On one of hottest days of the year, thousands of people turned out on Roman Road to see MO and the Red Ribbon, the street parade organised by Greenwich+Docklands International Festival.

This year the procession, which took place on Saturday 29th July, started at Parnell Road and went all the way down to the Grove Road junction, ending with a fireworks on Wennington Green.

The parade told the moving story of a child trying to find its parents after being separated from its family during their migration journey. The giant puppet child, towering above the two storey shops lining Roman Road, had to stoop to get under the Roman Road Market arch.

Side roads were closed on a rolling basis to allow crowds of local residents to follow the parade down the high street, giving Bow a carnival spirit. The ‘atmosphere was incredible’ according to one local resident who tweeted: ‘It was brilliant… Local people of all ages out on a warm night celebrating where we live. Everyone was smiling!’

Missed MO and the Red Ribbon?

If you missed MO and the Red Ribbon, never fear, there is still time to get an europhic fix of GDIF creativity and drama at its closing ceremony on Saturday 6th July at the Royal Docks.

Dance troupe Transe Express will celebrate the renewal of the new business district at Royal Docks by transforming RAD London into an outdoor ballroom by means of an awe inspiring, high flying glittering chandelier.

And of course GDIF will be back next year for another street parade down the Roman, and we’ll be the first to let you know.

In the meantime, enjoy the photos from the night sent in my some of our readers – thank you Jim Rayfield, Richard Dunnett and Dickies Tickler.

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Road closures and vehicle restrictions on Coborn Road, Antill Road, and Tredegar Road will be trialled from Saturday 13 July to Sunday 21 July. 

A bus gate will be in operation on the stretch of Tredegar Road between Fairfield Road and Parnell Road, meaning only buses will be able to pass through between 7am and 8pm every day. During this time traffic coming off the A12 into Bow will only be able to travel down Fairfield Road towards Bow Road.

The stretch of Coborn Road running between Malmesbury Road and Tredegar Road will be closed to motor vehicles 24/7. Cyclists and pedestrians will not be affected.

These are two of several road layout changes being trialled by the Liveable Streets programme, a £3.3 million fund intended to transform the transport infrastructure and public spaces of Bow.

The trial will be used to assess the impact of vehicle movements and rat-runs in Bow and the surrounding area.

Reducing traffic on Coborn Road and St Stephen’s Road have been some of the most common suggestions on the programme’s interactive map since phase one of the scheme began in April.

The following road layout changes will be trialled in Bow between Saturday 13 July and Sunday 21 July:

• Coborn Road will be closed to motor vehicles between Tredegar Road and Malmesbury Road
• A bus gate, which allows only buses to pass through, will be in place on Tredegar Road between Fairfield Road and Parnell Road operating from 7am to 8pm every day
• Antill Road will be closed east of the junction with Lyal Road
• Anill Road will be made two-way between Selwyn Road and Lyal Road
• Tregedar Road banned right turn into Coborn Road will be removed

Drivers have been encouraged to make journeys on the A road network during the trial period. Traffic management signs will be placed around Bow to minimise disruption.

A survey will run concurrently with the trial so locals can provide feedback. This can be found at the official trial page.

Visit the Liveable Streets: Bow project page to add your suggestions to the interactive map. Although the window for initial feedback has closed you can still email liveablestreets@towerhamlets.gov.uk or call 020 3092 0401.

If you liked this piece you may enjoy reading about Tower Hamlets declaring a climate emergency

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Mainyard Studios has opened a new coworking space at 35 Bow Road.

The space which is in the process of being fully renovated has 15 studios and 24 coworking desks across three floors, as well as a garden, a communal kitchen area, and a roof terrace.

Although the bottom two floors are operating, with several small businesses already moving in, work continues on the second floor and in the garden. A U-shaped building of 10 additional offices is planned for the latter.

It is housed in a 1930s building on the north side of Bow Road in between Central Foundation School and the Bow Police Station. Formerly used by the Council, the building was empty when Main Yard took it over, but still retained parquet flooring and its original staircase.

Mainyard is planning to have a mural painted on the front of the building and is in talks with several potential artists.

Mainyard Studios is a business that converts unused buildings into affordable office space. The Bow Road office joins sites in Wimbledon, Walthamstowe, and Hackney Wick.

The new space is running two summer promotions for its desks. The first of these is a start-up discount, in which month one will cost £100, two £150, and three £200. This applies to any new members who have started their business within the last six months.

The other promotion is a multiple desk discount. For members who second and third desks, they pay -15% and -30% on each.

