Colin O’Brien’s Pellicci Portraits
Spitalfields Life Contributing Photographer Colin O’Brien begins a new series today, taking portraits of the esteemed diners at London’s most celebrated family-run cafe – E.Pellicci at 332 Bethnal Green Rd, in business since 1900. Many customers have been coming their whole lives to this tiny marquetry-lined restaurant where everyone sits cheek-by-jowl, engaging their neighbours in lively conversation while enjoying freshly cooked honest food at keen prices, and demonstrating that in the East End community spirit is alive and flourishing.
Juke Box Jimmy, the Scots Cockney – “I’ve been coming to Pelliccis since I first arrived from Scotland in 1960 and I eat here five days a week.”
Julie Rassatt – I’ve been coming here since about five years ago, I live across the street.”
Del – “My aunt Theresa first brought me here when I was twelve, and I’ve been coming in my own since I was about sixteen and I am thirty-two now.”
June Mumford – “I’ve been coming here since I was eight or nine.”
Dave Cowland, Cab Driver & Boxing Trainer – “I’m a newcomer, I only started coming here a couple of years ago.”
Maureen Thaxter – “I’ve been coming here regularly, on and off, since my daughter was small and she’s forty-seven now.”
Tyrone Walker Hebborn, Cinema Owner & Ex-Roofer – “I first came to Pelliccis in the late eighties, when I was working with my dad doing roofs in Bethnal Green.”
Samantha Clarke – “I used to come here with my dad when I was little and I’m twenty now.”
John Atherton – “I live in West London but I always visit Pelliccis whenever I am in the neighbourhood. I found out about it from book of Classic Cafes five years ago and I’ve been coming regularly ever since.”
Lauren Bonner – “This is my first visit to Pelliccis!”
Melvin Pamplin, Can Driver & Ex-Roofer – “I’ve been coming here most days for about thirty years.”
Elizabeth James – “I’ve been coming here for twenty-five years, ever since my son Michael first brought me here.”
Michael James – “I was born in Stepney and I’ve been coming here thirty years. I think I first came with the Art Critic Andrew Lambirth.”
Claire Marden, Hampshire Lass – “I’m from the Isle of Wight, I’ve only been coming here for a year.”
Stan Dowsett – ‘I can’t remember how long I’ve been coming here, I’ve been fairly regular for many years and my office is just down the road. On Sunday, I was elected Toastmaster President to the Toastmasters’ Guild.”
Anna Pellicci – proud third generation in the family business.
Photographs copyright © Colin O’Brien
You may like to read these other Pellicci stories
Maria Pellicci, The Meatball Queen of Bethnal Green
And these other Colin O’Brien stories
Colin O’Brien’s Clerkenwell Car Crashes
Colin O’Brien’s Kids on the Street
Travellers’ Children in London Fields
Colin O’Brien’s Brick Lane Market
Lovely portraits!
More Polpettini required!
My dad is top pic, he took there every weekend as a child, im 28 now and when i visit him now, this is where he takes me. x
I swear that first-timer jumped out of a Kit Williams painting.
Enjoyed seeing a Dowsett (Stan) in the flesh in my Dowsett family’s part of London. My great grandfather Richard Dowsett arrived alone in Australia sometime, somehow in the 1850s but, through your website, I’ve discovered I share with J. Dossett, five generations back, a Hugenot ancestor, Rachel Orange. I don’t have any information on the Orange line but will share anything I find.
Wish I’d spent more time exploring Spitalfields on my visits to London. Thanks for the great insights. I feel I belong.