east London.
Racing runs most days: free on Monday and Saturday mornings, Tuesday afternoons and Wednesday evenings, £7 for adults and £5 for under-18s on Friday and Saturday evenings.
Two tracks. Which one is on the front of Parklife?
Song 2 · recorded in 1996
For Song 2, Stephen Street set up two drum kits in one room. Dave Rowntree and Graham Coxon played together, and only room microphones picked them up, for a small, lo-fi sound.
A few bars were marked on the hard-disk recorder and copied into a loop that ran the length of the song, about three minutes; the band played over it. Damon Albarn sang in the control room with a hand-held microphone, moving about while they played. Alex James’s bass went through a Big Muff fuzz pedal.
Microphone between the two kits: 50 to 50.
Primrose Hill · 1993
For Tomorrow, the 1993 single, has a line about the view from the top of Primrose Hill.
That line was painted on a footpath on the hill in 2000. Cleaners removed it in May 2012. Dave Rowntree, who had lived nearby for about 15 years, said he understood the decision but called it a shame.
An open park. The view from the top is the one the song describes.
The A40 · 1993 onwards
The Westway, the A40 flyover by Ladbroke Grove, runs through Albarn’s words from For Tomorrow in 1993 to the single Under the Westway.
Walk beneath it at Portobello Green, off Portobello Road, or follow the canal towpath west to where it crosses the water.
Mile End Stadium, 1995: 27,000 people, and Wembley still too big.
Blur headlined Mile End Stadium in 1995, a year after Parklife, in front of 27,000 people.
Albarn said they did not play Wembley because it was just a bit too big. Alex James said they were the first band of their age to play somewhere like it, and that made it special. Country House went down so well that night that it was picked as the next single.
An athletics track inside Mile End Park. The park is open ground; look through the railings at the track.
Gorleston-on-Sea · 20 September 1995
On 20 September 1995, the year of The Great Escape, Blur played a secret gig here. About 800 fans came, some queuing from 8am. The band arrived two hours late. Matt Lucas, then little known, was the support.
The building belongs to Great Yarmouth Borough Council and has since closed; the council says work is needed before it can reopen. Closed. See it from Pier Gardens on the seafront.
Hyde Park · 2012 and 2015
Blur played a show in Hyde Park to close the 2012 Olympics. They came back in 2015 for their fourth Hyde Park show.
A Royal Park, free and open every day. Marble Arch is the nearest Tube for the north-east corner.
Bergstaðastræti 1, Reykjavík · 1996 to 1997
Damon Albarn first went to Iceland in the 1990s and was, briefly, a part-owner of Kaffibarinn. He said it was a break from the scene at home, until he praised it in interviews and the fans arrived.
He talked the band into recording part of the 1997 album Blur at Studio Grettisgat in Reykjavík: the vocals for Beetlebum, On Your Own, Essex Dogs and Strange News from Another Star.
Kaffibarinn has been open since 1993, a bar and café in a small red house.
Open every day: from 3pm Monday to Thursday, from noon at weekends; until 1am, or 4.30am on Fridays and Saturdays.
Bergstaðastræti 37, Reykjavík
A four-star hotel from 1965 with 42 rooms and Iceland’s largest private art collection, further up Bergstaðastræti from Kaffibarinn. Many rooms look out on Hallgrímskirkja.
See roomsThe last race
12 places you can visit. The Fillebrook Road house in Leytonstone is private: named, never mapped.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Still racing. Free on most days; £7 for adults on Friday and Saturday evenings, doors at 6pm. Under-18s must come with someone over 21.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A main-line station, open to everyone. Trains to Colchester leave from here.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. There is no racing here now. The listed frontage and its neon face Chingford Road: look from the pavement.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. An athletics track inside Mile End Park. The park is open ground; look through the railings at the track.
London Road, Romford, RM7 9DU
The greyhounds on the front of Parklife were photographed at Romford, Essex, in 1988, by the sports photographer Bob Thomas.
Still racing. Free on most days; £7 for adults on Friday and Saturday evenings, doors at 6pm. Under-18s must come with someone over 21.
Bishopsgate, City of London
Damon Albarn came into Liverpool Street from Colchester again and again. Watching the commuters gave him songs such as Tracy Jacks and Ernold Same.
A main-line station, open to everyone. Trains to Colchester leave from here.
