The venues at London's centre were, however, crucial. The new clubs and dancehalls that had appeared in and around Soho with the lifting of entertainment restrictions after the First World War became the infrastructure of all youth cultures to come. Rectors Club in the Tottenham Court Road was opened as a basement dancing club in the 1920s. In 1966 the space became UFO, London's leading psychedelic club with Pink Floyd as the house band. The Ham Bone club, which opened in 1920s in Ham Yard, in Soho, turned into Cy Laurie's skiffle club in the 1950s.

As the young began to assume a new confidence and cultural authority, so fashions in dress reflected the change. The 20th century saw London fashion become more closely entangled with the young than ever before, a change embodied by three of London's most creative fashion designers of the 20th century: Norman Hartnell, Mary Quant and Vivienne Westwood.

Norman Hartnell emerged in the 1920s from the spirit of the jazz age rather than haute couture traditions. He had come to fashion through theatrical costume design and his playful, colourful dresses perfectly suited the hedonistic mood of London's young aristocrats. In the 1960s Mary Quant encapsulated swinging London through her bright colours and simple 'dolly bird' shapes. Most famously through the mini-skirt, Quant's clothes visibly expressed the new mood and optimism of the baby boom generation. Fifteen years later Vivenne Westwood also marked a new mood but drew her inspiration from a darker set of references. Her clothes resonated with echoes from London's more anti-establishment and disaffected youth cults, from teddy boys to punk rockers.

Fashion's alliance with youth also proved a powerful force in remaking the cultural topography of London. Areas that had once been dowdy turned into trendy. In the 1960s Carnaby Street, a narrow backwater in West Soho turned into the hottest shopping street in London. Biba set up shop in Kensington where the indoor market turned into another magnet for the young. Camden began to acquire an 'alternative' character as the UFO club moved its operations into the disused Victorian engine house, the Round house, in 1967. Most dramatic was the change in Notting Hill Gate which went from being run-down poor area to exceedingly hip within 15 years. Here, youth played a part in the transformation but the key factor was the presence of the West Indian community which gave the area a vibrancy and edge unmatched anywhere else in London.