King Of The Bottletops At The Farm
For a second summer, Robson Cezar, widely known as King of the Bottletops has been artist-in-residence at Spitalfields City Farm, and so Contributing Photographer Sarah Ainslie & I went along to see what he has been up to this year.
In recent weeks, visitors of all ages to the farm have been sorting bottle caps collected from the pubs of Spitalfields into all their separate colours, which Robson has supplemented by using a stick with a magnet on the end to harvest those left behind by the weekend revellers in Allen Gardens.
This summer, Robson has made a large house like those in Spitalfields, using six thousand bottle caps, which has been installed on the fence overlooking the children’s play area in Allen Gardens and twenty-six panels comprising the letters of the alphabet. All these works are currently on display at the farm and you are encouraged to make a visit and take a look for yourself.
Installing the bottletop house at the far
A Spitalfields house made of six thousand bottletops
The playground on Allen Gardens with the bottle top house in the background
Robson Cezar’s studio at the farm
Collecting discarded bottletops with a magnetic stick on Allen Gardens
Photographs copyright © Sarah Ainslie
Spitalfields City Farm, Buxton St, E1 5AR
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Robson Cezar, King of the Bottletops
Barge Racing On The Thames Estuary
Barge racing season on the Thames Estuary
Crossing the marshes beyond Faversham at night, heading towards Oare Creek, my heart leapt in anticipation to see the mast of the Thames Sailing Barge Repertor outlined against the last fading light in a sky of gathering clouds. They were harbingers of a storm that woke me in my cabin with thunder and lightning, though when I woke next morning as the engine started up and the barge slid off down the creek towards the open sea, a shaft of sunlight descended through the skylight. Yet even this was short lived, with soft rain descending as we skirted the Kent Marshes towards the starting line of the Swale Sailing Barge Match.
Originally established by Henry Dodds in 1863, the annual Sailing Barge races that take place each summer around the Thames Estuary were once opportunities for commercial rivalry in the days when arriving first to pick up cargo meant winning the business. Their continuation in the present day manifests the persistence of the maritime culture that once defined these riverside communities. On Repertor, skipper David Pollock was assisted by three local gentlemen in his crew – Dennis Pennell, Brian Weaver and Doug Powell – who I believe would not be averse to being described as ‘sea dogs.’ Dennis and Brian went to school together in Faversham and all began their long nautical careers working on these Sailing Barges when they ran commercially – and today David enjoys the benefit of their collective knowledge.
An experienced skipper in his own right, David is a veteran of this race with several notable success and was eager to distinguish himself again this year. Picking up speed upon approaching the starting line, we were surrounded by a scattering of other brown-sailed Thames Sailing Barges and attended by a variety of traditional Thames sailing vessels including Smacks and Bawleys that have their own classes within the race. The sun broke through again, dismissing the tail-end of the rain and, even as we set out upon the green ocean, there was a line of Sailing Barges that extended ahead and behind us upon the sparkling water.
For an inexperienced sailor like myself, this was an overwhelming experience – deafened by the roar and crash of the waves and the relentless slap that the wind makes upon the sail, dazzled by the reflected sunlight and buffeted by the wind which became the decisive factor of the day. The immense force of the air propelled the vast iron hull, skimming forward through the swell at an exhilarating speed, yet required immense dexterity from the crew to keep the sail trimmed and manage the switch of the mainsail from one side to the other, accompanied by the raising and lifting of the great iron ‘leeboards’ – which serve as keels to prevent the flat bottomed barge capsizing while sailing upwind.
Thus, a routine was quickly established whenever David Pollock turned the vessel into the wind, calling “Ready about!” – the instruction to wind up the leeward leeboard and switch the mainsail from one side to the other. As soon as this was accomplished, David yelled “Let draw!” – the order to drop the leeboard on the opposite side and release the foresail. This ritual demanded a furious hauling of ropes and winding of the windlass, accompanied by the loud clanging of the iron tether as it slid along a pole that traversed the deck, known as the ‘horse.’ Meanwhile, wary passengers ducked their heads as the sail swung from one side to the other, accompanied by the sudden tilting of the entire deck in the reverse direction.
Before long, we were weaving our course among other Sailing Barges, running in parallel along the waves and slowly edging forward of our rivals, while in front of us some larger vessels were already pulling ahead in the strong wind. Running downwind, these vessels gained an advantage of speed and once we passed the buoy at the turning point of the five hour race, we gained the counter-advantage of manoeuvrability, tacking upwind. Yet by then it was too late to overtake those ahead, but it did not stop David and his crew working tirelessly as we zig-zagged back through the afternoon towards the Swale Estuary, taking sustenance of fruit cake and permitting distraction only from a dozen seals basking upon a sand bank.
