Comments on: Colin O’Brien In Brick Lane Market https://spitalfieldslife.com/2024/07/28/colin-obrien-in-brick-lane-market/ In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London Tue, 23 Sep 2025 05:23:14 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.2 By: Peter Dawson https://spitalfieldslife.com/2024/07/28/colin-obrien-in-brick-lane-market/#comment-1806068 Tue, 23 Sep 2025 05:23:14 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=200300#comment-1806068 I can remember very similar scenes every weekend in the ‘60s & ‘70s around Cheshire St, Sclater St, Brick Lane, and over by Christ Church on Commercial St. Hard up people (of all colours) living a hand-to-mouth, day-to-day existence. I’d see people selling anything from puppies to a pair of worn out, secondhand shoes; from clothes that had seen better days, to men with seemingly a gold ring on every finger! These wonderful, yet extremely sad photographs, just makes me want to weep for those poor, miserable-looking souls.Their freezing-cold, poverty-stricken lives are a sad indictment on the so-called leaders of the time…where were they? Alan Dawson.

]]> By: Mark https://spitalfieldslife.com/2024/07/28/colin-obrien-in-brick-lane-market/#comment-1592979 Sun, 28 Jul 2024 18:04:19 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=200300#comment-1592979 Jesus saves….. and Pele scores on the rebound or something. When London was my stamping ground in the eighties I visited this market. Made me despair of our leaders and weep inside for these poor folk. Somebody was selling used rusty and bent nails. That stayed with me but not in a good way. The poverty was palpable. A sad visit, never repeated. The photos show the truth.

]]> By: Cherub https://spitalfieldslife.com/2024/07/28/colin-obrien-in-brick-lane-market/#comment-1592919 Sun, 28 Jul 2024 13:26:26 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=200300#comment-1592919 I wonder what delights were served in Yummy’s Café?

]]> By: Christine https://spitalfieldslife.com/2024/07/28/colin-obrien-in-brick-lane-market/#comment-1592902 Sun, 28 Jul 2024 12:09:18 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=200300#comment-1592902 Love these photos as show us an time that will never be recaptured! Love the 2 ladies with their hair nets and trolleys! I would to see these photos colourised and would show such a different story x

]]> By: Lynne Perrella https://spitalfieldslife.com/2024/07/28/colin-obrien-in-brick-lane-market/#comment-1592891 Sun, 28 Jul 2024 11:28:40 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=200300#comment-1592891 No wonder Colin had the urge to capture the lady bending over to inspect the sad, cold remnants of shoes left at the curb? She is one of his people…………..”a bit of a collecting sort of
person”. And if you look closely, within that hopeless pile of shoes, are some real keepers. She
found something useful, I’m sure of it. Within the depths of winter (judging by the clothing)
I spotted a strappy high-heeled summer sandal………Now where is the mate? I so enjoyed this series. It clearly reveals the keen eye of the photographer/story-teller/chronicler — someone dedicated to preserving the remains of the day.

]]> By: achim https://spitalfieldslife.com/2024/07/28/colin-obrien-in-brick-lane-market/#comment-1592880 Sun, 28 Jul 2024 10:08:26 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=200300#comment-1592880 Hardly anyone has captured poverty and the decay of civilisation more impressively than Colin O’Brien. And he started doing this when he was just 8 years old. Unbelievable.

Love & Peace
ACHIM

]]> By: Bailey Jones https://spitalfieldslife.com/2024/07/28/colin-obrien-in-brick-lane-market/#comment-1592870 Sun, 28 Jul 2024 08:53:59 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=200300#comment-1592870 Colin O’Brien was such a gifted photographer.

]]> By: Andy https://spitalfieldslife.com/2024/07/28/colin-obrien-in-brick-lane-market/#comment-1592833 Sun, 28 Jul 2024 05:56:47 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=200300#comment-1592833 I find these sad as they epitomise a time and vision I remember and now gone forever .

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