Comments on: At Great Eastern Buildings https://spitalfieldslife.com/2025/10/24/at-great-eastern-buildings-iii/ In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London Fri, 24 Oct 2025 17:04:09 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Carol Fisher https://spitalfieldslife.com/2025/10/24/at-great-eastern-buildings-iii/#comment-1833792 Fri, 24 Oct 2025 17:04:09 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=204915#comment-1833792 PS I too was woken in the middle of the night by my father to: “come & see this”, so he & I watched the first moon landing together in glorious black & white, whilst the rest of the house slept.

We had moved from my grandparents’ house in Balaclava Road, Bermondsey, to Enfield, where my Mum & Dad were the first on either side to buy a house rather than rent. As far as my Bermondsey grandfather was concerned, Enfield was ‘The Country’ ….

]]> By: Carol Fisher https://spitalfieldslife.com/2025/10/24/at-great-eastern-buildings-iii/#comment-1833786 Fri, 24 Oct 2025 16:56:56 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=204915#comment-1833786 Regarding The Rent Man calling, at the beginning of the week, one of the reasons many women begged a little extra time to pay, was so that they could rush to the pawn shop with whatever was available- the last resort would be their wedding ring-& then these would be redeemed on Fridays when the men got their pay.

Having worked at the Truman Brewery in the 1980’s , I used to pass my favourite pub name, in Stoke Newington, on my drive into work. The pub sign was a back view of a man in a brown raincoat, wearing a bowler hat, knocking at a front door-this was The Rent Man. And the pub name? The Nobody Inn-just brilliant & unique, I believe…

]]> By: Maria O’Keefe https://spitalfieldslife.com/2025/10/24/at-great-eastern-buildings-iii/#comment-1833310 Fri, 24 Oct 2025 05:55:55 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=204915#comment-1833310 What an evocative piece of writing. I too grew up in less than ideal housing over in Stepney . Stevens account of growing up in such dwellings brought back memories and characters from my childhood. Shadwell Park was our natural oasis , albeit ran along the side of the Thames with the docks and it’s cranes still in operation. Unlike Steven I have only happy memories of my childhood , which furnished me with the opening line for my successful application to university , “ We’ve got rats as big as cats “ , that being the words on the placard that I was given to hold at my very first protest , that eventually resulted in residents being rehoused. Thank you for an enlightening account and the memories that it has evoked.

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