Observing these historic vessels in action, and witnessing the combination of skill and physical exertion of a crew of more than eight, left me wondering at those men who once worked upon them, sailing with just a skipper, a mate and a boy.
On two past occasions when less wind prevailed, David and Repertor won the Swale Match, yet no-one was disappointed, making their way up Faversham Creek to the prize-giving on Saturday night at The Shipwrights’ Arms. With more matches to come before the end of the season, and after a strong performance in the Swale match, David Pollock and the crew of Repertor still had the opportunity of winning the Barge Championship – though, after my day on board, I can assure you that the joy of sailing such a majestic vessel was more than reward enough.
David Pollock, Skipper of Sailing Barge Repertor
Lady of the Lea, a smaller river barge designed for a tributary
Dennis Pennell – “I worked on the barges when I was still a boy….”
Brian Weaver – “I’m seventy-five and I started at nine, in the days when the Thames Barges still worked out of Faversham.”
Doug Powell – “I’ve been a sailor since I was thirteen.”
Return to Oare Creek
The day ended with prize-giving at The Shipwrights’ Arms, Faversham
Click here if you would like to take a trip on Thames Sailing Barge ‘Repertor’
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Beano Season In The East End
A beano from Stepney in the twenties (courtesy Irene Sheath)
We have reached that time of year when a certain clamminess prevails in the city and East Enders turn restless, yearning for a trip to the sea or at the very least an excursion to glimpse some green fields. In the last century, pubs, workplaces and clubs organised annual summer beanos, which gave everyone the opportunity to pile into a coach and enjoy a day out, usually with liberal opportunity for refreshment and sing-songs on the way home.
Ladies’ beano from The Globe in Hartley St, Bethnal Green, in the fifties. Chris Dixon, who submitted the picture, recognises his grandmother, Flo Beazley, furthest left in the front row beside her next door neighbour Flo Wheeler, who had a fruit and vegetable stall on Green St. (courtesy Chris Dixon)
Another beano from the fifties – eighth from the left is Jim Tyrrell (1908-1991) who worked at Stepney Power Station in Limehouse and drank at the Rainbow on the Highway in Ratcliff.
Mid-twentieth century beano from the archive of Britton’s Coaches in Cable St. (courtesy Martin Harris)
Beano from the Rhodeswell Stores, Rhodeswell Rd, Limehouse in the mid-twenties.
Taken on the way to Southend, this is a ladies’ beano from The Beehive in the Roman Rd during the fifties or sixties in a coach from Empress Coaches. The only men in the photo are the driver and the accordionist. Joan Lord (née Collins) who submitted the photo is the daughter of the publicans of The Beehive. (Courtesy Joan Lord)
Terrie Conway Driver, who submitted this picture of a beano from The Duke of Gloucester, Seabright St, Bethnal Green, points out that her grandfather is seventh from the left in the back row. (Courtesy Terrie Conway Driver)
Taken on the way to Southend, this is a men’s beano from The Beehive in the Roman Rd in the fifties or sixties in a coach from Empress Coaches. (Courtesy Joan Lord)
Beano in the twenties from the Victory Public House in Ben Jonson Rd, on the corner with Carr St. Note the charabanc – the name derives from the French char à bancs (“carriage with wooden benches”) and they were originally horse-drawn.
A crowd gathers before a beano from The Queens’ Head in Chicksand St in the early fifties. John Charlton who submitted the photograph pointed out his grandfather George standing in the flat cap holding a bottle of beer on the right with John’s father Bill on the left of him, while John stands directly in front of the man in the straw hat. (Courtesy John Charlton)
Beano for Stepney Borough Council workers in the mid-twentieth century. (Courtesy Susan Armstrong)
Martin Harris, who submitted this picture, indicated that the driver, standing second from the left, is Teddy Britton, his second cousin. (Courtesy Martin Harris)
In the Panama hat is Ted Marks who owned the fish place at the side of the Martin Frobisher School, and is seen here taking his staff out on their annual beano.
George, the father of Colin Watson who submitted this photo, is among those who went on this beano from the Taylor Walker brewery in Limehouse. (Courtesy Colin Watson)
Pub beano setting out for Margate or Southend. (Courtesy John McCarthy)
Men’s beano from c. 1960 (courtesy Cathy Cocline)
Late sixties or early seventies ladies’ beano organised by the Locksley Estate Tenants Association in Limehouse, leaving from outside The Prince Alfred in Locksley St.
