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Andrew Scott’s East End

September 2, 2022
by the gentle author

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In Sclater St, Spitalfields

“In the autumn of 1974, we stuffed our belongings into a van and headed for London. Like all newcomers, we had to find somewhere to live – and fast, since none of us had family or friends in the capital. Someone who knew someone directed us to the Tower Hamlets Squatters’ Union, a grass roots community organisation who could help us squat an empty property. The people who ran the Union believed that the amount of council property sitting empty or scheduled for demolition was a disgrace. And we agreed with them.

We were first ‘put into’ two prefab dwellings in Shadwell. The next morning we were evicted (and secretly relieved). The Squatters’ Union then delivered us to a terraced house in Stepney where we stayed for several months, hardly able to believe our luck. There was no bath or indoor toilet, but did we care? We were in our early twenties, hungry for everything London could offer. That included the East London street markets – rich repositories of fresh fruit, vegetables, and every sort of tat.

We adored London – its throb and thrum, its variety and eccentricity. Our East End neighbours were tolerant of us, but others were not so lucky. We witnessed blatant racism for the first time. Andrew took photographs for the Squatters’ Union to help publicise their anti-racist work with Bangladeshi families and to document the re-housing of some of those living in the worst housing conditions.”

Caroline Gilfillan & Andrew Scott

In Sclater St, Spitalfields

In Sclater St, Spitalfields

In Sclater St, Spitalfields

In Spitalfields

In Stoneyard Lane, Poplar

At Stephen & Matilda Houses, Wapping

In York Sq, Stepney

In Stoneyard Lane, Poplar

In Bromley St, Stepney

In Corfield St, Bethnal Green

In Corfield St, Bethnal Green

In Corfield St, Bethnal Green

In Corfield St, Bethnal Green

In Aldgate

In Corfield St, Bethnal Green

In Poplar

South of Commercial Rd, Stepney

In Commercial Rd, Stepney

At Stephen & Matilda Houses, Wapping

In Whitechapel

In Whitechapel

In Whitechapel

In York Sq, Stepney

In Ben Jonson Rd, Stepney

In Ben Jonson Rd, Stepney

In Ben Jonson Rd, Stepney

In Broad St Station

In Bromley St, Stepney

Dock Wall, St Katherine’s Basin

South of Commercial Rd

South of Commercial Rd

In Aldgate

In Whitechapel Rd

In Commercial Rd, Stepney

The George in Commercial Rd, Stepney

Photographs copyright © Andrew Scott

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Caroline Gilfillan & Andrew Scott’s East End

Philip Marriage’s Spitalfields

Dan Cruickshank’s Spitalfields

9 Responses leave one →
  1. Andu permalink
    September 2, 2022

    Photos truly evocative for me. Thank you both.
    Andy

  2. Joan permalink
    September 2, 2022

    As I was 11 and growing up in the tower block looking over Bromley Street in 1974 these photos feel very familiar to me. Interestingly the posh estate agents Inigo have recently had one of the Bromley Street houses for sale for £850,000. Their website is good on history but doesn’t mention that period in the 1970s when the houses were squatted and – in 1977 – proved something of a focus for anti Silver Jubilee sentiment.

  3. Cherub permalink
    September 2, 2022

    I wonder what some of these streets look like now? The dereliction shown here in the 70s is upsetting to look at.

  4. September 2, 2022

    Photos like these are so RICH in detail, every viewer will zero in on a different aspect.
    I immediately noticed the two young girls running along the pavement, draping themselves in
    discarded pieces of ghost-like plastic. The boarded-up building across the way has a sense of
    isolation and doom. The moment belongs to the girls — and the photographer. I imagine their laughter, girlish shrieks, giggles, as they approach the camera. Their private playtime is captured on film. We’re reminded of the specialty of children — to invent, appropriate, and transform. The discarded plastic looks like clouds of pastel tulle, as the girls skip past the signage on the van —- “Homeless.” Were these two friends for life, or just for an afternoon?
    Wonderful photos.

  5. Mark permalink
    September 2, 2022

    Vivid and beautiful portraits of working class life and buildings. Always good to see Tubby Isaacs in east end photos!

  6. Richard permalink
    September 3, 2022

    Enjoyed looking at these. Strange to realise it was like this. Some good faces.

  7. Mark permalink
    September 3, 2022

    If you think these photos are upsetting come and have a look at the estate where I live in 2022. These pictures show many splendid people and buildings. At least the folk had hope in the Seventies, what now in this septic Isle…..

  8. Maureen permalink
    September 3, 2022

    Superb photography. It’s hard to believe it’s actually not that long ago.

  9. Keith permalink
    September 4, 2022

    To see Corfield Street like it was back in the 1970s is a treat, as my dad, lived there as a lad with his dad in the early 1950s. My maternal grandmother live in Finnis Street with her parents and sisters from 1909 to 1926 and went to Wilmot Street school, as did my mum and her siblings. There were prefabs near the old railway arches too. I remeber the prefabs off of Valence Road in the mid 1970s too. The photographs of the cobbled roads and streets, empty boarded up flats and terraced houses, and roads without cars is and amazing sight too.

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