Comments on: Alan Dein, East End Shopfronts 1988

By: Janet Sharples

Janet Sharples — Fri, 26 Feb 2021 12:30:01 +0000

Wonderful pictures. My grandfather ran a fish shop in 144 Brick Lane around 1907 to 1914 ish – I wonder if there are any photographs of that – although I doubt it. I have so very little detail about this part of my family at that time – so everything is precious, including the stories posted above. These are people my grandparents may have known. My grandmother worked as a corset fitter but I think she was self-employed.

By: Janet Wheatley (nee Evans)

Janet Wheatley (nee Evans) — Thu, 04 Oct 2018 08:30:56 +0000

I was sorry not to see any pictures of Black Lion Yard frontages. My father kept a dairy there, and we had big red doors at the entrance to the dairy with the words J D & J Evans, Cowkeepers & Dairymen and beneath the same notice in Hebrew.

Up until the end of the war my parents kept 40 cows there so that we could supply fresh Kosher milk every day. A man from the Beth Din – a Mr. Harris – used to come and supervise the milking and then put a Hebrew label on the bottle – they used to have cardboard stoppers in those days – to prove that the milk was genuine Kosher. The Jewish customers taught my mother to make cream cheese, Smetana (what we now call soured cream) and how to pickle cucumbers. We were the only people who had refrigerators, so we were always storing Eastern European delicacies for customers.

By: Miriam Margolyes

Miriam Margolyes — Sun, 02 Aug 2015 07:11:30 +0000

Gentle Author: I look forward to these missives every day.
And I heard Sheila Butt’s memories of her East End on this website;
http://www.ideastore.co.uk/local-history-online-oral-history-after-youve-gone
Made me cry.

By: Y Silver

Y Silver — Fri, 10 Oct 2014 11:53:21 +0000

My grandparents, Lewis and Dora Silver(man) had a grocery shop on Amhurst road, Hackney.

Does anyone have a photo of that shop? Thanks.

By: angela donaldson

angela donaldson — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 23:36:04 +0000

Lived a couple of doors down from leons shop’ sometimes used to climb over back wall to pinch a bottle of lemonade. Left the street when I was 10 . Went back years later and confessed to leon. He told me off!

By: Eunice Shillings

Eunice Shillings — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 14:42:28 +0000

How wonderful to see these photographs. I grew up in the East End of London and these photographs have brought back some fantastic memories. With the aid of these pictures I have been able to pass on valuable history to my children and hopefully my grandchildren.
It was wonderful to see the photograph of my uncle’s shop .( Louis Simpson Kosher Butcher)

By: Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives

Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 14:00:38 +0000

FAO Chrissie, re your hunt for 258 Mile End Road. A number of the locations photographed by Alan in 1988 were on Mile End Road, and as research for our current exhibition of this collection of Alan’s photos, we at Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives ploughed through the many boxes and press cuttings relating to Mile End Road that are held at the library. If 258 was once situated near on the corner with White Horse Lane, as Google Maps suggests, it is likely it would have become part of the Ocean Estate which was built in the early 1950s after this part of Stepney was badly bombed during WW2. You should be able to identify at what point the shop closed (or changed ownership) by looking through the Kelly’s trades directories for each year, and you should also be able to identify the exact location of 258 Mile End Road on our collection of historic maps. All of these sources can be consulted at the Local History Library & Archives on Bancroft Road, E1.

By: Bernice Huelin

Bernice Huelin — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:20:27 +0000

Lovely photos. So thrilled to see my Great Uncle Laurie’s shop here ( Louis Simpson) . The conversations that this site has prompted with my parents have been a delight. Having been in the East End today I know how few reminders of this once vibrant community are left.

By: Maurice Zeegen

Maurice Zeegen — Sun, 06 May 2012 19:42:33 +0000

Wonderful! I am desperately seeking photographs of the Zeegen Brothers’ cigar factory which was located in Chicksand Street, off Brick Lane. The factory ceased trading in the 1920s, I believe, but the derelict (?) building was to be seen for some years thereafter, bearing the title ‘Zeegen Brothers’ on the wall.

By: Miriam Margolyes

Miriam Margolyes — Fri, 04 May 2012 22:01:33 +0000

How can one not delight is these images. I didn’t know the East End, but I know from my London rellies that it held such life, such stories & these shopfronts seem to speak to us of the people they held long ago. It’s very important not to lose our history. Thank you for making this available to those of us far from London. I write from New Zealand.