THRIFT AND VINTAGE IN LONDON

‘One man’s trash is another man’s treasure’: the overused cliché that rings true in numerous situations, but none more so than when it comes to second-hand shopping. Buying thrift/vintage is an undoubtedly rewarding experience that brings with it an abundance of opportunities to transform a wardrobe from predictable to unique, plus it’s environmentally friendly. Despite this, the perceived experience of second-hand shopping is quite different to the truth about thrift/vintage, and it’s definitely not for everyone.

Many people wrongly conflate thrift and vintage - they aren't the same thing. A typical thrift store isn’t for those who will only accept their clothes in pristine condition: the up side, of course, is that everything is fantastically cheap, but piles of clothes can be dirty and there’s also a lot of charity-shop junk to be rummaged through before you find something good.Vintage stores are much more selective about what they’ll sell. Genuine vintage is at least 35 years old, but I think this rule only applies in the most upmarket boutiques as the majority of places stock a lot of 90's pieces as well. Some items can be overpriced, especially seeing as they generally hold no antique value, but most of the time prices are reasonable and always cheaper than buying first-hand. 

Best Thrift/Vintage in London

Blitz also stocks vintage vinyl and posters

Blitz

Location: Brick Lane

Don’t miss: 10% off vouchers that workers give out
http://www.blitzlondon.co.uk/

Voted 9th best store in London by Time Out, Blitz is the one-stop place for an overall fantastic vintage experience. It’s a Victorian warehouse furnished beautifully into an organized store, with a bigger variety of men’s and women’s stock than most other second-hand shops. On top of this, Blitz sells a great amount of the items that people are actually looking for, so there's never a shortage of 501 jeans. It focuses on the 70’s-90’s, meaning the majority of the clothes are extremely wearable for a younger market – and also decently priced.

Jumper and jeans both East End Thrift Store

East End Thrift Store

Location: Whitechapel

Don’t miss: Super cheap £1 and 50p sales
https://www.facebook.com/pages/East-End-Thrift-Store/165943483434967

A trip to the East End Thrift Store will leave you questioning how it is possible for a company to make a profit whilst almost giving away stock. It’s easily the best place for grabbing a huge amount for a very low price; the end of season sales can draw massive queues so you do need to get there early. However, astonishingly low prices mean the store (which is actually just a warehouse down an otherwise-empty side road) gets very messy, during the pound sales you’ll have to rummage through piles of rubbish on your hands and knees to find something good. Personally I think that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make when buying a hoodie for 50p that would otherwise cost about £20, and I'm sure everything is more organized if you go during the week. 

90's platform trainers for £30 in Beyond Retro

Beyond Retro

Location: Soho

Don’t miss: Special collections for holidays
http://www.beyondretro.com/en/help/stores

Beyond Retro is a convenient vintage stop-off during a day of a shopping on Oxford/Carnaby Street. The store is furnished with funky decorations and some of the workers look like they’ve stepped straight out of the 70’s, which obviously makes the shopping experience all the more enjoyable. My only complaint is that sometimes the small store can feel a little crammed, but at the large store in Brighton this problem is non-existent, and the range of stock is fantastic. 

Rokit on Brick Lane

Rokit

Location: Flagship at Covent Garden, other stores in Camden and Brick Lane

Don’t miss: Rokit recycled
http://www.rokit.co.uk/

Rokit is probably the most well-known vintage chain in London, and it's also the place I’ve bought the most things from purely because the flagship is so convenient to shop at and the collections are always changing. I love Rokit recycled: it’s reworked vintage that would otherwise be unusable, and it’s especially good for formal skirts, velvet tops and faux leather bags that are a bit more unique than what’s available on the high street. However, Rokit is extremely overpriced for tee shirts and sweatshirts – I can’t bear to pay £20 for a basic top with a washed out design on it. Also, the Camden store is too overcrowded to spend any longer than ten minutes in.

Coat - Thrift Store in Chalk Farm
Dungarees - East End Thrift Store

(Thrift shop chalk farm)

I can't remember the name :(

Location: Chalk Farm

Don’t miss: Massive selection of cheap fur coats

I have never thought that Camden market is particularly good for vintage/thrift, but continue walking on the main road in the opposite direction to the station, and on the right hand side you’ll find a small thrift store which you might never know was so near to Camden. I’m going to try and go again soon to find out the name, but this store is fantastic for second-hand stuff that’s in better condition than the East End Thrift Store, and still priced very fairly. The shop owner is incredibly kind and will let you reserve items for up to a month if you leave a small deposit on the day (for a £30 coat, I had to leave a £5 deposit).  

The shops I've listed are just my personal choices for second-hand shopping, but there are plenty more places around London that don't have a bad selection of well-priced items. Outside the city, Brighton has a fantastic selection of stores which typically host cheaper price tags than places in the capital, such as Dirty Harry and To Be Worn Again. Personally, I'm not a big fan of the vintage 'departments' in high street stores like Urban Outfitters, since everything is overpriced and the perfection of items make me slightly skeptical as to whether they are genuinely second-hand.

RADIO 1 HITS 12-YEAR LISTENER LOW

Foo Fighters headlining the main stage on Sunday night
www.bbc.co.uk

Foo Fighters, Taylor Swift and Jamie T all took the stage this weekend at Radio 1’s Big Weekend, a jealousy-inducing event that also stands as the only time in my life when I’ve had a sudden sense of anger that I don’t live anywhere near Norwich. The variety in the line-up symbolises Radio 1 as it was in its heyday: undeniably well-rounded and popular. However, whilst the successes of Radio 1’s Big Weekend are ominously present in all the photos and videos, in this same week it’s been published by The Guardian that Radio 1’s audience has dropped to its lowest level in more than a decade.