The father of John McCarthy, who submitted this photo, is on the far right squatting down with a beer in his hand, in this beano photo taken in the early sixties, which may be from his local, The Shakespeare in Bethnal Green Rd. Equally, it could be a works’ outing, as he was a dustman working for Bethnal Green Council. Typically, the men are wearing button holes and an accordionist accompanies them. Accordionists earned a fortune every summer weekend, playing at beanos. (courtesy John McCarthy)
John Sheehan, who submitted this picture, remembers it was taken on a beano to Clacton in the sixties. From left to right, you can seee John Driscoll who lived in Grosvenor Buildings, Dan Daley of Constant House, outsider Johnny Gamm from Hackney, alongside his cousin, John Sheehan from Constant House and Bill Britton from Holmsdale House. (Courtesy John Sheehan)
Photographs reproduced courtesy of Tower Hamlet Community Housing’s Collection
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So Long, Lennie Saunders
I publish my profile of Lennie Saunders today as a tribute to a celebrated East Ender, native of Padbury Court and lifelong member of the Cambridge & Bethnal Green Boys’ Club who died last week on 6th August at the fine age of ninety-four
If you were regularly around Arnold Circus on a Sunday morning in recent years, you may very likely have seen Lennie Sanders upon his regular pilgrimage, coming on the 67 bus from Stamford Hill to sit upon the first bench on the left beneath the bandstand, the one donated by the Cambridge & Bethnal Green Boys’ Club. He was born ninety-four years ago in Padbury Court nearby, close to where his wife Annie grew up on the Boundary Estate, and, when they first married, they lived in Cookham Buildings where their son Roy was born. Lennie confided to me that it consoled him – once Annie and Roy were no longer alive – to return to Arnold Circus on Sunday and sit in quiet contemplation of those years which brought him so much happiness.
“My mother was a very religious woman and she used to bring her friends back from church for sandwiches on a Sunday evening,” Lennie informed me, introducing his story, “But my father was quite the opposite, he used to come home when the pub shut on Sunday night and say, ‘You lot, out!”
As we walked over to Padbury Court (known as Princes Court when Lennie was growing up as the youngest of nine) he paused constantly to point out all the things that existed for him but which were no longer there. “I used to know everybody but now I am a foreigner here,” he declared to me, breaking from his reverie,“Everyone I knew has moved to Stamford Hill.”
“I’m always happy when I’m here, because I feel as if I am back home.” Lennie continued, regaining his absorption as we turned the corner from Brick Lane into Padbury Court, halting for a moment of devotion at the site of the terrace on the north side where he grew up, demolished half a century ago. Further along, where the road becomes Gibraltar Walk, and passing the old furniture workshops, we came to the junction with the Bethnal Green Rd where the event took place which Lennie considered to be the turning point in his childhood.
“We were skylarking at the water fountain and someone pushed me and my arm went underneath me and broke. They carried me to the Mildmay Mission who said they couldn’t do anything, so my father took me in a taxi to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, where they were going to cut it off,” Lennie related, rolling his eyes for effect and twisting his arm to demonstrate what happened, “but my father asked his governor, Mr Jackson at the compositing works,”They’re talking about cutting my son’s arm off!” And Mr Jackson sent his surgeon, he said, ‘He’ll patch it up.'”
“To be honest, I never knew my mother because she died when I was eight,” Lennie revealed with a shrug – moving on unexpectedly – and outlining the lengthy rehabilitation that preoccupied his attention in those years. A process compounded by the subsequent discovery that the accident had affected his hearing, which kept Lennie out of school for four years. “When my mother died, my father had a bad heart attack and couldn’t work no more,” Lennie added under his breath, amplifying the nature of the circumstances and lowering his eyelids in regret.
Then, one night in 1932, everything changed for Lennie when met his pal, Willy Greenhough, in the street and he said, “Where are you going? There’s this Jewish boys’ club, but they don’t bar anyone so we could go along there and get some cocoa.” It was a highly significant cup of cocoa because it led to membership of the Cambridge & Bethnal Green Boys’ Club and a circle of friendships that Lennie enjoyed for the rest of his life. “The only reason they dropped the word ‘Jewish’ from the name was because Mosley and his fellows used to come along and smash their windows – so they took it off,” Lennie explained to me wryly before asserting gravely, “The Jew and the Gentile were always very close in Bethnal Green.”
As it turned out, Lennie’s rehabilitation encouraged a love of sport and very soon he was leading the boys of the club in nightly runs down to Trafalgar Sq and back. “If they wasn’t very fit, I would let them wait at St Paul’s and join us again on the way back,” he confessed with an indulgent grin, “I was always a very fit boy.” Leaving school, Lennie went to work as one of more than a hundred Western Union messenger boys based in Great Winchester St in the City of London, which further exercised his athletic ability. “Mostly we delivered round the Stock Exchange, but sometimes we had to cycle to Shepherd’s Bush,” he recalled gleefully. In fact, Lennie played football and cricket at professional level for Clapton Orient, the club that became Leyton Orient. “My doctor kept going on about having my arm straightened, but I refused – I never made it a handicap.” he confirmed.
