Where It WasPop WeeklyMuswell Hill edition · 6d
Where to find them
A front room where a number one was written. A pub across the road. A town hall on Valentine’s Day. A speaker cut with a razor. A hospital balcony over the Thames. Four years kept out of America, and two nights at Carnegie Hall.
Take the back off the amp ↓
1964 edition: By the river, Tower Bridge behind them.
Fortis Green · 1962–64
Dave Davies found a little green Elpico amplifier, not much bigger than a radio, in a radio-spares shop up the road.
Fed up that amps all sounded the same, he took a single-edged Gillette razor blade and cut slits from the centre of the speaker cone to its edge, leaving it shredded but still in one piece.
The cone is whole. Drag across it from the centre, or press Cut.
Each cut opens a place within a walk of the house.
105 Fortis Green, London N2
The pub at 105 Fortis Green where Ray and Dave first played in public offers private tours about the band, with the Kinks Room and its signed first single. Open 11am to midnight daily, kitchen 12pm to 10pm. The Davies house is across the road: look, don’t knock.
Book a table or a tour
A private family home. This page names it and leaves it off the map; the Clissold Arms is across the road.
Fortis Green · Crouch End · Hornsey · Archway
The Village Green Preservation Society came out in 1968, was overlooked, and is now counted among the most important British albums. Four places of theirs nearly went. Put a fence round each one, pour a cup, and read what happened.
Nothing fenced yet. Choose what to keep.
March 2007 · 105 Fortis Green, London N2
Thirty-six years after their first gig, they played their last one together in the same room.
Fence it to see it now.
6 December 2025 · The Broadway, Crouch End, London N8
On Valentine’s Day 1963 the hall held a concert by the Ray Davies Quartet, the group that became the Kinks.
Fence it to see it now.
1971 · Navigator Square, Archway, London N19
The five Kinks were photographed in the Archway Tavern for the fold-out sleeve of Muswell Hillbillies.
The album, their first for RCA in 1971, is about families moved out of a war-damaged, half-demolished inner city to the leafy North London suburbs.
Fence it to see it now.
1994–1996 · 84 Tottenham Lane, Hornsey, London N8
The Kinks set up Konk in 1973.
In 1994 the band went into Konk to film songs for their archive, in front of fans and friends, for a close, live feel.
Fence it to see it now.
The Broadway, Crouch End, London N8
Serviced studios inside Hornsey Town Hall, where the Ray Davies Quartet played on Valentine’s Day 1963: 68 apartments with the original ironmongery and timber, next to the arts centre. Booking direct listed up to 40% off non-refundable rates when we checked.
Check roomsWestminster Bridge Road · Waterloo · February 1967
The official biography calls Waterloo Sunset a tribute to the Thames and to London. Pull the sun down behind the bridge. Each lamp that comes on along the river has a line of how the song got there.
The sun is high over the river. Drag it down.
Lamp 1 is still off.
Lamp 2 is still off.
Lamp 3 is still off.
Lamp 4 is still off.
Lamp 5 is still off.
Lamp 6 is still off.
A working hospital. See it from Westminster Bridge or the Albert Embankment across the river.
A working main-line station, open all day.
Walk across from the South Bank to the Strand. The view west, at sunset, is the one.
American Federation of Musicians · 1965–1969
Application to perform in the United States
No application yet.
Two New York halls wait behind the permit.
The original four · inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990
Singer, songwriter, guitar
Ray Davies received a CBE in 2004 and a knighthood in 2017. The Kinks (official site)
Sunny Afternoon, the 2014 musical built on his songs, won him an Olivier Award. The Kinks (official site)
Lead guitar
Dave Davies had a major stroke in 2004 and has since released Fractured Mindz, I Will Be Me and Open Road. The Kinks (official site)
Drums
Mick Avory joined just before the band signed to Pye in 1964 and left in 1985. The Kinks (official site)
He has played with the Kast Off Kinks since 1994. The Kast Off Kinks
Bass
Pete Quaife played bass from the Ravens days, left in 1969 and died on 23 June 2010. The Kinks (official site)
Ray dedicated his Glastonbury set four days later to him. The Kinks (official site)
11 places you can visit. 6 Denmark Terrace is a private family home, so it is named and left off the map; Konk, the old art school and Fortismere are working buildings you see from the street.
