Well, last week’s edition of Camdenist certainly galvanised enthusiasm from the local community 😃

As we take stock of all the responses to our proposal to deliver a new kind of community cinema cultural hub at the heart of Kentish Town, it’s a good time to look at the wider reinvention of the UK’s high streets, too.

The much vaunted hope for saving them with an alternative to the ailing traditional retail-based model is the so-called experience economy. And it really does have a lot going for it:

• Empty shop units can be successfully reborn as music, arts, gaming or social venues.

• Customer focus moves away from consuming ‘stuff’ on a planet with all-too finite resources.

• Artists, performers and other creative types gain more opportunities to earn a much needed living.

• Dangerous and delipidated urban areas can become safe, scrubbed-up and thriving once more.

• People increase their emotional connection to a shared sense of places based on how these experiences make them feel, which has vital social benefit.

Before anyone raises a hand, I’m not saying that Camden’s various high streets are particularly in need of radical fixing by comparison with many others further afield, but they are certainly also shifting under the same seismic pressures of technology, economy and ecology.

As you might expect regardless, this part of the world is leading the way when it comes to experimenting with new high street experiences, anywhere from huge defunct department stores to the smallest of shop units.

I was at Central Saint Martins last week for the Experience on Main Street Conference where it was noticeable just how many operators in this relatively new sector are busy doing their thing right here.

From the people who turned Chalk Farm’s Grade II-listed stables into an immersive Peaky Blinders show to the ones who brought Monopoly to life in an IRL game in the old Paperchase store on Tottenham Court Road, let alone those behind the futuristic entire entertainment district of Outernet a bit further down the road.

But whether it’s bringing a Paddington Bear Experience to the old County Hall, or repurposing large swathes of Camden Market with the likes of Junkyard Golf, Babylon Park, the (now closed) Tomb Raider Experience and (soon to open) Lane7 bowling, all of this is notably big brand, play-safe, mainstream entertainment. And it’s got big property-sized money pumped in to ensure it delivers.

What we want to do is facilitate the grassroots, the edgy, the lil’ bit-off-the-wall creatives to be able to cut loose and do their thing in these vacant high street spaces, too. So this week’s Camdenist Interview reveals further details of our plans for Kentish Town’s Poly building, as our very own Rubi Iqbal lays out her vision for a taste of what you’ll encounter there if our clever funding model gets a green light...

Big brand experiences don’t all have to play safe and obvious, though. Mindboggling new spaces like Lightroom in King’s Cross - which celebrated it’s first birthday last week - could hardly be described as anything but cutting edge. The perennially popular David Hockney show (pictured above) and the Tom Hanks-fronted Moonwalkers both demonstrate what can be achieved when the big money is focused on putting on something brand new and genuinely creative.

They’ve just announced a third show arriving in the autumn, Vogue: Inventing the Runway, which is sure to deftly straddle the line between the big bucks and real innovation in the experience space. Hopefully it will inspire more risk-taking elsewhere.

Meanwhile, possibly the most audacious repurposing of redundant retail to date, the transformation of Tottenham IKEA into the vast daytime nightclub Drumsheds, isn’t just inspiring - but now actively funding experimentation elsewhere.

A new initiative from the venue’s visionaries Broadwick Live is supporting the grassroots night time economy with a string of satellite events to nurture up-and-coming talent in smaller clubs.

As we heard at the conference, Broadwick’s clever way of bringing culture into spaces with uncertain futures has led to developers rethinking their own approach to their assets (at one time, via the success of former newspaper press room-turned-culture-venue, Printworks, none other than British Land had a spell as the biggest electronic music event promoter in the world 😯).

With you lot behind us, another form of the innovative new approach for bringing cultural experience to the high street could come to NW5’s former Polytechnic assembly hall. So many comments, considered suggestions and offers of help came flooding in (I urge you to read the selection of them when you get to the bottom section of this newsletter), and we’ll definitely contact everyone who asked for more info once we’ve had further meetings with the Council, or just keep reading your weekly edition of Camdenist…

MORE FESTIVALS

❄️ It’s the annual Ice Heritage Weekend at the London Canal Museum in King’s Cross, celebrating the area’s association with Norwegian harvested ice, Italian immigrant ice cream (including workshops), boat trips and opportunities to visit the underground ice wells.

💃🏼 It’s the second part of the 30th anniversary celebrations of Camden Mela canalside at Hawley Wharf this Saturday 20th, with the sights, sounds and flavours of the Borough’s South Asian community coming this time to the heart of the famous Market.

🌳 Proper village fete the Camden New Town Community Festival pops-up in leafy Camden Square again all weekend, with eco stalls, live music, family activities and food.

🎶 From Bengali players Bangla Shur to Irish folk from The Spud Peelers and Jamaican Ska from The Estimators, local bands will be on the bill all afternoon at Parliament Hill bandstand for the free Natural Aspect Summer Concert and picnic.

FOOD + DRINK

🍷 Argentine wine and dine terrace at Roundhouse

With the mighty Fuerza Bruta back in the main space for the first time in a decade (see below), Chalk Farm’s Roundhouse has gone all Argentinean for the duration of the summer. You don’t need a ticket to the show to visit Casper’s Bar up on the roof terrace, where you can eat handmade empanadas daily, and impressive steaks, burgers, and loaded fries on Fridays and Saturdays. Every Friday until August 30th is also when to visit for the Argentine Wine Tasting Series, with five unexpected samples to try at each session.

🌯 'Bangladesh Reimagined' is how Hawley Wharf’s latest newcomer Dhakaah is pitching a menu of spicy Kathi rolls, crisp Peyaju dahl fritters and masala roast chicken. It launches on Wednesday 24th July.

🍛 Nigerian Jollof rice and beef suya streetfood originals Jollof Mama have just landed in a permanent spot with long-time collaborators Kerb, at their mega Covent Garden food hall Seven Dials Market.

STAGE

Camden Fringe begins right here

📷 CAMDEN FRINGE HIGHLIGHT, WEEK 1: For the first of our partnerships with performers at the month-long festival of comedy, cutting-edge plays and performances, we’ve been speaking with South African actor-playwright Lara van Huyssteen about her show That Boy Has No Shoes. It’s a personal account of her home country’s shameful years of Apartheid, as seen through the eyes of someone too young to really know it, via a series of conversations with objects that were central to the oppression.

🌏 Argentinean aerial dance spectacular company Fuerza Bruta are back at Roundhouse with new show AVEN, wowing the crowds all around them in the main space. Runs until Sept 1st.

🎻 The next big summer show at the lovely Regent's Park Open Air Theatre is a new production of the musical classic Fiddler On The Roof, which opens next Saturday (27th) and run through the rest of the summer season. Until 21st September.

🎭 Ugly Sisters sees a transgender woman in flapping draperies rushing up to Germaine Greer the day The Female Eunuch is issued in America to say ‘thank you so much for all you’ve done for us girls’, in this Edinburgh preview at the New Diorama tonight and tomorrow July 19th-20th.

MUSIC

🪩Daytime raving, nighttime moves

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