Eleanor Crow’s East End Cafes
Syd’s Coffee Stall, Shoreditch High St
Illustrator Eleanor Crow made this set of watercolour portraits of cafes as a tribute to those cherished institutions which incarnate the essence of civility in the East End. “It’s because they’re individual concerns, often owned by families across generations who get to know all their customers,” admitted Eleanor, revealing the source of her devotion to cafe culture ,“I like the frontages because each is designed uniquely for that café with wonderful sign-writing or lettering and eye-catching colours. Some of these cafés have been here for a very long time and everyone in the area is familiar with them, and is very fond of them. They make the streets into a better place and are landmarks upon the landscape of the East End.”
E. Pellicci, Bethnal Green Rd
Savoy, Norton Folgate
Time for Tea, Shoreditch High St
Dalston Lane Cafe
Paga Cafe, Lea Bridge Rd
Lennies Snack Bar, Calvert Avenue
Marina Cafe, Mare St
Kingsland Cafe, Kingsland Rd
Grab & Go, Blackhorse Lane
Gina’s Restaurant, Bethnal Green Rd
Copper Grill, Eldon St
Billy Bunter’s Snack Bar, Mile End Rd
Beppe’s Cafe, West Smithfield
B.B. Cafe, Lea Bridge Rd
Savoy Cafe, Graham Rd
A.Gold, Brushfield St
Arthur’s Cafe, Kingsland Rd
Cafe Bliss, Dalston Lane
Cafe Rodi, Blackhorse Lane
Rossi Restaurant, Hanbury St (Gone but not forgotten)
Eleanor Crow at E.Pellicci
Drawings copyright © Eleanor Crow
Portrait copyright © Colin O’Brien
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At Regis Cafe, Leadenhall Market
At Syd’s Coffee Stall, Shoreditch High St
Love them all.
There used to be a lovely cafe in the Barbican next to an alleyway that took you to a small park (Fortune Park) with rose gardens and a children’s play area and then out onto Golden Lane. I recently went back to the area – the market was still there but everything had been ‘tidied’ up. I never took note of the name but used it all the time!
O, what brilliant watercolours! Thank you, gentle author. I used to be a roving speech pathologist, in my youth, catching the bus from Hoxton to families and clients all up and down the Lea Bridge Road and Black Horse Lane. Walthamstow. My best friend and first landlady, Miss LeBideau, Accountant Extraordinaire, moved from Ealing to Walthamstow and we used to quaff several bottles of red wine before heading off to the LLGC, London Lesbian and Gay Centre, in Farringdon (now sadly gone). Another colleague, working as a speechie in Lambeth, used to moonlight as a croupier in Tottenham Court Road, earning twice her monthly wage a night in tips, and then sneak back into the office to sleep under the desk until the morning. Thank you for the memories and where can I buy the paintings? P.S. I’m now in Australia.
Prints? Poster(s)? Put me down for a set. Wonderfully colorful and evocative.
Like your work Eleanor –
What about Yummy’s on Cheshire St?
A wonderful collection – so evocative of the East End.
There is no contest between a faceless coffee chain and a friendly local caff. The latter usually serves a much better cuppa as well.
“Billy Bunter’s” in Mile End Rd has been closed for over two month’s now.
Simply delightful!