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. A working pub, directly opposite the Davies house. The Kinks Room is inside; the CAMRA plaque is by the door.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working school, not open to visitors. See it from Creighton Avenue or Tetherdown.
105 Fortis Green, London N2
A CAMRA plaque marks the pub as the site of the first public performance of Ray and Dave Davies, in December 1960.
A working pub, directly opposite the Davies house. The Kinks Room is inside; the CAMRA plaque is by the door.
Creighton Avenue, Muswell Hill
The Davies brothers went to William Grimshaw Secondary Modern on Creighton Avenue.
A working school, not open to visitors. See it from Creighton Avenue or Tetherdown.
Stay
Serviced studios inside Hornsey Town Hall, where the Ray Davies Quartet played in 1963.
The Broadway, Crouch End, London N8
Serviced studios inside Hornsey Town Hall, where the Ray Davies Quartet played on Valentine’s Day 1963: 68 apartments with the original ironmongery and timber, next to the arts centre. Booking direct listed up to 40% off non-refundable rates when we checked.
Check roomsGo there
The pub where they first played, and marketplace music walks in London.
London
Live marketplace results for rock and pop history walks in London. Check each itinerary for its stops; none is run by the band.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare tours105 Fortis Green, London N2
The pub at 105 Fortis Green where Ray and Dave first played in public offers private tours about the band, with the Kinks Room and its signed first single. Open 11am to midnight daily, kitchen 12pm to 10pm. The Davies house is across the road: look, don’t knock.
Book a table or a tourWhat’s on
The band with the original drummer, Mick Avory, on stage this autumn.
Checking current event dates…
Take it home
Two original concert posters from our store, three books by the brothers, and five records tied to these places.
An original 1970 Fillmore West concert poster by David Singer, from the year after the American ban was lifted. 14 × 22 in, rolled, mint.
In stock
View posterAn original 1978 German concert poster. 23 × 33 in, rolled (previously folded), near mint.
In stock
View posterRay Davies
Ray Davies on the Kinks and America.
Find the bookThe Kinks · LP, Pye NPL 18096, 1964
The first album, released in October 1964, the year You Really Got Me went to number one.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyThe Kinks · LP, Pye NPL 18193, 1967
The 1967 album with Waterloo Sunset on it.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyThe Kinks · LP, Pye NPL 18233, 1968
Overlooked in 1968, now counted among the most important British albums.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyThe Kinks · LP, RCA Victor SF 8243, 1971
The first RCA album, with its fold-out photographed in the Archway Tavern.
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Find a copyThe Kinks · 2LP, RCA Victor DPS 2035, 1972
Half studio, half live from two nights at Carnegie Hall.
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.
12 of 12 places · 15 of 15 Moments
Denmark Terrace, Fortis Green
Ray Davies is born at 6 Denmark Terrace; Dave follows in 1947.
Dave slashes the speaker of a little green Elpico amp to get a sound nobody else had.
Written in the front room, it becomes the third single and goes to number one.
105 Fortis Green, London N2
Ray and Dave play their first public performance in the pub across the road.
Overlooked on release; now counted among the most important British albums.
Ray and Dave object when the pub plans to auction its Kinks memorabilia.
Creighton Avenue, Muswell Hill
Crouch End Hill, Crouch End
The Broadway, Crouch End, London N8
The Ray Davies Quartet plays Hornsey Town Hall.
Hornsey Town Hall opens again as an arts centre.
84 Tottenham Lane, Hornsey, London N8
The Kinks set up their own studio in Hornsey.
Songs filmed before fans and friends; two new ones recorded in April 1996.
Navigator Square, Archway, London N19
The first RCA album, photographed in the Archway Tavern.
Westminster Bridge Road, Lambeth
Waterloo Road, Lambeth
Waterloo Bridge, between the South Bank and the Strand
The song arrives in a dream, years after a hospital balcony over the river.
105 Second Avenue, East Village
A union dispute on the 1965 US tour keeps the Kinks out of America for four years.
The ban over, the Kinks open for Spirit at the Fillmore East.
881 Seventh Avenue, Midtown Manhattan
Live tapes for Everybody’s in Show-Biz.
