Punk London: The Sex Pistols & Clash Walking Trail
The shops, clubs and streets where punk exploded across 1976 and 1977 — and the addresses to find them yourself.
- Most stops are public streets or building exteriors — free to see and photograph.
- Punk's sites are scattered — Chelsea, the West End, Notting Hill and Islington — so they're best done as a few short hops, not one walk.
- Several venues are gone or repurposed (the Roxy and Vortex are now shops), but the 100 Club and the Screen on the Green still operate.
- It all happened astonishingly fast — most of the story fits inside 1976 and 1977.
- A free app can play the right track at each spot as you arrive.
Punk didn't creep up on London — it detonated, mostly across eighteen months in 1976 and 1977, and mostly in a handful of shops, pubs and clubs you can still stand outside today. Some are gone, some are now selling trainers, and one or two are exactly as they were. The thread that connects them is a city that briefly decided the rules no longer applied.
This trail follows that thread from the Chelsea shop where punk got its look, through the West End clubs where it found its noise, out to the streets that gave the Clash their songs. Real addresses throughout, with honest notes on what survives.
Chelsea: where it got dressed
Punk had a wardrobe before it had a record deal, and it all came from one address at the unfashionable end of the King's Road.
▶ Anarchy in the U.K. — Sex Pistols
430 King's Road — SEX, now World's End
This shop changed names almost as fast as the scene changed clothes: Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren ran it as SEX and then Seditionaries in the mid-1970s, and it was here — among the bondage trousers and torn shirts — that the Sex Pistols were effectively assembled. Today it's Westwood's World's End, marked by its famous backwards-running clock. Free to see from the street. Address: 430 King's Road, SW10 0LJ.
The West End: where it found its noise
A tight cluster of clubs and one scruffy street, all within walking distance, where punk went from rumour to roar.
▶ New Rose — The Damned
The 100 Club, 100 Oxford Street
On 20 and 21 September 1976, this basement jazz-and-blues club hosted the two-night Punk Special that put the whole movement on the map: the Sex Pistols, The Clash, Buzzcocks and the live debut of Siouxsie and the Banshees, with The Damned in the mix. Remarkably, the 100 Club is still here and still putting on gigs — one of the oldest live venues in London. Address: 100 Oxford Street, W1D 1LL.
▶ God Save the Queen — Sex Pistols
6 Denmark Street
On London's old "Tin Pan Alley," the Sex Pistols lived and rehearsed in the flat above number 6 in 1975–76. Johnny Rotten's biro drawings on the walls survive — and are now Grade II listed by Historic England, protected like an artwork. You can't usually get inside, but the street is free to walk and dense with music history. Address: 6 Denmark Street, WC2H 8LX.
▶ White Riot — The Clash
The Roxy, 41–43 Neal Street, Covent Garden
For about a hundred days in early 1977, the Roxy was Britain's first dedicated punk club — a tiny basement where The Clash, Generation X, Buzzcocks and Wire played to a scene inventing itself in real time. Its short life was captured on the live album The Roxy London WC2. The club is long gone; the address is now a shop. Address: 41–43 Neal Street, WC2H 9PJ.
▶ Hong Kong Garden — Siouxsie and the Banshees
The Vortex, 201 Wardour Street, Soho
When the Roxy faded, the Vortex took up the baton. Through 1977 this Wardour Street club was punk's Soho headquarters, with Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Buzzcocks and the Adverts among the regulars. Wardour Street has always been a music street; this is one of its loudest chapters. Address: 201 Wardour Street, W1F 8ZH.
West and north: the Clash and the gig that lit the fuse
Two stops further out — one a stretch of road, one a cinema — that matter as much as any club.
▶ London's Burning — The Clash
The Westway, Notting Hill
The elevated motorway slicing through west London isn't a venue at all — it's a feeling. This was the Clash's turf, and the boredom and energy of the streets beneath the flyover ran straight into "London's Burning." Stand under the Westway around Notting Hill and you're inside the band's London. Free, open street. Area: the Westway (A40), Notting Hill, W10.
▶ Boredom — Buzzcocks
Screen on the Green, Islington
On 29 August 1976, this Islington cinema hosted a midnight special that's now legend: the Sex Pistols headlining, The Clash playing only their second-ever gig, and Buzzcocks down from Manchester. It's still a working cinema on Upper Street — you can buy a ticket and sit in the room where punk announced itself. Address: 83 Upper Street, Islington, N1 0NP.
Is it worth doing?
Yes, if you go in clear-eyed. Punk burned fast and left few monuments — the Roxy and the Vortex are shops now, and the Westway is, frankly, a motorway. Several of these are exteriors and corners rather than museums. But that's rather the point: punk was never about heritage plaques. The reward is standing outside 430 King's Road or in the 100 Club knowing what happened there, and realising how much of a global movement came out of a few hundred square metres of London. Pick a cluster — the West End stops sit close together — and don't expect a gift shop.
How Sonic City fits in
The tricky part of a self-guided punk trail is the timing — knowing when you've reached the right doorway, and having the right song ready when you do. That's the gap Sonic City fills. It's a free app that uses your phone's GPS to play the track tied to each landmark the moment you arrive, so "Anarchy in the U.K." starts as you reach the King's Road and "London's Burning" plays while you stand under the Westway. No reading a map and a track list at the same time.
A few honest limits: it's London only for now, iPhone only, and it plays through Apple Music today (Spotify is coming soon). It's free, there are no accounts to create, and it doesn't collect your data. If you'd rather just use this trail and your own playlist, that works too — everything here is free to visit either way.
Sonic City plays London's music history as you walk past it — free, on your iPhone.
Get Sonic City — freeFrequently asked questions
Where did punk start in London?
Largely at 430 King's Road, Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren's shop (SEX, later Seditionaries), where the fashion and the Sex Pistols came together in 1975–76. The 100 Club's September 1976 Punk Special is often called the moment punk went public.
Is the 100 Club still open?
Yes. The 100 Club at 100 Oxford Street is still a working venue and one of London's oldest, and it hosted the famous two-day Punk Special in September 1976 that featured the Sex Pistols, The Clash, Buzzcocks and Siouxsie and the Banshees.
Can you visit the Sex Pistols' Denmark Street flat?
You can see 6 Denmark Street from the street. The band lived and rehearsed upstairs in 1975–76, and Johnny Rotten's biro graffiti inside is now Grade II listed by Historic England, although the interior is not generally open to the public.
What is at 430 King's Road now?
It is World's End, Vivienne Westwood's shop with the famous backwards-running clock — the same address that was the boutique SEX and then Seditionaries during the punk years. It is free to see from the street.