A40 Westway · Camden · Highbury · New York
A stable yard in Camden where they painted their own clothes, a motorway over west London, a church hall in Highbury and a New York theatre that is now student halls.
Four pillars, bare concrete. Tap one to spray a name.
Photographs: John Coffey (1980), UCLA Library Special Collections (1978), CC BY 2.0; Helge Øverås (Oslo), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Rehearsal Rehearsals, Camden · November 1976
In November 1976 the band made and remade their clothes in the studio, adding slogans and splattered, Pollock-style paint. The clothes were made for them by a fashion student, Alex Michon. Pick a stencil, give it three coats, and the place shows through.
STABLES stencil on the shirt. Spray it.
1977 · Stables Market, Chalk Farm Road, Camden
The Clash had their rehearsal space, Rehearsal Rehearsals, here in the early part of their career. It was part of an old stable building that is now part of the Stables Market.
Three coats and the rest shows through.
Part of Camden’s Stables Market now, free to walk in. The old horse ramp is a set of steps.
London
Live marketplace results for punk and Clash walking tours of Camden, Soho and Notting Hill. Check each itinerary for the stops.
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Compare tours100 Oxford Street, London W1
The room where the Clash played the Punk Special in 1976 still puts on bands most nights. Pick a night from the club’s own listings.
See what’s on
A40 · White City to Edgware Road
Joe Strummer lived in west London in the 1970s, and the streets around him went into many of his songs. The elevated road turns up in the band’s song London’s Burning. Walk underneath it, west to east, one pillar at a time.
Pillar 2 of 6: Ladbroke Grove. The Westway.
Westway, North Kensington · 1.6 km from Olaf Street
Notting Hill is the part of west London most closely tied to the Clash.
A working motorway overhead. Walk underneath it on the streets around Ladbroke Grove and Portobello Road.
22 Stanley Gardens, Notting Hill, W11
A Notting Hill townhouse hotel on Stanley Gardens, open since 1971 and long a favourite of people from music, film and fashion. Portobello Road is round the corner. Saturday stays need two nights.
Check roomsThe People’s Hall, Olaf Street · 1981
0 of 4 words pasted up.
The Greater London Council wanted to redevelop the streets, where about 120 people lived in damp old houses.
On Sunday 30 October 1977 a referendum backed leaving Britain without a single vote against.
Visa · Free and Independent Republic
Declare first; then the stamps.
A community hall, not open for drop-in visits. See it from Olaf Street, a short walk from Latimer Road station.
Highbury New Park · August–November 1979
Studio.
London Calling was recorded here between August and November 1979.
Strummer lived in a squat on Daventry Street in 1978 and 1979, one of his most creative stretches.
The studio is now flats. See St Augustine’s from the street.
Chelsea Embankment, by Albert Bridge · 1979
The video for London Calling was shot here, one wet night.
A dry day on the river.
Look down on the pier from Chelsea Embankment, beside Albert Bridge.
The Palladium, East 14th Street · 20 September 1979
The London Calling cover catches the moment Paul Simonon smashed his Fender bass on stage at the Palladium in New York in 1979.
Frustrated at how stiff the audience was, he raised the bass like an axe. It was last played on 20 September 1979. The picture is by Pennie Smith. Q magazine later called it the best rock ’n’ roll photograph of all time.
Drawn for this page; the photograph belongs to Pennie Smith.
The theatre has gone. NYU’s Palladium Hall stands on the site; walk past on 14th Street.
A crate, stencilled for London.
The new London Museum opens in Smithfield’s old General Market on 28 November 2026.
Council wall · four tags
Shepherd’s Bush Road, Hammersmith
PALAIS. What happened here.
Strummer made the Palais the setting of one of his best-known songs.
The Palais has gone. This page names it and leaves it off the map.
12 places you can visit. Wilmcote House is private flats and the Hammersmith Palais has gone; both are named here, with Bonds in New York, and left off the map.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Part of Camden’s Stables Market now, free to walk in. The old horse ramp is a set of steps.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The old theatre front still stands on Seven Sisters Road. See it from the pavement.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The studio is now flats. See St Augustine’s from the street.