Chingford Road, Walthamstow, London E4
Every photograph of the band on the Parklife record and CD packaging was taken by Paul Postle at Walthamstow Stadium, the dog track in east London.
There is no racing here now. The listed frontage and its neon face Chingford Road: look from the pavement.
Rhodeswell Road, Mile End Park, east London
Blur headlined Mile End Stadium in 1995, a year after Parklife, in front of 27,000 people.
An athletics track inside Mile End Park. The park is open ground; look through the railings at the track.
Stay
Hotel Holt, a few minutes’ walk up Bergstaðastræti from Kaffibarinn.
Bergstaðastræti 37, Reykjavík
A four-star hotel from 1965 with 42 rooms and Iceland’s largest private art collection, further up Bergstaðastræti from Kaffibarinn. Many rooms look out on Hallgrímskirkja.
See roomsGo there
The railway museum where they started, the Wembley Stadium tour, and London and Reykjavík walks on the marketplace.
Chappel and Wakes Colne, Essex
The station, sidings and Goods Shed where Blur played their first gig. Open Wednesdays and weekends: 10am to 5pm until the end of October, then 10am to 4pm.
Plan a visitWembley, north-west London
A guided tour into the parts of the stadium usually kept for the players and performers, where Blur played their first Wembley shows in July 2023.
Book a tourLondon
Live marketplace results for London music walks. Check each itinerary for the stops on this page.
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Compare toursReykjavík
Live marketplace results for walks round central Reykjavík, where Kaffibarinn is.
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Compare toursWhat’s on
No Blur show after today has been announced. The Romford track still races, and the railway museum runs dated days.
Checking current event dates…
Take it home
An original 1999 poster from our own store, the bass player’s memoir, a history of the first ten years and four records made in the years on this page.
An original 1999 poster for 13, the album after the Reykjavík sessions. 24 × 18 in, rolled, mint.
In stock
View posterAlex James
The bass player’s memoir, from Goldsmiths to the band’s biggest years. Abacus paperback.
Find the bookStuart Maconie
Stuart Maconie’s history of the band’s first ten years. Virgin, 1999.
Find the bookBlur · CD, Food FOOD CD 6, 1991
The first album, two years after the Goods Shed.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyBlur · CD, Food FOODCD 9, 1993
The album with For Tomorrow on it, and the Westway in its first song.
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Find a copyBlur · Vinyl LP, Food FOODLP 10, 1994
Romford dogs on the front, Walthamstow photographs inside.
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Find a copyBlur · CD, Food FOOD CD 19, 1997
The 1997 album; four of its vocals were recorded in Reykjavík.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
13 of 13 places · 15 of 15 Moments
Leytonstone, east London: a private house
Damon Albarn grows up on Fillebrook Road before the family moves to Colchester.
London Road, Romford, RM7 9DU
Bob Thomas photographs greyhounds racing at Romford; the picture becomes the front of Parklife.
Chappel and Wakes Colne Station, Station Road, Wakes Colne, near Colchester, CO6 2DS
Blur’s first gig, in the museum’s Goods Shed.
The reunion warms up where it started, in front of about 150 people.
Lewisham Way, New Cross, south-east London
Alex James meets Graham Coxon on his first day at Goldsmiths.
A reunion warm-up at Goldsmiths.
Bishopsgate, City of London
Albarn watches the commuters coming in from Colchester; Tracy Jacks and Ernold Same follow.
Primrose Hill, north London NW1
For Tomorrow names the view from the top of Primrose Hill.
A40 flyover, North Kensington, west London
The Westway enters Albarn’s songs.
Chingford Road, Walthamstow, London E4
Paul Postle photographs the band at Walthamstow Stadium for the Parklife packaging.
Rhodeswell Road, Mile End Park, east London
Blur headline Mile End Stadium in front of 27,000 people.
Pier Gardens, Gorleston-on-Sea, Norfolk
About 800 fans wait from 8am; the band arrive two hours late.
Bergstaðastræti 1, Reykjavík, Iceland
Four vocals for the album Blur are recorded at Studio Grettisgat in Reykjavík.
Hyde Park, central London
Blur play Hyde Park to close the 2012 Olympics, and return in 2015.
Olympic Way, Wembley, north-west London
Blur’s first Wembley Stadium shows, two nights.
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