Suresh Singh’s Spitalfields
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Suresh Singh’s A MODEST LIVING, Memoirs of a Cockney Sikh is included in the sale.
When Suresh was a student at City & East London College in 1979, he was given a project for General Studies O Level to record his neighbourhood. So he set out with his camera from his home at 38 Princelet St and took these photographs of the streets of Spitalfields, which are now in the collection at Bishopsgate Insitute.
Christ Church from Wilkes St
Spitalfields Market seen from Christ Church
Looking towards the City from the rooftop of a Hanbury St factory
Children playing cricket in Puma Court
Mr Sova, proprietor of Sova Fabrics on Brick Lane
Brick Lane
Shed on Brick Lane
Shoe shop on Cheshire St
Cheshire St
Stamp and coin dealer in Cheshire St
Boy carrying home the shopping on Brick Lane
Shops on Hanbury St
Truman Brewery seen from Grimbsy St
Woman on Brick Lane
Her shoes
Down and out on the steps of the Rectory, Christ Church
Homeless men sitting outside Christ Church – this area has recently been fenced off
In Fashion St
Naz Cinema, Brick Lane
Family walking from Shoreditch Station into Brick Lane
Clifton Sweetmart, Brick Lane
Former Central Foundation School for Girls, Spital Sq, now Galvin restaurant
Inside the former Central Foundation School for Girls, Spital Sq
Abandoned books at Central Foundation School for Girls
There was a constant police presence on Brick Lane due to the race riots
Crowds leaving the mosque on Brick Lane
Sign in Fournier St
Sign in Fournier St
Christ Church prior to restoration, without balconies
Christ Church from the roofs of Hanbury St
Photographs copyright © Suresh Singh
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I am a trained nurse and I walked through the Spitalfields meat market each day from the train on my way to and from Saint Bartholomew’s Hospital where I worked in the 1960’s. I would like to see some photos of both places as they were in then if possible.
Thankyou, Sue Crosby?
This morning’s pics of Brick Lane and surrounding area made me feel very sad
especially seeing Central Foundation School and textbooks so abandoned and dilapidated
?
Wonderful pictures, they carry a tinge of melancholy, sadness, tiredness. Thank you.
There is a real sadness in how run down and derelict everything looks in these photos. Very poignant images.
These are wonderful photos and Suresh had a very good eye even then. To Sue Crosby, it would have been Smithfield meat market you walked across on the way to Bart’s Hospital and I’m sure there are many photos somewhere of the market, now gone, and Bart’s hospital, still there, and the whole Farringdon/Smithfield area, now so changed. The Gentle Author has reported on Smithfield market several times, and also Bart’s hospital, and Farringdon, if you put those titles into the search box on the Spitalfields Life web page.