Much to Lennie’s regret, his poor hearing prevented him joining the Navy when the War came along and so, unable to enlist, he worked as glazier and then in demolition upon bomb sites, staying in London throughout the blitz. Memorably, he took his wife-to-be Annie Hiller up to the West End to see a film only to return to Shoreditch to discover an unexploded bomb was stuck in the chimney of the wash house on the Boundary Estate. “Annie couldn’t go home, so I took her back to Princes Court to meet my father for the first time,” Lennie confessed. In 1942, they were married and moved into Cookham Buildings where their son Roy was born two years later.
“I started cab-driving in 1946. My brother-in-law said ‘You already have the Knowledge from when you were a messenger boy.’ When I began, the cab was open, so you had to wear a hat and a big coat in winter. I did it for fifty-five years until I retired in 2000.” Lennie told me. It was in 1951, when Roy was ten, that the family moved to a two bedroom flat in Stamford Hill, where Lennie lived alone after Roy left home and Annie died, yet where seventy people attended his ninetieth birthday party.
Throughout our walk, Lennie cradled a bag of two cheese beigels which he had bought that morning in Brick Lane. Completing his story, he revealed that an old friend had recognised him in the crowd and called out to him, a recurring event on those Sunday visits to the market. “I get off the bus at Shoreditch High St, and I walk through Brick Lane and then back up towards Bethnal Green, and I go down my street, Padbury Court,” he recounted – as much to himself as to me – recapping our journey that morning.
Lennie & I shook hands at the top of Brick Lane before he went to catch the 67 bus for his return journey. “I’ll be alright, I’ll take it slowly,” he reassured me, taking one last affectionate look around, “I’ll go home and eat my beigels.”
Lennie Sanders
Lennie’s father Basil (he called himself George) with his dog Nobby in the garden of 7 Padbury Court.
Lennie’s mother Ellen wore an apron of sacking but put on a white one for this picture.
The north side of Padbury Court (known as Princes Court then) where Lennie was born in 1922.
Lennie in Padbury Court – the northern side was demolished over fifty years ago.
Lennie was the youngest, here aged four in 1926 photographed with (clockwise) Bunny, Eddie, George & Jess in the back garden of 7 Princes Court.
The family in 1928, Lennie stands at the centre aged six.
Lennie (in the white shirt) camping with the Cambridge & Bethnal Green Boys’ Club, 1936.
Lenny is number 87 in the club cross-country team.
Lennie at Cookham Buildings where he lived when he was first married and his son Roy was born.
Lennie and Annie with their son Roy in 1944.
Lennie Sanders, Cab Driver (1922-2015)
Read my other Cambridge & Bethnal Green Boys Club Stories
Maxie Lea MBE, Football Referee
At the Cambridge & Bethnal Green Boys Club 86th Annual Reunion
Closed House Weekend
Stop The Blocks is staging a Closed House Weekend as a means to draw attention to the catalogue of contested sites in the East End. The aim is to highlight how public space is being closed for private profit, how new housing is excluding the majority of people, and the devastating effect this is having. If you would like to know more, join tomorrow’s walking tour meeting on Saturday 8th August at Whitechapel Station at 11am.
Click on this map to enlarge and print it out
Arnold Circus & The Boundary Estate
The Boundary Estate was the first Council housing estate in England and is Grade II listed. As well as being beautiful, it was designed so that every flat would receive sunlight at forty-five degrees to its windows, and the spaces between blocks are generous and the rooms are light. This contrasts with much of today’s high-density housing with its dark, single aspect apartments and poor standard of outside space. The Estate’s residents were behind the recent major improvements to the Circus, its gardens and bandstand.
