A trip up west in the mid seventies as a teenager 'bunking off ' was a regular adventure. Up west was basically the towering white elephant of Centrepoint down to Marble Arch and various streets round the back of Oxford Street. Stopping in Jean Junction to ‘pick up’ a pair of FUS Jeans or two, Dark They Were And Golden Eyed which was London’s first proper Comic book shop, HMV to rifle through the racks of vinyl. Of course John Lewis and Selfridges had vast opportunities for filling ones pockets amid the masses.Dolcis and Etam were good for a laugh and you would find girls there too. Bookshops a plenty and given the convenient size of books a reasonable haul could be had. Saxon for your shoes and wimpy for your lunch, on a plate and everything.
There was something exciting about going up west then, no cameras monitoring your every move shops to go into that had all manner of items that could be marvelled over and lots and lots of girls; most of whom were much older but definitely approachable or ogle-able.
If it was pouring with rain the Cinema was a refuge. I can remember bunking into the Odeon Leicester Square to watch Rollerball; being too young to get the underlying dystopian message but loving the action.
rollerball
Bunking off and nicking stuff was pretty much a way of life then but age soon put these practises into perspective (ie not big and not clever). Up West in those days was a short bus journey on the 19 but seemed a world away. As I progressed through my teens up west was about the nightlife; Global Village, Gossips, Lyceum, and less about the naïve wanderings of younger times.
that summers big one
But this lot were just coming over the horizon and then things changed. The Golden time was over but other, different pleasures awaited.
