From Camden Town to Belsize Park: Coldplay’s London haunts

As Coldplay prepare to start their record-breaking run at the national Stadium we take a look back at their early North London haunts.

UCL University

Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland met in 1996 during their first week at the Bloomsbury institution and began writing songs together.

Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland met in 1996 during their first week at UCL in Bloomsbury. (Image: Wikimedia Commons) Camden Town

Initially performing as Pectoralz, the duo moved into a flat together at 268 Camden Road the following year.

Close to the epicentre of indie cool, the flat had once been home to Bernie Rhodes, manager of the Clash. It was here, joined by fellow students Guy Merryman and Will Champion, that they held their first rehearsal.

The Laurel Tree in Bayham Street, which later became a Brew Dog pub was the venue for the band’s first gig under the shortlived name Starfish. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

Their first gig on January 16, 1998 was at The Laurel Tree pub in Bayham Street – a venue which was a Britpop hotspot frequented by members of Blur, Suede and Pulp.

Costing £4 entry with a flier, the gig was performed to a roomful of friends under the shortlived name Starfish, chosen according to Jonny at the last minute “in a panic”.

Their proper debut came the following month at The Dublin Castle, a venue which had helped launch the careers of the likes of Madness.

In February 1998, the band played legendary Camden Town pub The Dublin Castle appearing as ‘The Coldplay’. (Image: Wikimedia Commons) Performing as ‘The Coldplay (formerly known as Starfish)’, they had arranged to borrow a drumkit from the previous band on the bill who took it home in a hissy fit at their promoter. So drummer Will Champion had to improvise using the floor and his drumsticks.

It was at the pub that they met ace soundman Dan Green, who has mixed almost every Coldplay show since and went on to co-produce albums.

Hyde Park

In April 1999 they signed their first publishing deal aboard pedalos in the middle of the Serpentine in Hyde Park, swiftly followed by a record deal with Parlophone in Trafalgar Square.

The following year their breakthrough debut album Parachutes featuring the hit single Yellow catapulted them to success.

Back then their equipment fitted into the back of a Ford estate and cost £12 to shift. Their Music of the Spheres World tour which arrives in Wembley on Friday requires a fleet of articulated trucks and it’s partly to reduce carbon emissions that they wanted to play a long stint of consecutive shows.

From 2006-2010 the band converted an old bakery into a studio and management offices on Fleet Road before converting an old church hall a few doors up into a bigger studio called The Beehive. (Image: Wikimedia Commons) Belsize Park

In 2004 when Chris Martin was married to film star Gwyneth Paltrow they bought a large house in Belsize Park which they applied to extend in 2009.

Not far away is The Bakery, a recording studio at 4A Fleet Road which the band first rented in 2006 to provide a space to rehearse, write, and work.

Sandwiched between an estate agent and a restaurant, the studio was housed in an old bakery and also included their management offices.

Working with producers Dan Green and Rik Simpson, the first Coldplay album to be recorded there was Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends.

Chris Martin drops into the Highgate School fair in 2015. (Image: Newsquest) A few years later in 2009 they converted The Beehive, a larger building at 17 Fleet Road that was once a church hall.

The group told NME they rehearsed there every Thursday and recording sessions took place for 2011 album Mylo Xyloto.

Over the following years, Chris Martin was often spotted around Hampstead and Highgate, whether dropping into the Highgate School summer fair or visiting Swiss Cottage Special School to perform the hit ‘Paradise’ to pupils in the music suite.

Coldplay perform at Wembley Stadium on August 22, 23, 26, 27, 30, 31 and September 3 and 4.