The Balfron Tower
Built as Council housing, designed by Erno Goldfinger in 1963 and made a Grade II listed building in 1996, Balfron Tower is now being sold off by Poplar Housing & Regeneration Association. Current long-term residents are being forced to sell and moved out while the famous block is being fetishised in a sixties-style marketing campaign to attract private owners. The circumstances at Balfron Tower are a prime example of how social restructuring is devastating London’s working-class communities. Another layer of social division was added when artists renting emptied properties were co-opted tacitly into PR for the sell-off – a process that has become known as ‘art wash.’ For more information – Balfron Social Club
Bethnal Green Gas Holders
Soon nothing will stand on the banks of the canals and waterways to connect us with the East End’s industrial past as luxury apartments gain hold. Tower Hamlets and English Heritage have refused to protect and list the historic No.2 and No.5 Gas holders designed with classical detailing by Joseph Clark in 1886 and 1889, giving this part of the canal its strong character. For more information – East End Waterways Group
Bishopsgate Goodsyard
The proposed development is a faceless mega-complex of luxury residential towers that will cast giant shadows over the surrounding communities, stealing their light and giving nothing back to Shoreditch, Spitalfields & Brick Lane. Since 2002, the public has been excluded from the big plans for this public land, leased by Hammerson & Ballymore from owners Railtrack. ‘More Light More Power’ seeks to regain control, to promote inspirational and innovative development of the Goodsyard, with well-designed mid-rise buildings that offer liveable, affordable housing and small business workspace. It needs to be commercially viable, yet integrated with the surrounding neighbourhoods. For more information – More Light More Power
Chapman House, Bigland St, Shadwell
After he reported dangerous conditions at the nineteen-apartment block in Shadwell where he has lived for twenty-five years, Michael James’ landlord tried to evict him twice. After consulting a solicitor, it transpired Michael was an assured tenant but his landlord responded by increasing his rent by 70% – presumably to force him out by alternative means. In a desperate bid to stay in his home, Michael James contacted the Rent Assessment Committee, who, after inspecting the dilapidated flat, ruled only a 0.4% increase was merited. The landlord, a charity that owns around seventy properties and pays no tax, faces a six-figure repair bill following council inspections. Michael James now speaks out to encourage others to stand up to rogue landlords. For more information – Tower Hamlets Renters
Chrisp St Market, Poplar
‘Save Chrisp St Market’ is campaigning to inform local residents and traders about the proposed ‘regeneration’ of Chrisp St Market by Poplar Housing & Regeneration Association (HARCA). The plans include ‘luxury’ housing and stores, at the expense of shops and accommodation affordable for local people. Traders will be booted out for the period of redevelopment, or longer – if they cannot afford the increased rents. Traders say they have been left in the dark about the future of the market. Save Chrisp St intends to do their own consultation in parallel with Poplar HARCA’s, by going door-to-door asking people about what they would like to see for the area. So far, many people have said they want the market to be improved, but not at the cost of their ability to live there. Save Chrisp St are working to make sure that the community has a proper voice. For more information – Save Chrisp St Market
Cremer St Studios, Hoxton
In May, more than one hundred and thirty artists artists in Cremer St Studios were told by their studio provider, ACAVA, to sign a letter stating “I confirm my full support for the proposed redevelopment of the property” or be forced out of the building in months. The owners are D & J Simons of Hackney Rd and the developers are Regal Homes who have submitted a pre-planning application to Hackney Council to demolish all existing buildings on the site for a mixed-use development – including a twenty-storey tower block.
The George Tavern, Commercial Rd
The George Tavern is an historic public house, and celebrated art and music venue. The Halfway House tavern upon this site is mentioned in the writing of Dickens, Pepys & Chaucer. Owner, Pauline Forster, has been shortlisted for an Historic England Angel Award in recognition of her achievement in restoring the building. Meanwhile, Tower Hamlets Council put the future of The George in jeopardy by granting permission to Swan Housing to build six flats adjoining the pub. Save the George Tavern is mounting a legal challenge. For information contact – The George Tavern
The Holland Estate, Spitalfields
The Holland Estate is a nineteen-twenties brick-built estate in Spitalfields. The registered social landlord, EastEnd Homes, propose to demolish it and destroy a thriving diverse community of over six hundred people to make way for primarily-private, high-rise development. Residents do not want this and a petition signed by over 70% of residents, a motion passed by the resident-led Estate Management Board and a unanimous motion passed by Tower Hamlets Council have all been against the demolition. But EastEnd Homes are ploughing on with their redevelopment plans regardless. Residents have decided to take things into their own hands to make it clear that demolition of these blocks is unwanted. Instead, they are campaigning for EastEnd Homes to refurbish their buildings, as originally agreed when the estate was handed over by Tower Hamlets Council in 2006 — a promise they have repeatedly broken. For more information – Bernard, Brune & Carter Residents
The Joiners Arms, Shoreditch
The Joiners Arms opened as a queer pub in 1997 and swiftly established a reputation as a welcoming, diverse and at times hedonistic venue. The property owners closed it in January 2015 and it remains shuttered and empty, awaiting unspecified development (strongly rumoured to involve demolition and a luxury apartment tower block). The Friends of the Joiners Arms is campaigning to re-open the venue – transforming it into London’s only cooperatively-owned-and-managed Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer/Intersex/Asexual Community Centre, keeping the late-license pub at its heart. They have already won Asset of Community Value status (which gives them a chance to bid if the owners decide to sell) but the fight continues to demand that the Joiners Arms be given back to the queer community to run, providing space for life, love and liberty. For more information – The Joiners Arms
The London Chest Hospital, Bethnal Green
The London Chest Hospital opened in 1855 to treat tuberculosis sufferers. As well as gaining an international reputation for the treatment of heart and lung disease, the hospital has cared for servicemen exposed to poison gas in the First World War and air raid victims in the Second World War. In April 2015, Barts & the London NHS Trust shut the hospital, moved its services to Bart’s Hospital and put the site up for sale. The Trust is currently in negotiations with a buyer. No planning permission has been granted but the site has been earmarked as offering “significant potential for residential development.” You can see the marketing brochure here www.essentia.uk.com (search “chest” and click on brochure). Tower Hamlets Green Party is launching a campaign to prevent this historic site becoming another soulless development of luxury homes. They want to ensure that whatever happens to the hospital, the site continues to be used for a purpose that has the needs of the borough’s residents at its heart.
