Angelina Papanikolaou at K-pop Corner

This article is part of our ‘Welcome To Somers Town’ feature

IS THERE anything you love so much, you would travel across Europe for it? For K-pop fans, it is the chance to pose for a photo with one of their idols.

Not in the flesh, unfortunately – the stars of BLACKPINK and BTS are too famous to be so accessible – but in a photo booth, where you can choose your favourite Korean pop star to appear in a template background beside you.

Rare outside of Korea, one of these booths can be found in Chalton Street, at K-pop Corner, a pop-up shop that turned permanent and now a place of pilgrimage for international fans.

Angelina Papanikolaou has worked in the store since last year.

“K-pop used to be a genre. It’s not a genre anymore. It’s a whole ecosystem,” she said.

“It’s like you’re stepping into a parallel universe somehow. We’re familiar with the Western entertainment industry, but when you look into K-pop it’s a different world.”

Originally based in King’s Cross station, the shop’s move to Somers Town was meant to keep it accessible for fans arriving to London on the train – it also has a branch in Waterloo station, as well as in Nottingham.

“There are a lot of customers who come in and say, ‘we wouldn’t expect this to be here’,” said Ms Papanikolaou, who got into K-pop via her university roommate and eventually moved to London to study music business, with the aim of going into the industry.

She has been learning Korean for six years, and writes a Substack all about K-pop.

“I was an emo kid, so it was an interesting progression from Panic! At the Disco and My Chemical Romance to Stray Kids and BTS,” she added.

She told of the strength of Korean pop groups’ fan bases – each with their own unique name, like BLACKPINK’s “Blinks” and BTS’s “Army” – and the collectible nature of K-pop merch, be it cuddly toys each analogous to a boyband member, or light sticks – torches that fans buy for each concert, which are Bluetooth controlled in the crowd to produce colour waves and patterns.

K-pop Corner describes itself as the biggest K-pop community in the UK, selling albums and light sticks and organising group concert trips and fan events.

A new demographic for Somers Town, then – but one that is excited to be there.