Stables Market, Chalk Farm Road, Camden
The Clash had their rehearsal space, Rehearsal Rehearsals, here in the early part of their career.
Part of Camden’s Stables Market now, free to walk in. The old horse ramp is a set of steps.
232 Seven Sisters Road, Finsbury Park
Fans of the Clash once tore out 200 seats here.
The old theatre front still stands on Seven Sisters Road. See it from the pavement.
Highbury New Park, Islington
London Calling was recorded here between August and November 1979.
The studio is now flats. See St Augustine’s from the street.
Stay
A Notting Hill townhouse hotel, a few minutes from the Westway.
22 Stanley Gardens, Notting Hill, W11
A Notting Hill townhouse hotel on Stanley Gardens, open since 1971 and long a favourite of people from music, film and fashion. Portobello Road is round the corner. Saturday stays need two nights.
Check roomsGo there
Marketplace walking tours of Camden, Soho and Notting Hill.
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Live marketplace results for punk and Clash walking tours of Camden, Soho and Notting Hill. Check each itinerary for the stops.
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Compare toursLondon
Live marketplace results for rock and music history tours across London, from Camden to Notting Hill.
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Compare toursWhat’s on
The bass at the new London Museum, carnival under the Westway, and a gig in the 100 Club’s basement.
100 Oxford Street, London W1
The room where the Clash played the Punk Special in 1976 still puts on bands most nights. Pick a night from the club’s own listings.
See what’s onTake it home
Three original posters from our store, three books and three records tied to these places.
A huge original 1979 poster for the album made at Wessex, with lettering by Ray Lowry. 42 × 44.5 in, rolled, near mint.
In stock
View posterAn original 1979 poster, 25 × 35.5 in, rolled, near mint.
Sold out · archive reference
View posterAn original New York poster from 1981, the year of the Bonds residency. 23 × 34.5 in, rolled, near mint.
Sold out · archive reference
View posterChris Salewicz
Strummer’s life, from the squats to the subway that took his name.
Find the bookThe Clash
The band’s own book, in their words and pictures.
Find the bookPat Gilbert
The band’s story, Camden to Combat Rock.
Find the bookThe Clash · 2 × LP, CBS CLASH 3, 1979
Made at Wessex in Highbury; the cover photograph is from the Palladium.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyThe Clash · LP, CBS FMLN 2, 1982
Partly made in the People’s Hall, Frestonia; the sleeve was shot in Thailand.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyThe Clash · 2 × CD, Columbia, 2022
The 2022 edition, named after the hall in Frestonia.
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.
15 of 15 places · 13 of 13 Moments
Stables Market, Chalk Farm Road, Camden
The band paint and stencil their own clothes at Rehearsal Rehearsals.
The photograph for the first album, on the ramp outside.
100 Oxford Street, London W1
Two nights at the 100 Club, all the bands unsigned.
232 Seven Sisters Road, Finsbury Park
Topper Headon meets Mick Jones at a Kinks gig.
Highbury New Park, Islington
The album is made in a church hall in Highbury.
Westway, North Kensington
Portobello Road, Notting Hill
The carnival ends in riots, and White Riot comes out of it.
Olaf Street, near Latimer Road
Rehearsing and recording in the People’s Hall.
Daventry Street, Lisson Grove
Strummer’s squat in Lisson Grove.
Edgware Road and Harrow Road, under the Westway
Warwick Estate, Harrow Road
Mick Jones lives with his grandmother in Wilmcote House.
Chelsea Embankment, by Albert Bridge
The London Calling video is shot at Cadogan Pier.
Shepherd’s Bush Road, Hammersmith
General Market, West Smithfield, EC1
Simonon’s bass goes on show at the new London Museum.
East 14th Street, Manhattan
Simonon smashes his bass at the Palladium; Pennie Smith takes the picture.
Times Square, New York
The Bonds residency in New York.
