This Post Has 21 Comments

1. I used to go to the Chelsea Drugstore in the mid seventies.

2. It may have closed in 71,But it reopened a few months later,bar upstairs played loudly, great music of the time,zeppelin,Floyd ect,it was still called the drugstore.,went there every Friday sat from 76 until 80.

3. You can't always get what you want, unless in this case, it's a Big Mac!

4. It was in A Clockwork Orange, eh?
   Then instead of McDonald’s, it should’ve become an In-N-Out Burger.

5. "But you might just get what you need" …….Fade to orgasmic climax…….

6. Jago it couldn't have closed down in 1971 because I went in the Drugstore for a night out at the disco that was inside in summer 1973. I seem to remember It costing £5 to get in which would be about £50 of todays money. It was quite small and packed solid It took ages to get an expensive drink or go to the loo. It was the first bar I had ever seen equipped with beer taps that measured the pint (or half) and stopped pouring automatically. There was a "!GO GO" Dancer in one corner I seem to remember her being called Maureen, I remember hearing "Nutbush City Limits" and "Showdown" by ELO playing and that's about it. Showdown was released in 1973 which was the year I spent in "digs" working in London. Thank you for putting this up as there is not much about this place anywhere else.

7. Nothing says counter-culture more than a branch of McDonalds – progress eh?

8. That was great, thank you! I remember it well, also one in Paris.
   God, it all looks so sad now.
   (What was that other centre of grooviness thereabouts…everyone lived there at some point, The Pheasantry? The Owlery? Damnit…brain freeze!)
   One of the highlights of watching the film of The Stones in The Park (1969) is observing all the heads and gods emerging from their boltholes around Chelsea, blinking in the daylight as they trudge/are chauffeured towards Marble Arch. Chelsea looks so quiet and almost bucolic; seemed like a hundred years ago, even then.

9. in 1971 it wasnt closed down . i used to drink in there in 74 and 75 . i was based in chelsea barracks .

10. I did indeed go down to the old Chelsea Drug Store just over a year ago on one of my history photo wanders – the King's Road and the local area became quite a regular visiting ground for quite a while before the delight of the pandemic swept in. When I saw that the old building had become a McDonalds my heart literally sank…
    Sums up so much about how the old counterculture has now been swallowed up by the lifeless, soulless mainstream (To use an inadequate metaphor, it's kinda like how the once anarchic 'Simpsons' are now owned by Disney of all things!)

11. "Unsavoury musician types"? How very dare you? But yes, Kings road has certainly lost it's buzz.

12. Sad it's a MacDonalds. Even a Wetherspoons would be better.

13. the original facade looked better.

14. Delighted I've found this most erudite guide.
    Apropos 'You Can't Always Get What You Want': ex-President Trump had this song played as he left the stage at all his rallies, the children's choir accompanying his waving and departure from the podium. It's not the type of song you would associate with his Hillbilly audience – The Village People's catchy 'YMCA' is their actual favourite (I Know).
    Strangely, the playlist during the warm-ups for his rallies included other songs from the Stones, Queen, and The Who mixed with MOR American country and rock. He chose 'You Can't Always Get..', of course, as a two-fingered salute to his lumpen followers knowing they would never catch the 'irony'. And to think it was probably written because Mick Jagger couldn't get Marmite for his toast.
    BTW Auberon Waugh was probably right when he preached that hamburger gases were poisoning Londoners and making them stupid as part of a globalist conspiracy spearheaded in Britain by the Church of England.

15. Rare to see a Suzuki Cappuccino drive through at 0.44 . There were only 300 imported at the time. I had one once a real fun car. The roof came apart in 3 parts and just about fitted into the boot

16. I wonder if any of the McDonald's employees know the history of the building.

17. I remember it from 68 to 70 and the waitresses in proper red minidresses

18. I want a big mac and a milkshake. Looks like I can get what I want!

19. …unless it's a Big Mac.

20. Always wanted to know more about that line, but I hoped I could just wait and let history and rock n roll mingle until the legend was too immense to avoid.
    Thank you.

21. Actually the Drugstore was never anything more than a nightclub; you are confusing it with the Great Gear Market (also since closed) about 100 yards further down (towards Worlds End)

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