Tin Pan Alley

I was on the way to meet my daughter for tea and walked down Denmark Street, off London's Charing Cross Road, which is known as Britain's Tin Pan Alley for its long association with pop music.

It is where Donovan and Jimi Hendrix made some of their earliest recordings at Regent Sounds Studios. Where Jimmy Page was a regular session musician, and where the Sex Pistols shared a flat and recorded their first demos in a basement studio fitted out for them by Malcolm McLaren.

For some of us, it is Guitar Heaven, for nowhere else has such a concentration of guitar shops. Selling ludicrously expensive new and vintage guitars. I have bought various accessories such as over-specced and over-priced guitar leads, second hand effects pedals, and even plectrums. The shop staff are fascinating to observe. I ussually go after work, so I'm wearing a suit. Some of them treat you like an unwelcome alien (fair enough - I'll spend my money with your neighbours). Others are more astute. I have resisted the guitars (so far) but it's fun to drool.