Visit the Mainyard Studios website for more information

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The art of the tattoo is an ancient one, and as embedded into East End culture as ink in skin. Roman Road’s tattoo studios offer a microcosm of East London’s blends between old school tattooing styles and fresh new techniques.

In the wake of a brand new tattoo studio opening on the road, we round up the local parlours where you can get the tightest tats. From classic portraits to dot-work to traditional Japanese styles, the tattoo studios on Roman Road can cater to anyone’s unique inky needs. After all, it is permanent.

Pride Tattoo

Pride has been on Roman Road for 16 years, 10 of those in its special spot between Denningtons and Snap. A favourite with locals, Pride has built up personal relationships as well as welcoming people from afar. 

Pride has two tattoo artists, Tracy and Jay. Jay has been a resident of the shop for about five years and came from a background in graffiti and illustration. He specialises in fresh, modern, quirky designs, like splatters and the more avant guarde styles in the tattoo scene. 

Tracy is the owner and boss of the shop. Her style is classic, and though she’s capable of just about anything, she’s especially good for reworks, cover-ups, full portraits and wildlife. Customers have returned again and again for Tracy’s skill in classical, old-school tattoo style. 

Shen is the resident piercer, and she has become a favourite for her skill with the needle especially with quick piercings for babies. As a Muslim herself, she is also a favourite among local Muslim women. 

Pride is a godparent to the local inked and pierced community, both for the years of experience as a studio on Roman Road, and also as a place to hang out and chat on their comfy sofas. 

Recently, Pride began a charitable program for those recovering from cancer or with alopecia: one Tuesday every month, they will tattoo areolas and microblade-style permanent eyebrows for free.

Dharma Tattoo

Dharma opened four years ago at the hand of Yeshe, a Tibetan Buddhist with a speciality in large scale traditional Japanese style tattoos. Since then, it has grown into an international hub for world-famous tattoo artists, tattoo connoisseurs from around the globe, and of course, East Enders. 

Dharma hosts a number of guest artists, as well as up to nine resident artists who seem as comfortable together as a happy family. The walls are covered with flash pieces and designs old and new, and it seems clear that self-proclaimed tattoo geeks travelling from other continents would feel in awe when they step inside. 

But the biggest tattoo geeks are the artists themselves in Dharma. They are happiest when on either end of an ink gun, and every hour they spend not on one side of a needle they’ll be drawing. Often, even after the studio closes its doors on the market stretch of Roman Road, the crew will be scribbling away their new designs and keeping up to date on the freshest tattoo trends. 

Fleshformers

The new kid on the block, Fleshformers has only just been welcomed onto the high street. At the moment the space is as fresh as the designs on their Instagram, but studio runner Lazaros has big ideas for his parlour. 

Lazaros is a piercer by trade, but has gathered a team of great tattoo artists, including his friend Dino from back home in Greece, to offer Roman Road locals and visitors an inclusive range of tattoo styles. Like Dharma, he hopes to host a guest spot, ideally almost permanently in one of the five tattooing spaces. 

Fleshformers isn’t just going to be a tattoo parlour. On top of his piercing, both the basic and glitzy, Lazaros is working towards providing microblading and semi-permanent makeup in the studio. It’s all part of forming flesh in various kinds of ways. 

Beyond the flesh, artists will offer their art and illustrations. If paper is too boring for you, you can bring in another item you want illustrated — so time to get those plain white trainers vamped up. 

Overall, Fleshformers will have a mantra of honest quality over money-hunting. Artists won’t be charging by the hour, simply because some are faster than others, and Lazaros doesn’t want customers to worry about taking breaks in long sessions of tattooing. 

If you liked this piece you may enjoy our article about Hackney Wick Life Drawing

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Consultations are open on plans to close Raine’s Foundation School in August 2020, with Oaklands Secondary School expanding in order to accommodate displaced students. 

Should the plans go ahead they will bring the school’s centuries long life to a close. Raine’s celebrated its 300th birthday in May. It was established in 1719 by Henry Raine, a wealthy Wapping brewer who wanted local children to have access to free education.

The proposals are a response to declining student numbers at the school, as well as below par academic performance. Raine’s has 911 places but only 558 on its register, and its most recent Ofsted grading was ‘Requires Improvement.’ 

Schools are funded using a formula based on the number of registered pupils at a school. Raine’s requires an annual intake of at least 120 to be sustainable, but only 29 pupils applied to Raine’s as their first preference for entry to Year 7 in September 2019.

