[title]
Everyone thinks that Marylebone is all posh restaurants and smart redbrick flats, and actually they’re kind of right. But did you know that one corner of this fancy district was a breeding ground for the London punk scene? Head around the back of Marylebone station and you’ll find 33 Daventry Street. It used to be a squat and one of its residents was Joe Strummer, co-founder of The Clash.
For a few years, Strummer helped make this strip of west London an unlikely punk hotspot. His like-minded neighbours included The Slits, who hung out a few doors down at number 43, while two of the Sex Pistols and Malcolm McLaren lived round the corner on Bell Street and The Damned practised nearby. Now the area’s musical legacy is being acknowledged with a plaque in the punk singer’s honour.
Joe Strummer passed away in 2002, which means he isn’t yet eligible for an official English Heritage blue plaque, but a local housing cooperative has sorted something definitely blue and plaque-shaped. It’ll be unveiled today as one of the final events in this year’s Punk London celebrations. It’s also the anniversary of The Clash’s anthem ‘London Calling’, so crank it up at 1.01pm and raise a fist for an iconoclastic London legend.
Here’s a map of London’s blue plaques by borough.