Comments on: Mat Hughes’ East Enders of 1984

By: simon davies-hall

simon davies-hall — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 14:55:08 +0000

stephen watts yes you’re quite right. i got a lot of comments re: that final picture and got confused. all the best

By: simon davies-hall

simon davies-hall — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 12:04:37 +0000

lady with scarf possibly fieldgate mansions – myrdle or romford street

By: simon davies-hall

simon davies-hall — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 12:00:16 +0000

lady with bicycle is commercial road. watney market behind the photographer

By: simon davies-hall

simon davies-hall — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 11:53:44 +0000

final picture is NOT bow common lane gasworks.

shearsmith House Cable St is in the background and it’s the LBTH Council Depot in the foreground situated in backchurch Lane/Pinchin St E1

By: Stephen Watts

Stephen Watts — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 11:35:33 +0000

Some of the images are of, or just off, Cable Street (the final one to me looks like two tower blocks on the south side of Cable Street seen from the other, north side of the railway, rather than Bow Common Lane ?), others look like Fieldgate Mansions & one or two may be on Commercial Road : that might also reflect a route taken by the photographer ? Some faces look familiar to me, though at this distance in time I can’t be sure. Thanks for showing them all.

By: Ros

Ros — Tue, 03 Jan 2023 23:16:31 +0000

small and not very important point but might the bag on the lady’s head in the first picture be a plastic bag with a lining, turned inside out and with plastic handles tucked at the back, rather than a paper one? Plastic bags might be frowned on today but you can see this one has been used many times and is possibly now being inventively re-used to keep its wearer’s head dry.

By: Paul Huckett

Paul Huckett — Tue, 03 Jan 2023 22:16:36 +0000

These photos take me back . I worked for an Australian antique dealer and in 1984 I was buying loads of old Victorian furniture and exporting it . I stayed in the East End and used a firm of packers and exporters in the Mile End area , down some dingy back streets in an old factory . They packed the shipping containers we used , five and six at a time . I forget their name now . I walked everywhere during those trips . What memories these photos invoke . It’s wonderful they were recovered and are now seen again . As is often said , it’s a window in time . Thanks Mat

By: Marcia Howard

Marcia Howard — Tue, 03 Jan 2023 18:30:51 +0000

I’m also hoping the Paper Bag on Head mystery will be explained!

By: Marcia Howard

Marcia Howard — Tue, 03 Jan 2023 18:28:40 +0000

Truly wonderful images. So glad they’ve survived the intervening years.

By: simon davies-hall

simon davies-hall — Tue, 03 Jan 2023 12:17:55 +0000

final shot is bow common lane gas works. stockholm house right and hutton or shearsmith left