The consultation document claims: ‘There is every indication that the number of pupils attending Raine’s will fall even further over the coming years.’

Oaklands Secondary School would increase its working capacity from 800 to 1200 to accommodate displaced Raine’s students, with sixth form moving to the current lower Raine’s site. 

Staff at Raine’s will be given first priority for positions that open at Oaklands, though anyone who has not found new work by August 2020 will be made redundant. 

There has been a series of protests in response to the proposals, including demonstrations and a Change.org petition that has so far been signed by more than 2,800 people. Parents and students have raised concerns about GCSEs being disrupted, while others have taken issue with the lack of transparency involved in the plans.  

The consultation is running from 10 June to 31 July, and the decision on the closure of Raine’s will not be made until February 2020.

Click here to read the full consultation document

Give your feedback

To provide feedback on the proposals you can click here to complete the consultation survey.

Alternatively, you can email your comments to school.organisation@towerhamlets.gov.uk or write to the following address by Wednesday 24 July, 2019:

School Organisation and Place Planning Manager
Tower Hamlets Children’s Services
Town Hall
Mulberry Place
5 Clove Crescent
E14 5BG

If you enjoyed this piece you may like reading about the campaign to preserve Whitechapel Bell Foundry

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Flowery dress. Red toenails. Bleached blonde hair. Linda Calvey, 71, doesn’t exactly scream East London gangster when we meet on Roman Road, but most people would know better than to argue with her resume. She’s been a getaway driver and armed robber. Reggie Kray proposed to her once, though she told him not to be silly. Eleven years ago she completed an 18-year prison sentence for killing her partner, a charge she denies to this day.

Calvey has written a book spanning her childhood in Stepney to the present day – The Black Widow. She has done so for two reasons. One, to take ownership of her own story, and two, to clear her name. Calvey owns up to all her crimes but one. She hopes by telling her own story she will inspire figures from her past to come forward and vindicate her. 

You tend to get two extremes when talking with people about East London’s criminal underworld, neither quite complete. Some shrug it off as an irredeemable period of violence, poverty, and corruption, while others drift to romantic pictures of plucky, streetwise cockneys finding success in the only ways available to them. 

Having gone from a loving childhood to bank robber to convict, Calvey has lived both sides of that world, and she wanted to give the full picture.

‘I didn’t want to sugar coat it,’ she says. ‘It’s not glamorous, it’s not wonderful. It’s terrible. While you’re doing these things you think it’s fantastic, but the flipside is a totally different story. When they say crime doesn’t pay, in 95% of cases it really doesn’t.’

Two events loom large over Calvey’s past: the death of her first husband, Mickey Calvey, in 1978, and the murder of her then partner Ron Cook in 1990. The first tipped her into a life of crime, the second made her one of the UK’s longest serving female prisoners.

Mickey Calvey was shot in the back by a policeman during a botched robbery on 9 December, 1978. After a period of grief, his widow found herself behind the wheel as a getaway driver. Soon after that she was the one wielding a shotgun.

Looking back she can scarcely believe how it escalated so quickly. ‘I think I lost my brains a bit,’ she says. ‘I look back now and think how did I go out and do robberies? It’s really alien looking back now. I’m not saying it was post-traumatic stress, but there was something that happened in me that switched my brains around. I thought, right, I’m going to do that now.’ 

The terror she inflicted during that time hit home when she was finally caught. Staring down the barrel of a gun wasn’t all that pleasant for her either. She was sentenced to seven years and served three. Calvey’s unreservedly repentant about that time of her life. ‘I can’t justify it at all, what I did. I would never try to justify it.’

Calvey grew up in a loving household. Her mother ran a wig stall on Roman Road Market, and her father was a blacksmith who made dockers’ hooks. It was not until she fell in love with a bank robber that she began to see a rougher side to life, and even then it wasn’t immediately obvious. 

‘Maybe because I was 19 I was quite impressionable,’ she says. ‘I thought, Oh, this is wonderful. I never looked past him coming in and putting money on the table and saying, Go on, get yourself what you want, get the kids what you want.’

Calvey was on the fringes of a bygone world, a world of armed robberies, protection rackets, and dumped bodies. It almost sounds cartoonish to Calvey as she remembers tricks of the trade – fake bus stops for would-be robbers to loiter by, fake workmen’s huts to store gear in.

And it had its glamorous side, the nightclubs and prestige and wealth. That’s what Calvey experienced to begin with. Working at her mother’s stall on Roman Road Market was more than work, it was a chance to flaunt status.

