People on the top deck bus looked down trying to work out what was going on

IT’S not too shy of 20 years since music promoter Lee Bennett and Shovell from M People stood in front of the CNJ camera, waving their palms out and pledging to create a “walk of fame” along Camden High Street.

Now, I’ll be honest, there were many times that I wondered if the project would ever materialise – such was the challenge ahead for the organisers. So many people appear in our paper with grandiose plans that fall by the wayside when reality hits.

Mr Bennett after all not only had to navigate the world of fundraising and complex council permissions, but also the often cantankerous personalities of the musical heroes who would be honoured.

Would they buy into it? Judging by the queue of famous faces in Camden last week, the answer to that seems to be a resounding yes.

Mr Bennett deserves great credit for his determination to see this through, and with 16 steps now on the “walk” – you wouldn’t bet against it reaching the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm Road some day. In the end, perhaps Camden itself is the real sell, and hopefully always will be.

Shovell from M People and Lee Bennett talking about the idea back in 2006

The area is clearly changing in ways that those with longer memories may not always like, roughed-up bohemian corners are becoming units for coffee chains.

The romantic days of searching for a second-hand LP you didn’t know you needed have faded. That’s sad – now we have giant croissant stalls that seem as much about trending social media posts as something for breakfast.

Every spot is being maximised for profit, and that usually means somewhere to feed your face rather than the bits and pieces takings from bric-à-brac.

Nevertheless, you can still feel its musical soul in venues like the Electric Ballroom, Underworld and the Dublin Castle, you can still just about smell it in the pubs and waxy shelves of the surviving record shops.

It’s probably why our paper has been a little silly in repeatedly comparing Mr Bennett’s project to Los Angeles and the stars you’ll find there bearing the names of blockbuster movie actors. Our exercised imagination meant we always called it the “Hollywood Boulevard-style project”.

The concept is, of course, the same: a trail in which every step reminds you of somebody who made a memorable contribution. But during the unveilings of new stones in the High Street last week and the arrival of a diverse set of speakers and performers, the event still felt rooted in our patch.

Like all wasn’t lost to Instagram. Not all of those gaining a pavement plaque had strong links to NW1 specifically; the route aims to be more global than that, and Camden obviously has a worldwide guidebook reputation that goes beyond your mate’s band playing a support slot at the Falcon in 1997.

Lee Bennett last week with Phil Alexander

But the little ceremonies we saw felt like they could only be unfolding in this part of the world, and this part of London.

There was essentially a strange charm to the host, journalist Phil Alexander, trying to deliver speeches about spectacular people while normal life still rattled along all around him. While parts of the pavement were fenced off for guests and a red carpet laid, the road traffic continued.

So Mr Alexander would be telling a gathering about the poetry of The Kinks with a double-decker bus stuck at the lights next to him and the top-deck passengers looking confused. Car horns beep. People randomly shout. Someone drops a tray full of expensive street food on the floor.

In fact, traders on that stretch, like them or not, were still trying to sell their tobacco tins, bandanas and furry handcuffs while the unveiling shows went on.

Some dazed shoppers seemed more interested in the racks of leather jackets than the fact the actual Buzzcocks were on a platform next to them.

And surely the same cocktail fume of petrol and weed does not waft over Hollywood Boulevard on unveiling days, where everything seems far more sanitised when a veneer-toothed romcom star dazzles their way down to see their new star stone. No – in Camden, our tributes are laid down on pavements pock-marked with gum, and with off-the-cuff, slightly hungover acceptance speeches.

Buzzcocks see their stone unveiled in Camden High Street [Normski Photography]

It’s hard to celebrate or even define why this feels more genuine, but that’s Camden’s enduring conundrum, and the difficulty in trying to clean itself up without losing its cultural mish-mash of dangerous brilliance and brain-dead buskers.

Nobody really wants to step down a road decorated with yesterday’s spearmint and some days all you see is the mess and chaos. But in a funny way the Walk of Fame, intentionally or not, feels like just as much a celebration of “Camden” – and its curled-up edges – as it is the performers.

This crossroads has for ever been a meeting point of musical minds, the starting point for so many bands, an inspiration in itself, an influence under the influence – and it is still the location of choice for the “secret” warm-up gigs by some of the globe’s best-known performers.

Billie Eilish’s recent concert at the Ballroom only underlined this surviving and well-earned status. Somehow we must try and protect it.

Mr Bennett and his colleagues are playing a big part in doing so.