The Hoxton Chronicle

 

I am proud to publish these excerpts from THE HOXTON CHRONICLE by Steven Smith, a graduate of my writing course. Steven set out set out to explore his local neighbourhood through stories.

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Earl

 

SO LONG, CHEAP BOOZE!

Steven Smith celebrates the legendary ‘Cheap Booze’ off-licence

When Earl and his partners opened Cheap Booze at the corner of Haberdasher St and Pitfield St in 1991, it immediately became a local landmark with its huge green bottle sign made by the artist Matt Parsons. Earl comments that he would be rich if he had a pound for every photograph taken of it. Cheap Booze sells exactly what the name suggests –  wines, beers, spirits, cigarettes and a small selection of sweets and snacks. It has a do-it-yourself feel. ‘Why spend money on the interior?’ Earl asks. ‘It will not sell a single extra bottle.’

Earl has prodigious energy, a broad smile and diverse interests in many enterprises. Somehow, despite the routine of running the shop, he finds time to pursue them all. He was born and grew up in Hackney, describing his childhood as ‘loosely supervised’, allowing him and his crew of close friends to roam freely in pursuit of whatever took their interest. Their shared passion was music. They pooled scarce resources to buy records and gradually assembled a powerful sound system from a mixture of bought, scrounged and self-assembled scrap materials.

While still in school, Earl and his friends were already performing gigs around London. The ‘Man & Van’ couriers, hired to ferry the vast sound system and record collection to venues, found it deeply puzzling to be contracted by children for serious late-night moving jobs to obscure locations. At sixteen, Earl’s schooling ended with a final gig at which he and his pals unveiled the massive sound system they had created to the amazement of fellow pupils.

Earl and his mates were now free to pursue their music full-time. However, Earl’s father had alternative plans, explaining to Earl that he was free to do whatever he wished but could only stay in the family home if he studied for a commercial trade. Surprised by this stern life lesson, Earl decided to take an apprenticeship as an electrician, reasoning that it might be useful in wiring his sound system. His friends were given similar parental injunctions too and became apprentice electricians too. On qualifying, they immediately established Heatwave Electrics, their own independent company. Work poured in, keeping them busy as electricians by day and DJs by night.

One day, whilst wiring a grocery store in Leyton High Rd, they realised they should open a shop of their own. Based on their collective observation that ‘everyone drinks’, they quickly hit on the idea of opening an off-licence in a vacant shop in Hoxton. Thirty-four years of Cheap Booze began with this moment of inspiration.

As the music side of life grew more serious with larger gigs, they worked to pioneer a new genre, blending reggae, ska, pop and rock to create what became known as Drum & Base Jungle music. Kevin Ford, a core group member since schooldays, became better known publicly as DJ Hype, recognised as one of the world’s foremost producers and performers of Drum & Base.

Music has taken Earl to almost every continent as a DJ. The trips were frequently long and arduous with a dozen flights between gigs in as many days, ending with a long-haul return flight to London in time to deliver him back behind the counter at Cheap Booze. Consequently, travel has become another of Earl’s passions that he is eager to indulge in future. The tropical landscape, and the calm and peaceful lifestyles of Ghana and Grenada are particular attractions. He confessed he may find his future in one of these locations. He says, ‘I have never worked for anyone, I am the centre of my business and can operate and prosper anywhere.’

After thirty-four years, Earl feels it is time for personal reinvention with a new enterprise. Given his outlook, robust energy and enterprise, he will surely prosper but Hoxton will be a duller place without him and Cheap Booze.

We wish him well.

 

The famous green bottle sign was made by artist Matt Parsons