Where it all began: the Three Tuns plaque on Beckenham High Street

Brixton – David Bowie’s birth place – might be drawing a bigger crowd this week, but the South-east London suburb of Beckenham is where the late singer lay down his musical roots.

Walk along the high street today and you’ll see a growing shrine of flowers, photographs and hand-written messages at the foot of the building where the Thin White Duke founded a flourishing music scene.

While Bowie was busy crafting his Ziggy Stardust alter ego, he was co-hosting folk nights at The Three Tuns Pub, later to become Beckenham Arts Lab.

What followed musically is the stuff of legend: 25 albums over 49 years and countless reinventions.

Below, Anna Burns charts the musical life of a London icon.