 Camden Head from the front | |
 | |
| Address | Camden High Street London, N1 United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 51°32′14″N0°08′28″W / 51.53730°N 0.14112°W |
| Public transit |  Camden Town |
| Owner | Camden Bars |
| Capacity | 300 standing, 60 seated |
| Construction | |
| Built | 1787 |
| Renovated | 2004/05 |
| Website | |
| camdenhead.com | |
The Camden Head is one of the oldest pubs in Camden, London, England having been established in 1787. It is also a former music venue and hosts comedy events.
The Camden Head on Camden High Street is a public house and live venue which first opened towards the end of the 19th century, and has undergone several name changes: it was briefly known as "Liberties" for a period of a few years, before changing back to its former name, Camden Head, which is listed as a registered public house as far back as 1869 - run by then-publican George Soole. [1]
Nowadays, it is known for its local pub atmosphere and comedy venue, which has seen comedians such as Alan Carr, Stephen Merchant, Lee Kern and Bob Mortimer perform. It is not to be confused with The Camden Head in Islington, which is situated on Camden Passage.
The Camden Head's architecture has changed little since its establishment in the 19th century, and testament to that exists in the form of a photo, dated 1903, which shows the building's appearance and similarity to that of the modern-day building. A copy of this photo can be found hanging in The Camden Head pub itself, and is archived at the Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre Catalogue [2]
The Camden Head was an official venue of the yearly festival Camden Crawl. [3] It is a regular venue in the annual Camden Fringe where, in 2011, Richard Tyrone Jones performed. [4] [5]
Synthpop band Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, originally from Camden, shot their video for Dance The Way I Feel upstairs in the Camden Head.[ citation needed ]
In September 2014, the pub relaunched its upstairs venue as Camden Comedy Club.
Crofton Park is a mainly residential suburb and electoral ward in the London Borough of Lewisham.
Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town. Less than four miles north of central London, Kentish Town has good transport connections and is situated close to the open spaces of Hampstead Heath.
Camden Town, often shortened to Camden, is an area in the London Borough of Camden, around 2.5 miles (4.1 km) north-northwest of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is identified in the London Plan as one of 34 major centres in Greater London.
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and with the Royal Opera House, itself known as "Covent Garden". The district is divided by the main thoroughfare of Long Acre, north of which is given over to independent shops centred on Neal's Yard and Seven Dials, while the south contains the central square with its street performers and most of the historical buildings, theatres and entertainment facilities, including the London Transport Museum and the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
Fitzrovia is a district of central London, England, near the West End. The eastern part of the area is in the London Borough of Camden, and the western in the City of Westminster. It has its roots in the Manor of Tottenham Court, and was urbanised in the 18th century. Its name was coined in the late 1930s by Tom Driberg.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days and featured more than 51,446 scheduled performances of 3,317 different shows across 262 venues from 58 different countries. Of those shows, the largest section was comedy, representing almost 40% of shows, followed by theatre, which was 26.6% of shows.
Crouch End is an area of North London, approximately five miles (8 km) from the City of London in the western half of the borough of Haringey. It is within the Hornsey postal district (N8). It has been described by the BBC as one of "a new breed of urban villages" in London. In 2023, it was voted the best place to live in London by the Sunday Times, saying "A creative edge and friendly neighbours give this lofty northern enclave social capital in the capital".
Malcolm Hardee was an English comedian and comedy club proprietor.
Gilded Balloon is a producer and promoter of live entertainment events, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and best known as one of the Big Four venue operators at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe each August.
The Etcetera Theatre is a fringe venue for theatre and comedy. It was founded in 1986 by David Bidmead and is situated above The Oxford Arms pub in Camden Town, in the London Borough of Camden.
The Forest, also referred to as Forest Café, was an independent social centre and arts centre located in central Edinburgh, Scotland. It was notable for being run by volunteers as a charitable, self-sustaining not-for-profit. The Forest was initially housed at a West Port venue from 2000 to 2003, then housed at 3 Bristo Place in the former Edinburgh Seventh Day Adventist Church, a building owned by the Edinburgh University Settlement until August 2011. It featured a two room café with performance space, a single room art gallery named Total Kunst, a radical library named Old Hat Books housed in the café front room, an Action Room for consensus process based organisational working group meetings and internet access, artist gallery spaces, a meeting cum screen printing and crafting room, a rehearsal/music studio, a walk-in freezer, a woodworking and machining room, a darkroom specialising in alternative photographic process, and unisex toilets. In August 2012 The Forest reopened at 141 Lauriston Place, Tollcross where it continued its activity as a volunteer-run vegetarian cafe with regular free events and workshops, assuming a pivotal role in the revival of the independent community development in central Edinburgh. In 2022 the physical space closed citing difficulties arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, despite arts activities continuing decentrally.
Komedia is an arts and entertainment company which operates venues in the United Kingdom at Brighton and Bath, and a management and production company Komedia Entertainment. Beyond hosting live comedy, the venues also host music, cabaret, theatre and shows for children, featuring local, national and international performers. The Brighton and Bath venues operate cinemas within their buildings in partnership with Picturehouse. Komedia also creates broadcast comedy and has most notably co-produced and hosted the live recordings of seven series of the Sony Award-winning Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show! for BBC Radio 4 and is a co-producer on BBC1's sitcom Count Arthur Strong.
The Camden Fringe is a comedy festival in London, taking place over four weeks in the summer as an alternative to the Edinburgh Fringe. The first Camden Fringe took place in 2006 at the Etcetera Theatre. In 2017, the Camden Fringe sold 30,000 tickets for 1000 performances across 25 venues.
Upstairs at the Gatehouse is an Off West End theatre in Highgate in the London Borough of Camden.
The Sherlock Holmes is a Victorian-themed public house in Northumberland Street near Charing Cross railway station and Trafalgar Square which contains a large collection of memorabilia related to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. The original collection was put together for display in Baker Street in London during the Festival of Britain in 1951.
Grenfell Street is a major street in the north-east quarter of the Adelaide city centre, South Australia. The street runs west-east from King William Street to East Terrace. Its intersection with Pulteney Street is formed by Hindmarsh Square. On the west side of King William Street, it continues as Currie Street towards West Terrace.
Just the Tonic is a comedy club with branches in Nottingham and Leicester, which also takes acts to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The club opened in Nottingham in 1994, followed by a Leicester branch in 2012.
Camden Crawl was a music festival in Camden, London, which first appeared in 1995 and then was held annually from 2005 to 2014.
The Montague Arms was a music venue located at 289 Queens Road, in the Telegraph Hill ward of Lewisham, on the borders of Peckham and New Cross in south-east London from 1967 until 2018. The pub venue was known for its eccentric decor; which at some point included old fishing-boat lights, a 19th Century carriage containing a stuffed zebra, and an old diving suit.
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| Bexley | |
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| Croydon | |
| Ealing | |
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| Harrow |
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| Hounslow | |
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| Kensington and Chelsea |
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| Kingston upon Thames | |
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| Merton |
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| Richmond upon Thames | |
| Southwark | |
| Tower Hamlets | |
| Waltham Forest |
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| Wandsworth | |
| City of Westminster |
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