The London Fruit & Wool Exchange, Spitalfields
The Fruit & Wool Exchange was formerly home to two hundred small businesses, for which office space is sorely lacking in the capital. Developers Exemplar are demolishing it, including the Gun pub, and the entire office development has already been leased to a single international law firm. Mayor of London Boris Johnson forced this on Tower Hamlets, overruling the unanimous vote of the planning committee twice. He claimed it would “regenerate the area with thousands of new jobs and contribute to the wider economy of London” yet the soulless corporate architecture will deaden the lively streetscape of Spitalfields for decades to come.
National Barge Travellers Association
NBTA is a volunteer organisation providing support and advice for boat dwellers without permanent moorings. The boater population is increasing, in part caused by the housing crisis, as more people are forced to find survival alternatives. Despite having the money needed to provide sufficient facilities, the Canal & River Trust (CART) is removing facilities in some areas and creating permanent moorings that are unaffordable to the majority. The boater community is under threat as CART makes it more difficult to live on the water. Every year, NBTA supports boat dwellers who are unfairly evicted and their boats seized, including people that are disabled, elderly or ill. For more information – National Barge Travellers’ Association
Norton Folgate
On 21st July, Tower Hamlets’ planning committee unanimously refused permission for British Land to demolish more than 70% of buildings they hold in the Elder St Conservation Area in Spitalfields primarily to build offices on a site owned by the Corporation of London. Led by the Spitalfields Trust, the campaign has gained support London-wide and five hundred people held hands around the buildings on 19th July to demand re-use not demolition. Although the result shows people-power in action, the battle for Norton Folgate is not over yet. For more information – Save Norton Folgate
no.w.here, 316-318 Bethnal Green Rd
For ten years no.w.here has worked in Tower Hamlets as a community project, open artist platform and film laboratory built on the historical legacy of the London Filmmakers Co-operative. Run by cultural workers who place value on education, resistance, collaboration and free expression, no.w.here’s long standing work and projects are under threat from property developers. Vital in its community, no.w.here does not view displacement by billionaires or the destruction of communities as a natural evolution. For Closed House Weekend, you are invited to visit no.w.here’s lab and community project space where they seek to exchange know-how, experience, support and possibility. For more information – no.w.here
Olympic Legacy Land
The London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) now makes all the planning decisions inside this new Mayoral boundary, part of the four ‘legacy’ boroughs. This ex-Tower Hamlets land includes waterways and areas of industrial heritage in Fish Island near Hackney Wick, where affordable workspace and historic buildings are under threat. Very few people are aware that ‘Olympic Legacy’ planning decisions take place in LLDC offices in Stratford. Developers were allowed to stake out their territory early on in the Olympic process and the LLDC is allowing pitifully-low levels of affordable housing in the new developments. For more information – East End Waterways Group
One Commercial St, Aldgate
One Commercial St has been a focus of the ‘poor doors’ protests which highlight new developments built with two entrances, one for private owners and another for occupants of social housing. Thus property agents can reassure prospective buyers that their doors will not be shared by lesser mortals. In Stratford, a development by Galliard was proudly marketed as “fully private – no social housing.” Now Galliard proposes 0% social housing in their new development on the former West Ham Ground in Newham.
