Comments on: Alan Dein’s East End Shops https://spitalfieldslife.com/2025/02/03/alan-deins-east-end-shops-i/ 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, 11 Feb 2025 02:08:04 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: Iansilverton@aol.com https://spitalfieldslife.com/2025/02/03/alan-deins-east-end-shops-i/#comment-1691233 Tue, 11 Feb 2025 02:08:04 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=202248#comment-1691233 Alfred Myers Great Eastern Street. Is the very place you bought mens wear , before you moved onto Cecil Gee W1. Smart shop that back in the 1960s, always bought Safari Suits there, only place that had them at the time. Another Smart shop for men in 1960s was Albert’s in Whitechapel High Street, next door to Blooms. Be Well GA.

]]> By: Cherub https://spitalfieldslife.com/2025/02/03/alan-deins-east-end-shops-i/#comment-1689001 Tue, 04 Feb 2025 11:16:06 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=202248#comment-1689001 I’m always saddened when I see pictures of old shops that have fallen into dereliction. The sign above the shoe shop that says “get Tuf here” made me smile though, Tuf shoes remind me of school in winter in the 60s, I think the boys ones used to have animal tracks on the soles.

]]> By: John Campbell https://spitalfieldslife.com/2025/02/03/alan-deins-east-end-shops-i/#comment-1688710 Mon, 03 Feb 2025 19:42:29 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=202248#comment-1688710 Surely ‘Steptowe & Son’ can’t be a real name?
I’m guessing a pun on the popular TV show?

]]> By: Adele Lester https://spitalfieldslife.com/2025/02/03/alan-deins-east-end-shops-i/#comment-1688617 Mon, 03 Feb 2025 15:21:35 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=202248#comment-1688617 Many fond memories of shops my parents frequented! Independent Shopkeepers we’re a special breed, working long hours in all weather to put bread on the table. They knew their customers and their customers supported them.

]]> By: Lynne Perrella https://spitalfieldslife.com/2025/02/03/alan-deins-east-end-shops-i/#comment-1688606 Mon, 03 Feb 2025 14:25:08 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=202248#comment-1688606 I looked through this array once, twice, three times. On the first pass, I thought of the people
who inhabited the shops — their intentions, their toil, frustrations, joys, accomplishments, etc.
By the third time, I was noticing all the surfaces, textures, and colors. Only then, could these images become buoyant and quilt-like. I felt like I had a view finder that I could move all along the various photos, and recognize — (so much!) — scaling paint, rusted corrugated metal, brittle cardboard signboards in an inventive checkerboard, remnants of elegant lettering, the urgent scrawl of spray paint, stalwart cement blocks, crusty tiles, shards of plywood, rumpled grill work, tenacious handbills still clinging to walls, decrepit warped doors. Each “slice” of this city scape seemed to be saturated with melancholy and (for me) an undeniable strange beauty.

Remarkable, and harrowing. Thank you, GA and Mr. Dein.

]]> By: Claire D https://spitalfieldslife.com/2025/02/03/alan-deins-east-end-shops-i/#comment-1688546 Mon, 03 Feb 2025 11:11:45 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=202248#comment-1688546 I remember shops like these in the 1970s when I still lived in London, some of them were still bustling with activity, steam and baking smells back then.
You never think in your youth how times will change and all will be swept away. Thank goodness for photographs like these.

]]> By: Eddie Bosticco https://spitalfieldslife.com/2025/02/03/alan-deins-east-end-shops-i/#comment-1688540 Mon, 03 Feb 2025 10:54:36 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=202248#comment-1688540 Cor ! These photos bring back memories.
Thank you.
I lived in Hoxton; went to school in Cowper Street snd worked in Goodmans Fields and Black Lion House Aldgate East.
Eddie

]]> By: Mark https://spitalfieldslife.com/2025/02/03/alan-deins-east-end-shops-i/#comment-1688528 Mon, 03 Feb 2025 10:29:27 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=202248#comment-1688528 Lovely pics of long gone Indy shops
A complete absence of luncheon voucher stickers tho’ but.

]]> By: Colin Cohen https://spitalfieldslife.com/2025/02/03/alan-deins-east-end-shops-i/#comment-1688518 Mon, 03 Feb 2025 09:46:49 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=202248#comment-1688518 So very sad, so much failed endeavour

]]> By: CAOR https://spitalfieldslife.com/2025/02/03/alan-deins-east-end-shops-i/#comment-1688470 Mon, 03 Feb 2025 07:36:50 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=202248#comment-1688470 The current inhabitants really have no idea.

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