Tin Pan Alley:

A Brief History Of London's Denmark Street To The 1950s

Every city in the world renowned for its musical history has a definitive area that produced artist after artist that changed the face of music as we know it. Denmark Street provided London with its musical heart and soul in the 20th Century, and still is today. It was given the title of London’s Tin Pan Alley in the 1920s and has made music history ever since!

Located in Camden, the first record of Denmark Street was in the population surveys of the 1730s. It was one of London’s many slums back then, housing the dregs of society. This changed in the 1800s as the area was bulldozed, but for some strange reason Denmark Street was left standing. This gives it the character it has today with its little terraced houses, but it was the influx of musical talent that has established its part in history.

Its music legacy began in the 1800s. Denmark Street was still a poor area of the city but the little terraced houses usually provided very cheap accommodation. Struggling artists and musicians flocked to London in their droves to try and achieve fame and fortune. Denmark Street began to bloom as a result of the influx, with music composed and lyrics written day in and day out. However, none of those early musical settlers knew exactly how popular Denmark Street would become.

Theatres and musical outlets lined the streets by the 1890s and so music publishers, anticipating a business opportunity and sensing a good profit, set up their sheet music production businesses in Denmark Street. The music halls and theatres in the vicinity made sheet music extremely popular and cemented the status of the area, and particularly Denmark Street, as the UK capital of music.

At the turn of the 20th Century, Denmark Street was essentially influencing the musical trends all over the UK by reflecting the changing face of music all over the world. The jazz and rhythm and blues era in the United States had just begun and so the music cafes in Denmark Street provided a forum for British musicians to try their hand at the American styles. It then gradually filtered into the British subconscious, a trend that was to be mimicked by so many styles of music into the 1960s and 1970s.

Between 1900 and the early 1930s, Denmark Street was really going to cement its Tin Pan Alley status, being given that title in the 1920s. Nobody is exactly sure when the title was given and who by, but the name simply stuck. There is speculation that it was given in 1926 when Melody Maker was first published there. It was written and produced at number 19 Denmark Street and was to become a British institution. It let the entire country know about musical trends and inspired a whole generation to enjoy British music and follow their dreams if they wanted to do it for a living.

By the 1930s, music shops lined the street, with pianos, guitars and other similar instruments always on display. The music shops were interspersed with publishing businesses and early recording studios. Even during World War II and The Blitz, a number of those shops stayed open and musicians continued to visit the music cafes and halls for entertainment. The inhabitants of Denmark Street were proud that they could do their bit by lifting the spirits of others. After the war, the area was to develop beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.

The whole street simply was music. It had a certain flavour though. Other musical streets in London were just that, but Denmark Street soon came to provide the country with a rock n roll heart thus cementing its place in history as London’s Tin Pan Alley.