Ron McCormick’s Spitalfields
Ron McCormick took these splendid pictures when he lived in Princelet St in the seventies
Knifegrinder, Spitalfields
Fishman’s tobacconist & sweet shop, Flower & Dean St, Spitalfields
Entrance to Chevrah Shass Synagogue, Old Montague St
Clock seller, Sclater St
Dressed up for the Sunday market, Cheshire St
Maurice, Gents’ Hairdresser, Buxton St
Gunthorpe St
Club Row
Steps down to Black Lion Yard, Old Montague St
Old Castle St, Synagogue
Sunday market, Cheshire St
Corner of Gun St & Artillery Lane
Shopkeeper, Old Montague St
Inter-generational conflict on Princelet St
Goldstein’s Kosher Butcher & Poulterer, Old Montague St
Great Eastern Buildings, Quaker St
Convenience Store, Artillery Lane
Soup Kitchen for the Jewish Poor, Brune St
Alf’s Fish Bar, Brick Lane
Waiting for the night shelter to open, Christ Church Spitalfields
Resting, Spitalfields Market Barrows, Commercial St
Great Eastern Buildings, Quaker St
Rough sleeper, Spitalfields
Mother and her new-born baby in a one bedroom flat, Spitalfields
Photographs copyright © Ron McCormick
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What an amazing collection of photographs.
Yes,I do remember. We visited from our council estate in North London, on our way to get our teeth fixed at Eastman dental clinic. My Mum did not like it. Those with get up and go went. Half went to Canada and become millionaires. Thank God for the Welfare State and the Butler Education Act or we could still be there, without the means of gentrification. Education is the answer, only teachers today don’t offer it , only the glorification of grievances.
Barrows of the same design appear in several images and were not uncommon in the London of my childhood; no doubt some still survive. I wonder about their design: was it peculiar to the local area or to London? Are any still in use and are examples preserved anywhere?
These Pictures are Amazing and Sad. Thank You Very Much.???????
A wonderful glimpse into a forgotten past. As a boy in the 1950s at a school in Whitechapel Road I particularly remember the small shops along Old Montague Street where we brought our lunchtime sweets. The pictures may look grey but life wasn’t!
Greetings from Boston,
GA, thanks for sharing these great pics by Ron McCormick of Spitalsfields in the 1970s. The signage alone tells us so much about how things were.
My favorites are: “Clock seller, Sclater St,” “Intergenerational Conflict of Princelet Street,” “Waiting for the night shelter to open, Christ Church Spitalfields.” All wonderful …
Extraordinary, wonderful Photographs from a very special Time …
Love & Peace
ACHIM
I do like these images but also feel concerned that the presence of a range of working class ordinary people who had existed for centuries -including in the 1970s – have now almost died or gone from much of the Spitalfields area.
During the recent Don McCullin exhibition at Tate Britain images also related back to an earlier time, including the 1960s, but the photographs were realised to be images of people no longer seen.
Indeed in McCormick’s interesting photographs are any of the people now alive in this area? Are even the buildings now kept ? Like many of the interesting recent articles written by The Gentle Author there is a worrying display of what used to be there – and which exists in a rather different mood to the earlier times
Flower & Dean street what a lovely name. My mother was born there just after ww1 and lived in Nathaniel Buildings until just before the second world war. The lovely name belies a place that was amongst the roughest neighborhoods in London. However, the stories that she told of the people that lived in the “flowery” or ” the flary” as it was known locally, were sometimes far from a rough and coarse environment. You would hear the sound of music and piano being played and practiced coming from the flats. It was the birthplace of well-known musicians, band leaders, artists,, filmmakers, and actors. She knew them all as children and could name them, but I have long forgotten, but a few of their names.
Thank you! The photos are an amazing reminder of a time lost and these will ensure it’s will never be forgotten. Please publish more!
Eastmans Dental practice now that rings a bell as a small child going there with my mother they drilled your teeth like ther is no tomorrow what the hell was that all about, never went for years when left school bad memoirs of those times, but still have all my teeth in tact FACT!!!! All those poor down and outs we passed to and from school in the 50s very sad men so many yet they never bothered you as kids, everybody including me passed them by, never asking or offering help, we where so used to seeing it in East End, you just had to get on with what you had and making the best of it, made us who survived strong and resilient in life. Thanks GA makes me feel good to be alive and kicking , even if it’s a long way from those times. Stay Safe UK, blimey you do have so many problems on a weekly basis, or so it seems from here.
GA, the Guy in picture 5 down, is he somebody you have featured in previous East London Stories, he seems so familiar from the past??
In my earlier post, I mentioned my mother who was born In “The Flowery” and I described, Just a little, about Nathaniel Buildings where she lived. I should have said that at 11 years old she passed an exam for the Royal College of Music. She was put forward for it by her tutor Meyer Rosenstein who was an accomplished Pianist before the war. He would give her lessons in her home in Nathaniel Buildings . Sadly she was not able to take up the offer. I do not know the full circumstances why. All I know is that her father was against it and that wealthy people did not live in Flower and Dean street During her lifetime she felt as though she had missed out on a big opportunity to go into a career that she was born for. She was gifted with her hands and became a court dressmaker at Madame Hetties in the West End . It was hard grinding work from morning to night, sewing by hand continuous tiny stitches. Later in her life, she returned to playing the piano. but after such a long break could never again reach the standard that she once was at. Just a memory for my mother on International Women’s Day.
Lovely, Ron! So atmospheric. Several of the streets possess memories and special meaning to me…
Wonderful photographs! Despite the change in people in Spitalfields now, the buildings tell us so much about life back then. Please keep on publishing these photos.
My great grandfather’s death certificate states he died in Flower & Dean Street in what I believe was a tenement building. I sadly never knew him or for that matter all those years ago of visiting Brick Lane & in latter years, the surrounding streets.
“Inter-generational conflict on Princelet St.” looks more like an ethnic conflict to me, as the girl in the doorway appears South Asian, whilst the woman brandishing the umbrella is white.
These pictures are wonderful in their character and poignancy; thank you for sharing.
Used to leave the Vallence youth club and always went to Alfs for a bag of chips
Great Eastern Buildings Quaker St had dust chutes and backed on to Bishopgate Goods. The washing photo isn’t Quaker St.