Shop 'til you drop
London shops RIP: Laurence Corner
Goodbye to army chic
Does the closure of Laurence Corner in Euston mark the end of an entire clothing sub-genre? We only ask because we can't think of anywhere where you can buy army/navy surplus outfits in London now - assuming, of course, that you'd want to.
Laurence Corner has been a London feature for - ooh - forever, a little fashion island on the corner of the not-very-stylish Hampstead Road. It sold army and navy surplus clothes and accessories, and latterly had a line in costume hire.
I remember buying a sailor's outfit there, which I proudly wore with maroon stilettos to see Bowie at Earls Court on his Thin White Duke tour. It looked fantastic, as you can imagine. Laurence Corner also sold neat little canvas shoulder bags that everyone seemed to have and which were the perfect size for fitting your A-Z in.
Combat trousers were another LC staple, and London-RIP wonders if these eventually proved its nemesis. Being genuinely army surplus, the ones at Laurence Corner were mainly huge, having been designed for 17ft paras, and were, like the rest of the clothes, disturbingly authentic.
Now, of course, you can buy faux combat trousers that have never had so much as a sniff of a squaddie's arse from just about anywhere. Oh well. Guess that's what they call progress.
London shops: LMM Stores
Shops have become increasingly sterotyped. We have the supermarkets and their insidious corner shop franchises, we have the posh chains in the more upmarket high streets such as the Italian deli, Carluccio's or the French baker, Paul, and we have shops that serve both London's diverse cultural communities and meet everyday needs: bread, soap powder, whatever. Rarely does a corner shop aspire to being a supermarket. LMM Stores in Royal College Street, Camden Town, was that shop.
Tile style
It was an airy modern store, the size of a continental supermarket done out in Mediterranean-style dark tiling and run by a very friendly Greek Cypriot family. Not only did they sell soap powder and bread and bacon, but very good olives, peppers and Halloumi cheese.
Fine lamb stew
There was a fabulous arrangement where there were metal pots full of Greek stews, curries, rice and vegetbles all wonderfully comforting to take home in insulated cartons. Their lamb stew was particularly fine. They also had a Greek restaurant upstairs with a review noting that it was Alexei Sayle's favourite restaurant.
Alas, this rather charming and quirky store closed in the mid 1990s and was replaced by a tyre warehouse. Round the corner there is, though, a Tesco Metro.
Remember a lost London store you once loved?
