Devonshire Arms
Encyclopedia
The Devonshire Arms is a public house in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, UK, said to be "London's most famous alternative venue " It serves a clientele drawn from a variety of alternative subcultures including Industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...

, Metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

, Punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 and Cyber, although its décor is gothic
Goth subculture
The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...

 and this is the subculture with which it is widely identified.

Located in Camden Town
Camden Town
-Economy:In recent years, entertainment-related businesses and a Holiday Inn have moved into the area. A number of retail and food chain outlets have replaced independent shops driven out by high rents and redevelopment. Restaurants have thrived, with the variety of culinary traditions found in...

, a area of North London
North London
North London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...

 famous for alternative shops and markets, the pub attracts a mix of London regulars plus visitors from elsewhere in the UK and overseas. The Devonshire Arms is widely known in alternative circles outside the UK because of the London scene's notably cosmopolitan composition.

Nomenclature

Amongst locals & regulars (and also within certain alternative subcultures), The Devonshire Arms is colloquially referred to as "The Dev". Even though the pub changed hands in early 2008 and is listed as "The Hobgoblin Camden" in most directories, it retains this nickname amongst most of its clientele.

The sign bearing the name "Devonshire Arms" & attendant coat of arms still hangs from one of the upper storeys.

Significance

The Devonshire Arms is the longest surviving Goth pub in London and has remained a focal point for the city's alternative scene for many years. During the 1980s, Spider Stacy
Spider Stacy
Peter "Spider" Stacy is an English musician. He is one of the founding members of London Irish band The Pogues.- External links :* [Twitter @SpiderStacy] [myspace.com/spiderstacythepogues]*...

 and Shane MacGowan
Shane MacGowan
Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan is an Irish musician and singer, best known as the original singer and songwriter of The Pogues.-History:...

 of The Pogues
The Pogues
The Pogues are a Celtic punk band, formed in 1982 and fronted by Shane MacGowan. The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left the band in 1991 due to drinking problems but the band continued first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before...

 frequented the pub.

It is close to several live music and club venues - notably Slimelight
Slimelight
The Slimelight club is a goth nightclub.It is an alternative music club which has three dance floors. playing music genres such as darkwave, EBM, trad goth, gothic rock, futurepop, power noise, synthpop, industrial, and noise....

 in the nearby area of Islington
Islington
Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...

. Slimelight claims to be the longest-running goth nightclub in the world and its unusually permissive opening hours (it runs until 7:30am) make the Devonshire Arms a popular choice for pre-club drinks.

Location

The pub is situated at 33 Kentish Town
Kentish Town
Kentish Town is an area of north west London, England in the London Borough of Camden.-History:The most widely accepted explanation of the name of Kentish Town is that it derived from 'Ken-ditch' meaning the 'bed of a waterway'...

 Road on the corner of Hawley Crescent – approximately 3 minutes' walk from Camden Town London Underground
Camden Town tube station
Camden Town tube station is a major junction on the Northern Line and one of the busiest stations on the London Underground network...

 station on the Northern Line
Northern Line
The Northern line is a London Underground line. It is coloured black on the Tube map.For most of its length it is a deep-level tube line. The line carries 206,734,000 passengers per year. This is the highest number of any line on the London Underground system, but the Northern line is unique in...

. It is adjacent to the headquarters of MTV Europe
MTV Europe
MTV Europe is a pan-European 24-hour entertainment cable and digital television network launched on August 1, 1987. Initially, the channel served all regions within Europe being one of the very few channels that targeted the entire European continent...

.

It occupies a three-storey mock Tudor
Tudorbethan architecture
The Tudor Revival architecture of the 20th century , first manifested itself in domestic architecture beginning in the United Kingdom in the mid to late 19th century based on a revival of aspects of Tudor style. It later became an influence in some other countries, especially the British colonies...

 building with black beams and white plaster rendering. The public bar is on the ground floor.

Dress code

One of the bar's defining characteristics used to be its goth and alternative dress code – which was routinely enforced. Customers who did not specifically conform to this style were generally expected to observe an all-black (or near to) minimum.

As a point of principle, it was regularly cited (often by goths themselves) as being incongruous with the scene's professed axiom of nonconformity. This is a specific instance of a widely observed paradox regarding the alternative scene as a whole - and, in particular, its members' tendency to exhibit conformist tendencies.

This argument, however, does not acknowledge the dress code's stated and overriding purpose - which, as noted, was the preservation of the pub's hassle-free ethos - rather than the imposition of an arbitrary style.

Music and events

Music played in the pub includes Darkwave
Darkwave
Dark Wave or darkwave is a music genre that began in the late 1970s, coinciding with the popularity of New Wave and post-punk. Building on those basic principles, dark wave added dark, introspective lyrics and an undertone of sorrow for some bands...

, Gothic rock
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...

, Trad Goth
Goth subculture
The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...

 and EBM
Electronic body music
Electronic body music or industrial dance is a music genre that combines elements of industrial music and electronic dance music...

. Futurepop, Industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...

, Heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

, Thrash metal
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...

, Glam Metal
Glam metal
Glam metal is a subgenre of hard rock and heavy metal that arose in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the United States, particularly on the Los Angeles Sunset Strip music scene...

 Punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 and Synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...

 are also featured.

There are DJs
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...

 most evenings - sometimes accompanied by film or music videos. There are also regular themed nights catering for styles such as J-Rock (Japanese Rock), Ambient Music
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...

 and Deathrock
Deathrock
Deathrock is a term used to identify a sub-genre of punk rock incorporating horror elements and spooky atmospherics, that emerged on the West Coast of the United States in 1979.-Characteristics:...

 - plus nights dedicated to particular groups or artists (e.g. David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

)

Occasionally there are one-off, non-music events catering for the more esoteric tastes within the scene - for example, a night celebrating the horror fiction of H. P. Lovecraft
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....

 and an evening dedicated to dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...

 poetry.

In popular culture

Shots of the interior of The Devonshire Arms, including some of its artwork, featured in "Goths", an episode from a 2003 BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 anthology series, Spine Chillers
Spine Chillers
Spine Chillers was a 1980 British children's supernatural television series broadcast on BBC1. It featured readings of classic ghost and horror stories aimed at older children, and ran for 19 episodes ....

.

Ownership

The Devonshire Arms was part of the estate of Pubs N Bars PLC , until that company went into administration in 2009.
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