Queen Elizabeth Children’s Hospital, Bethnal Green
On the developer’s hoardings, ‘bagel lady’ brandishes a signifier of East End authenticity to her glossed lips. Invented by the marketing department, she is an idealised future tenant of the Tower Hamlets/Hackney border. Campaigns to save the old hospital failed and demolition has left only one façade, one brick deep. Recently in Hackney, the Haggerston Estate, Tony’s Café, Spirit’s Shop, The Four Aces & Dalston Lane, have all gone, even though successful activism reinvigorated some housing associations. Doubtless, these areas needed help and change, but who is benefitting from the changes which are been enacted? Why must residents buy, not rent? What is a true definition of ‘affordable housing’? Can we preserve historic buildings and communities? Is bagel lady the heir apparent in the property-owning monocultural future of East London? For further information – I Am Not A Village
Robin Hood Gardens
Tower Hamlets Council failed to maintain this unique sixties estate and allowed Swan Housing to plan its demolition for a faceless new scheme called Blackwall Regeneration. Consultation with the residents was weighted in favour of that aim, but an independent survey of residents found 80% of people wanted refurbishment, not demolition. The estate of 231 homes comprising Robin Hood Gardens was built by Alison & Peter Smithson and notable present-day architects including Lord Rogers are asking for it to be listed.
The Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel
The Royal London is the largest hospital in Europe, costing £1.1bn to build, but thanks to the Private Finance Initiative agreement that funded it, will cost the taxpayer £7.1 billon over the next forty years. The repayment terms are so crippling the Royal London is currently running a £93m deficit, which explains why the lights on the top floors are never lit – Barts cannot afford to fit them out and use them. Meanwhile, staff shortages are pushing overworked doctors and nurses to walk out and waiting lists to increase, but Innisfree and construction firm Skanska will continue to collect fat profits for another thirty-five years – unless the hospital goes bankrupt, which technically it already is. Then it would pass into their private hands.
Sainsbury’s Tower/ Collingwood Estate, Whitechapel
Whitechapel Masterplan was pushed through by Tower Hamlets Council in 2013 with little public awareness. Crossrail is central to the suburbanisation of the area and Sainsbury’s wants to double the size of the supermarket and build six hundred new homes on its roof with a thirty-three-storey tower. While the area desperately needs more genuinely affordable housing, Sainsbury’s – owner of the land – is offering a pathetic 10%, despite Tower Hamlets’ target of 35%. For more information – Whitechapel Masterplan
Shoreditch Towers
Many are unaware there are three giant towers looming over the southern tip of Hackney, two with planning permission already.
1. Fifty-storey ‘Principal Place’ is being built on Bishopsgate, north of Liverpool St Station and next to the former Light Bar. For more information – Principal Place
2. Forty-storey residential skyscraper, ‘Bard Tower’ has planning permission on Curtain Rd upon the site of the Curtain Theatre where many of Shakespeare’s plays were first presented.
3. Thirty-storey tower proposed by a New York hotel chain at 201-207 Shoreditch High St on the site of Majestic Wine and Chariots Sauna is currently in planning. For more information search application no. 2015/2403 in planning pages at www.hackney.gov.uk
Spitalfields Market
In 2002, campaigners warned that the Corporation of London’s demolition of half the Market to construct offices was the start of an incursion beyond the City’s boundary, into places that the Corporation began to call the ‘City Fringe.’ Following the Market’s redevelopment, large increases in shop rents severed its connection with the local community and developers Hammerson sold it off, moving on to the Bishopsgate Goodsyard. 35,000 people signed a petition opposing demolition of Spitalfields Market during a long campaign.
Weavers Fields, Bethnal Green
In 2003, a residents’ campaign stopped a tower being built on Weavers Fields, preventing encroachment and damage to the public park.
Drawings copyright © Lucinda Rogers
Click here for further information about CLOSED HOUSE WEEKEND organised by STOP THE BLOCKS
Copies of the map may be bought for £1 from the following outlets
Oxford House, Derbyshire St, Bethnal Green
Professional Development Centre, 229 Bethnal Green Rd
Jonestown Coffee, 215 Bethnal Green Rd
St Hilda’s East Community Centre, 18 Club Row
Leila’s Cafe, Arnold Circus
Rinkoffs Bakery, Vallance Rd
Fresh Cafe, 275 Whitechapel Rd
Broadway Books, Broadway Market
Ruth Franklin, Sculptor
Mr & Mrs
“It’s only in later life that you become interested in your family,” Ruth Franklin admitted to me when I visited her exhibition of sculpture CURLERS & CUTS in Whitechapel yesterday, “when you are young you want to rebel against them.” Over a century ago, Ruth’s grandparents on her mother’s side came from Russia and her grandparents on her father’s side came from Poland, and they all ended up in the East End where Ruth’s father, Alfred, was born in Leslie St in Mile End.
Alfred became a successful hairdresser and wigmaker in the West End and Ruth remembers her Russian-speaking granny, a seamstress who lived upstairs when Ruth was a child and taught her to swear in Russian. “It’s exciting to be creating work that celebrates my family,” Ruth announced as we stood surrounded by her sculptures, which are vivid and emotional evocations of her forebears’ professions.
