Home is…
Normandy. I have been talking about it a lot but now everyone in the town is saying stop talking about it, as if people will come and spoil it. I live with Katia my wife and a revolving door of her brothers and cousins.
Where do you stay in London?
The Standard. It sounds corny but I love the informality of the staff, there’s a special vibe, people enjoy being there, people have been helping themselves to the cocktails and it’s dog-friendly, too.
Where would you recommend for a first date?
I’d have to say getting yourselves over the railings to one of those dreamy central London gardens like Bedford Square and pretend it’s yours. In Embankment Gardens there’s a little amphitheatre — reel off some drunken soliloquies. I also used to go to Loftus Road if the gate was open; I went on a date there, and we found our way into the dressing rooms and got ourselves some shorts and socks. When I was doing my QPR fanzine — All Quiet on the Western Avenue — when I was 14, I got to know all the people working on the terraces.
Which shops do you rely on?
I’d seek out some of the magic stalls at Spitalfields on a Thursday. And people are always knocking Camden, but there’s still joy to be found. There’s also a bookshop on a barge on the canal in King’s Cross. I want to shout out to the people surviving on the barges — it’s murder out there, that community has a real survivalist mentality.
What makes someone a Londoner?
Do they have to know all the words to ‘Maybe it’s Because I’m a Londoner’?
Favourite work of art in London?
The Amy Winehouse statue in Camden. We had happy times sat around with guitars, falling about Camden, having a laugh. Taking on the world and going out having a dance and going back listening to music.
Where would you most like to be buried?
Just chuck ’em [my ashes] out of the bus window and wherever they land it’ll be fine. Maybe on Shoot-up Hill or Kilburn High Road, from the 16 or the 32.
Who is the most iconic Londoner?
Doris Doherty. She was always Nanny London. My nan is my greatest living Londoner. I don’t like to talk too much about her as she’s had some hard times with the tabloids just sticking up for her grandson, but she’s my hero.
Best thing a cabbie has ever said to you?
I can remember once getting into one of those old-time cabs and he was like, ‘Alright Pete,’ and I said, ‘Can I smoke out the window?’ He said, ‘You can do whatever the f*** you like in my cab, mate,’ and winked at me. I was like, ‘I’ll keep you on.’
Have you ever had a run-in with a London police officer?
‘Banished!’ was the headline in The London Paper. I wasn’t allowed to be in a London postcode between 7pm and 7am for about six months. That was the time when I was arrested so often, it’s not even funny. But the police found it quite funny. There was even a TV sketch about it — the punchline was, ‘Let’s go and nick Pete Doherty!’
What’s your biggest extravagance?
Typewriters, old flags, cigarette cards, cigarette tins. That’s part of the reason I got rid of my phone — I was always on Gumtree, and some guy in Cardiff can’t give you enough cigarette cards with the flags of the British Empire on them. I’m not an imperialist at all, I won’t glorify imperialism, but some of those flags are heavenly… It’s hard not to get worked up with flags like that.
