Skip to content

David Hoffman Down The Roman Rd

October 16, 2014
by the gentle author

Tonight, Contributing Photographer David Hoffman opens an extraordinary exhibition, happening in four Roman Rd cafés simultaneously. You are all invited to attend the opening from 7-9pm this evening at Muxima café and you can also join David for a cafe crawl on Saturday at midday. Here is a selection to give you a flavour of this exuberant work and David introduces the show in his own words.

“I took these photographs thirty to forty years ago – they are all from the East End, mostly around Whitechapel and Spitalfields.

I was born in the East End, but my parents’ upward mobility whisked me out to suburbia and it was only in my twenties that I gravitated back to my roots. I was immediately entranced by the atmosphere of joy and dilapidation. It was the spirit of the people you see in these pictures that lifted my spirits and showed me the direction which my career has followed ever since.

These café exhibitions are my thank you to all the people who have made life in this part of London so interesting, exciting and always rewarding.” David Hoffman

Photographs copyright © David Hoffman

David Hoffman’s Roman Rd Café Crawl is at  The Roman Rd Art Café, 357 Roman Rd, The Zealand Coffee Bar, 391 Roman Rd, Vinarius, 536 Roman Rd, & Muxima, 618 Roman Rd until 27th November. Private View tonight at Muxima.

David Hoffman will be at The Roman Road Art Café on Saturday 18th October at noon, talking about his photographs, and you can join him on the Roman Rd Café Crawl.

You may also like to take a look at

David Hoffman at Fieldgate Mansions

David Hoffman at St Botolph’s

David Hoffman at Crisis At Christmas

David Hoffman at Smithfield Market

19 Responses leave one →
  1. October 16, 2014

    Superb
    Big lady at the apple lunch made me laugh out loud.
    And person with accordion inside raincoat.
    And that top photo is almost a feature film.
    Sorry I can’t make the exhibition, I hope it goes well
    Caroline x

  2. October 16, 2014

    Very atmospheric photos, which capture the spirit of the time and place so well. Valerie

  3. October 16, 2014

    Some great pictures from another time we have not seen before.

  4. October 16, 2014

    Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. I remember well the one man band. We called him the ‘Puppet Man’.

    Thanks you for sharing these extraordinary images…

  5. October 16, 2014

    Astonishing pictures from the real life…!

    Love & Peace
    ACHIM

  6. Pauline Taylor permalink
    October 16, 2014

    Oh the joy of black and white photography again. Every one of these pictures tells a story, I would love to write them, and to know why the lady in the plastic rain cape has a ‘joanna’ out on the pavement?
    Thank you GA these are a treat!

  7. October 16, 2014

    Do so love the exuberance in these photographs. And David’s comments…

  8. Jose Cadaveira permalink
    October 16, 2014

    Absolutely brilliant photos.

  9. October 16, 2014

    Just wonderful. Wonderful.
    These photographs stirred so many memories for me personally and they capture succintly a bygone era. There is sadness here, for sure, but also a real sense of the joys of life. I mean, who doesn’t enjoy a glass of milk stout and a good old knees-up?
    This is a unique part of London and one that has changed so dramatically in recent years. For that reason alone these pictures are priceless.

  10. Tony Bock permalink
    October 16, 2014

    Lovely photos Dave, and how nice to see them being shown where they belong.

  11. October 16, 2014

    fascinating. these are some of the best yet.

  12. Judy Near permalink
    October 16, 2014

    Fantastic glimpse into a time long gone. I absolutely love these photos……..these pictures just reinforces my love of all things British!! Thank you!

  13. October 16, 2014

    I love the photos of the old women. We are the invisible race, it’s lovely to see that someone was interested enough to snap these photos.

  14. October 19, 2014

    Great photos from David – again!

  15. Elli permalink
    October 23, 2014

    Wonderful photo’s, what characters they show and how lucky for us they are still around. Many thanks David Hoffman, how I wish I could have joined you on the cafe crawl.

  16. Cherub permalink
    October 24, 2014

    The photo of the old lady holding up her skirt and showing her knicker leg whilst dancing is delightful.

  17. Georgina Briody permalink
    November 8, 2015

    Remember these times with fondness,

  18. November 10, 2015

    I didn’t know that Larry Herman had been a butcher before he turned to photography!

  19. Ian Silverton permalink
    December 21, 2015

    Remember all this,all years ago,thank god its all gone,its very sad to see this now,brings back how very poor we all where,best forgotten by me,it makes me feel sad,for all us kids who lived through it.

Leave a Reply

Note: Comments may be edited. Your email address will never be published.

Subscribe to this comment feed via RSS