“They came with nothing,” Ruth informed me as I leaned over to examine her intricately-wrought constructions, made from humble materials and recalling the tools and working practices of tailoring and hairdressing. The painstaking manufacture of some of these sculptures is a reflection of the care required to fashion clothing and hairstyles, and – inevitably – these objects take on anthropomorphic personalities. They remind us of the intimate nature of such endeavours, since the cut of clothes and styling of hair are the means by which we present ourselves to the world.
Equally, there is a childlike quality to the notion of making models of machines in paper, almost like toys, and of fabricating primitive dolls out of old tools, which imbues Ruth’s work with pathos. We come into the world with nothing and we leave with nothing but, in between, these people laboured with their hands to make others look their best and earn a modest living by it. Ruth Franklin’s tender sculptures honour those whose hard work delivered her into existence.
Sewing machine with dials (waxed architectural paper & thread)
Red sewing machine (waxed paper & thread)
Blue sewing machine (blueprint paper & thread)
Red thread sewing machine (mono-printed paper & thread)
Iron (waxed paper & thread)
Pink hairdryer (waxed paper & thread)
Grey hairdryer (waxed paper & thread)
Hairdryer (collage)
Hairdressing tools (waxed paper & thread)
Hairdressing tools, 2 (waxed paper & thread)
Hairdressing tools, 3 (waxed paper & thread)
Equipment (hair rollers, waxed paper, card & plastic)
The Salon (waxed paper, hair rollers, hand drill, wood & marking knife)
Tools for the salon (cotton reel, tools, brush & drill)
Tools for the salon, 2 (metal tools, brush & litho print)
Curling machine (metal tools, hair, roller & wooden sleeve board)
Manya (wooden sleeve board, waxed paper & cloth)
Alfy in May, mother’s brogue (paper & thread)
Ruth’s grandparents, Morris Frankel & Leah Passack in Margate, 1906
Artwork copyright © Ruth Franklin
Ruth Franklin’s exhibition CURLERS & CUTS is at Idea Store Whitechapel until Saturday 30th August
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Mr Pussy In The Dog Days Of August
The sagacious Mr Pussy
There is an exceptional hush upon the East End in August. The clouds hang heavy and the atmosphere is quiet, and my cat Mr Pussy divides his time between dozing on the bed and dozing under a bush. The pace of the city is stilled and Mr Pussy finds the climate conducive to resting.
Mr Pussy observes me with doleful eyes as I go about my daily tasks, too gracious to be overtly critical, yet he hopes that I might one day learn to appreciate the virtue of sitting peacefully for extended periods of time without other occupation, as he does. To this end, Mr Pussy waits patiently until a suitable opportunity when I am settled at my work before he approaches me. Arriving silently like a ghost, Mr Pussy reaches out a soft paw to stroke my forearm gently while I am writing, as a discreet gesture of companionship, drawing my attention without interrupting my activity.
Settling at my side and savouring the tranquillity of the hour, a purr of contentment emanates from him. And if my concentration should wander from my page, searching for a word or casting around to seek the direction of my thought, then I chance upon his hypnotic golden eyes, meeting my gaze with their fathomless depth and opalescent gleam. He has my attention. He has an infinite capacity for staring. He knows I am a neophyte and he is an expert at it. He knows I cannot resist succumbing to his superior mesmeric powers. He has me spellbound and I share his stillness. The house is empty and we are alone. We look at each other eye to eye, without blinking, to see who flinches first.
Almost imperceptibly, Mr Pussy begins to lower his lids and I do the same. I follow along, as his supplicant. Our eyelids move in sync and we are nodding off to sleep, it seems. I might enter the feline realm, if I did not open my lids again momentarily – only to discover that his eyes are open too. It is a moment of mutual recognition. Mr Pussy was testing the quality of my will, exploring my susceptibility to mental control. Mr Pussy observes me. Mr Pussy is implacable, yet he wants me to follow his example. Mr Pussy knows how to be. Mr Pussy keeps himself. Mr Pussy seeks to be calm. Mr Pussy is always present in the moment. Mr Pussy is sufficient.
Equally, Mr Pussy is curious of me and the intriguing nature of my existence that revolves around things other than eating and sleeping. I am the object of his scrutiny, Mr Pussy is studying me. Mr Pussy is an anthropologist, living among those who are subject of his fascination. Mr Pussy’s research methods are unconventional, he thinks he may gain knowledge by osmosis if he sleeps close to me or he may imbibe understanding by lapping up my bathwater.
Not always an entirely conscientious student, Mr Pussy likes to contemplate his findings at length. Mr Pussy likes to sleep on it, and he is a grand master in the art of somnolence. Mr Pussy knows how to behave in these dog days.
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Mr Pussy Gives his First Interview