One of the worst impacted by the drop is Nick Grimshaw, presenter of the breakfast show and rumoured future judge on the X Factor, who achieved only 5.5 million listeners a week during the first three months of this year. Flicking through some of his shows on iPlayer, it becomes prominent that his wit and charisma doesn’t compromise his ability to play good, current hits, but there’s no denying that the focus is on breadth rather than depth (it’s slightly ‘something for everyone’). Something for everyone sounds great for boosting listener numbers, but during the morning nobody has a lot of time and I know I’d rather put Spotify on shuffle than listen to a radio show where I truly enjoy one in ten songs.

Nick Grimshaw was voted 5th in GQ's '50 best dressed British men'
www.telegraph.co.uk

In the past, the only times I’ve tuned into Radio 1 are when I’m overly enthusiastic for a Reading and Leeds announcement and switch on the radio fifteen minutes early – and I never really enjoy what I hear. As I write I’m giving the station a listen, it’s nine pm and Tyler Oakley is the presenter. As much as he is excitable and very current, it’s clear the focus of the show isn’t going to be on the music.

Someone texts in the station: ‘Tyler, I just got my braces off and it feels so weird!’

Thanks for that! I’m jumping to the conclusion that whoever texted this is the average age for the removal of braces, so probably under fourteen. Instantly the demographic of listeners is exposed, and it’s a bit off-putting. Radio 1 is undoubtedly aimed at a youthful market, but when the presenter is a Youtuber and the text-ins are somewhat childish, it’s hard to believe they’re not writing the show solely for thirteen year olds.

Tyler has over 6 million Youtube subscribers

The Guardian’s report gave a suggestion that one cause for the lapsing listeners is that young people simply spend more time on ‘online persuits such as Facebook’ than listening to the radio. This stereotype never fails to get my goat – can we really blame the Internet for every habit of the youth of today? The archetypal image of adolescence has drifted from rebellion and boredom to complete social isolation, and this label seems to be provided as the conclusion for any statistic related to an under eighteen; that is to say, I don’t believe the downfall of Radio 1 can be blamed on Facebook.

Neither do I think the reduction in popularity can be blamed on Spotify: listening to your own music is a different experience to listening to the radio. For me, the lacking appeal lies in the mishmash of songs and the enormous variety in what we know as ‘popular’ today. It seems a monumental task to appeal to the masses in a generation that enjoys such an extensive assortment of genres and artists - perhaps a mixture of styles is successful on a one-off occasion such as the Big Weekend, but translating this into a 24 hour radio show is evidently going to be problematic.

Taylor Swift at the Brits earlier this year
www.capitalfm.com

PALMA VIOLETS, DANGER IN THE CLUB

www.nme.com

For a boisterous rock band’s second album the standard model is for things to be slightly tenderized: inspirations become more artistic and the debut-album-blow is filed down to a product that’s richer and more thoughtful, but lacking the angry punch that comes with the excitement of early recording sessions. Lambeth quartet Palma Violets have done anything but follow this routine. ‘Danger in the Club’ is rough and ready, overflowing with the same hard-hitting sounds that defined ‘180’ back in 2013.

Though it peaked at number 11 in the UK charts, there’s no denying that ‘180’ is not a record where a lot of thought has gone into muse and inspiration. It was inevitably teenage: lyrics focused on youthfulness and not a lot of imagery was created other than depicting a London lifestyle where good guitar music creates a tracklist of permanent drunkenness and freedom for the band. Possibly cliché, but it works. Inspirations evidently sprung from fellow Rough Trade artists, The Libertines and The Strokes. ‘Danger in the Club’ has taken the slurry vocals that created that original sound of euphoria and relaxation and mixed them into a record with more variety and improved substance.

None of the band members are trained singers, according to lead guitarrist Sam, so they resort to a chant of Hare Krishna as a pre-gig vocal warm up. This brazen sound in ‘Gout! Gang! Go!’ packs a gritty punch, and ‘Hollywood (I got it)’ leaks fresh optimism, particularly throughout the recurring backing message “I got it!” A catchy bass riff continuously rumbles under the lively and messy vocals, bringing the album back to Palma’s roots; everything sounds so memorably raucous that it almost mimics spontaneity.

‘Girl You Couldn’t Do Much Better on the Beach’ is another track leaking with exhilaration, but stepping up from the unpolished muckiness of ‘180’. That, equally as much as the title song, give the album the same anthem-quality that was established back in 2012 with the infamous line “I want to be your best friend, I don’t want you to be my girl.” These are the hits which will undeniably demand staggered sing-a-longs where unrehearsed, noisy lyrics sound just as in place on the street as on the stage.

Impulsive one-liners beg to be remembered, but it has to be said that there’s not much metaphorical meaning to 'Danger in the Club'. A deepened complexity is slightly shown in the bluesy sound of ‘Walking Home’, but things are still a bit too repetitive to hit hard. I don’t really see this as a problem, but in the band's rare moments of connection we see something more profound within the rowdy grime of their music. Despite this, 'Danger in the Club' is a powerful comeback for Palma Violets.

www.diymag.com

My favourite Palma Violets songs: Chicken Dippers, Girl You Couldn't Do Much Better on the Beach, Hollywood (I got it)

For listeners of: The Libertines, The Strokes, The Vaccines