Deja vu…

The Dublin Castle, Camden Town

We recently took a trip to Lille that was bookended by a few days in London.

Caroline took some time out to meet up with her son and daughter-in-law, so I decided to take a look at a few old haunts in and around Camden Town.

Among these were three sites associated with the band Madness. Little did I know that there film Take It Or Leave It had been restored and was about to be seen in cinemas again, but I enjoyed the wasndering around and found The Dublin Castle pub, Dingwalls Dance Hall and the band’s offices/recording studio.

I arrived at The Dublin Castle before opening time, so no pint there and then found Dingwalls and eventually the offices/studio premises.

These were well and truly boarded up, but memories of visits, interviews (Lee and Chrissy Boy on their Nutty Boys project) and watching Chas Smash recording vocal tracks still remain quite vivid in the old brain box.

Watching Take It Or Leave It yesterday was a great reminder of such experiences and their gigs at Newcastle City Hall and Dock Rock at Hartlepool (a BBC camera crew captured me taking photos of the band…).

The 4K restoration of Take It Or Leave It is being released by BFI as a DVD box set soon!