Comments on: Malcolm Tremain’s Spitalfields, Then & Now

By: Daniele

Daniele — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 08:17:20 +0000

For what it’s worth, I have the shutters from Leon’s shop which I converted into a cupboard- the other set were used by my colleague at Spitalfields Farm as window frames for his flat on Hoxton Street.

They had been ripped off and were left lying in the road so popped them onto the horse cart as we passerby as it seemed a shame to see them thrown.

We also salvaged the lamp post shown in Allen Gardens when the construction workers removed it but had to pay £10 for the honour – you can find it on site at Spitalfields Farm!

By: Peter Holford

Peter Holford — Tue, 05 Apr 2016 20:22:28 +0000

Surprising to see so many buildings haven’t been trashed and even looking as though they have been lovingly renovated. If only British Land would take this approach on board.

By: Annie S

Annie S — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 11:21:19 +0000

Great photos and very interesting to see the comparisons.
I must say I prefer the older version of the doorway in Fort Street!

By: Malcolm

Malcolm — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 10:03:20 +0000

The children are still here but they don’t play in these streets anymore. The community that existed around these streets has virtually disappeared, swept away by money, business and people with beards who sell bowls of cereal for £5 to other people with beards and too much money to spare.
Whitechapel, Aldgate, Spitalfields and Shoreditch are the last places in central London where greedy developers can get their hands on land – thanks to Boris Johnson’s dictatorship – to build their hideous carbuncles of glass that nobody except the rich can afford to buy. Norton Folgate is hanging by a thread and when it’s gone, these people won’t stop, they’ll keep demolishing and building until London is no more than an imitation of Dubai or Shanghai or even Disneyland. Take the opportunity to walk around these streets before they’re lost forever.

By: Sue

Sue — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 23:05:50 +0000

Fascinating. Well done.

By: pauline taylor

pauline taylor — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 17:15:03 +0000

Thank you GA. It is hard to know what to say as, on the surface everything, well almost everything, looks so much cleaner and smarter, but now it could be anywhere in any town or city, so, whilst I would not want to return to the overwhelming sense of poverty in the black and white photographs, something else has been lost as well, and I think that it is a sense of identity.

I agree with the comment about the lack of children, but, sadly, this applies everywhere now, children may be much better off materially, but they are virtually all deprived of the fun and games outside that we enjoyed. I find that very worrying as that freedom that we had helped to build character and to make us individuals, I don’t think that today’s children have that. Deprivation comes in all sorts of guises and today that deprivation is a lack of freedom to play and explore. Very sad.

By: essexcockney

essexcockney — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 15:08:16 +0000

it has changed so much . one thing I cannot stand is the graffiti everywhere I like a brick wall to be a brick wall .thanks for showing us the photos I had a great upbringing in Bethnal green we would run wild in the streets and on the dumps till tea time great days ..

By: Phil Maxwell

Phil Maxwell — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 12:50:17 +0000

Wonderful.

By: Teresa Stokes

Teresa Stokes — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 11:39:25 +0000

Absolutely fascinating, I love the comparisons, how clever of you to align the new to the old so precisely.

By: Dougie Scott

Dougie Scott — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 11:28:52 +0000

So interesting to compare.
Some better…. some worse!