FRIENDS OF AUBIN
Imran Hussain: Chateau Denmark
By Justin Quirk
Imran Hussain is the Chief Marketing Officer of Chateau Denmark in Soho, London. 44 rooms and apartments sprawling across Denmark Street, the hotel has been at the heart of the regeneration of one of London’s most historic musical streets. Aubin met him in one of the apartments (complete with supersize bar, a sound system like a work of art and a view over the guitar shops below) to find out about life in London’s musical heart.
What was the importance of Denmark Street when you first came to open here?
Denmark Street is the Alpha and the Omega of it all, really. It’s a place where people have been making things for years - the only other example that I can think of that is so synonymous with a creative culture is probably Hollywood. You’d literally have publishers and business people meet on the street - even if they didn’t have an office they just wanted to be seen here. You had
lyricists in one building, songwriters in another building, people running down to the recording studios waving a sheet of music at bands saying “I’ve got the hook…” And so that rare sort of hustle and creativity was something that we felt needed celebrating.
In terms of the actual buildings here, what’s the history?
Some of the Sex Pistols lived and stayed at number 6 Mews - it’s believed that Johnny Rotten wrote onto the walls directly there, Steve Jones, Malcolm McLaren, Sid and Nancy were all there. Shortly after, Bananarama lived there as well. Elton John supposedly wrote Your Song on the roof of number 20, although I can’t confirm that. Regent Sounds Studio at number 4 is probably one of the most famous buildings: Jimi Hendrix got thrown out of there for being too loud, the Stones recorded their debut album in there, and the Who recorded A Quick One. Hipgnosis design studio were at number 6, working on all the Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath sleeve art. There’s stories of Bowie living outside number 9 in an ambulance or a camper van (depending on who you believe), and then Lou Reed, The Slits, The Clash and everyone else would hang out there when it was La Gioconda coffee bar.
What’s the current state of the music culture in the street?
It’s just all still music driven. You’ve got all the guitar shops, record stores like Rough Trade who are fantastic, venues like The Lower Third, our bar at Thirteen, the Farsight Gallery on the end where Mick Jones’ rock n’ roll archive was exhibited. Denmark Street is all neighbours, there’s so many people coming in and out of the stores - but I think what makes it special is that it’s still one of those places where people of any profile can come and be left alone. You see huge names down here, like superhero-sized cultural figures, and people are just walking past them as they’re here for the music and the place. I would always refer to it as London’s only real music street.
And finally, when you think of London more generally, what do you think makes it such a fertile place creatively?
London, I think, is a city that lets artists be artists. It’s the legacy of it all that you can feel and that’s inspiring. Creating that feeling of ‘the people that did that massive thing, they did it here - therefore, I can do it too.’ And I think that’s helped create an element of freedom that’s quite unique. We have so many American artists who come here to stay for a number of months when they come to finish albums. And they always talk about there being a special kind of looseness to London that you don’t necessarily get in other places. And everything is quite spread out but in these little pockets it’s all tightly wrapped together. The nucleus of all this is Soho - and I guess Denmark Street is the musical edge of the place.