‘It was a bit like a fashion parade. All the girls used to get done up to the nines to walk down Roman Road. You look back now and you think, that was weird. Why did people get dressed up to go down the market?’ The hardened bustle of post-war East London underpinned Calvey’s early life. ‘I loved it. I like talking to people.’

She was a regular The Needle Gun on the road. (Vodka lime and soda, always.) The pub has since closed, though rumours persist that a money was found under the floors when it was renovated. ‘I’m not surprised. A lot of the crooks went in The Needle Gun. I wonder if some of it was mine.’ 

She’s quick to restore the balance when these lighter memories come up. They were only one side of the story. ‘The other side is the horrible side where people end up doing years and years and years in prison, or dead. And it destroys families.’ 

Calvey sees parallels with youth today. While she came from a relatively well-to-do family, most in the criminal underworld did not, including Mickey. For them crime was the only way out. ‘I still do understand when youngsters look and think I’ve got nothing, why can’t I have this, I’ve got no chance of getting a good job, but I would say please, please think twice.’ Her own two children, Neil and Melanie, live life straight and narrow, and that’s just the way she likes it.

The second great upheaval of Calvey’s life is far less clear cut, and one of the main reasons for the book. In December 1990, her partner Ron Cook was shot and killed in their kitchen. She and Danny Reece were sentenced for the crime. The jury heard that Calvey had paid Reece £10,000 to do the deed, then fired the final shot herself when he lost his nerve.

Calvey insists otherwise. ‘On the day they treated me as I was – a witness to a murder,’ she recalls. On the day she did not ask for a solicitor. Police asked to do the tests, swabbing her hands and face. She remembers being given a white handkerchief with a blue initial and then being told they’d eliminated her as a suspect.

The next day she was charged. The tests had disappeared. Calvey obviously had previous with the police, chief of which was her insistence that Mickey’s death be investigated.

‘Instead of thinking, well it was her husband and she wanted to get to the truth, I think they was thinking, “That bitch, why didn’t she just sign our paper and this would all have been done and finished.” It’s gone back a long, long time.’

Cook’s murder is the one crime she does not own up to. ‘I’m hoping by bringing this book out it might prick a conscience.’

Whether it does or not, the book is a stark, unfiltered window into the underbelly of criminal life. If Calvey’s time in the East End crime circuit opened her eyes, her time in prison opened her mind. 

She has shared prisons with Rosemary West and Myra Hyndly, even having to dye the latter’s hair for a time. She was the subject of proposals from Charlie Bronson and Reggie Kray. She married then divorced Danny Reece, the man who she claims really killed Ron Cook, a decision she has since recognised as PR faceplant. The lurid details have understandably been the focus of the press Calvey has received so far, but they’re not what seem to stand out to her. 

It took Calvey going to prison to fully realise how good her upbringing had been. Many of her fellow inmates were young, aimless, and abandoned. ‘A lot of them had horrific stories. Broken homes, or they didn’t know who their dad was, or their mum was a junky and they was dumped from pillar to post. You could see what had happened to them.’ 

‘A lot of the youngsters in there felt more at home and safe in prison than they did outside, and I think what a sad thing that is.’

It shook her. They were criminals, yes, but many were also victims. As an elder stateswoman of sorts, they were drawn to her. Some of the girls called her mum (or ma when she was up north). Calvey’s own family was a huge help to her. Eighteen years in prison was no picnic, but it was tolerable. 

If The Black Widow is successful she would like to do another book on prison stories. Good and bad. Having served with some of the UK’s most notorious murderers, Calvey is under no illusions as to some prisoners best being kept behind bars. As has been the case this time around, she simply wants to give an insider’s perspective.

In the meantime Calvey is enjoying her freedom. Out of prison for 11 years, she describes herself as a homebird now. She married for a third time in 2009, this time to George Ceasar. The Black Widow headlines duly rolled in when Ceasar passed away from cancer in 2015.

It’s all past now. Surreal, painful past. Calvey might not be able to believe she was part of it if not for bumping into the ‘old guard’ at fundraisers from time to time. They are veterans of sorts. They know. She crossed paths with Freddie Foreman recently. ‘When I had a picture done with him I went, Fred, do you regret meeting the Krays. He went, You bet your life!’

East London has changed massively since Calvey’s criminal heydey, and she’s pleased about it. She likes the evolution. It keeps things fresh. The current ‘yuppy invasion,’ as she calls it, only makes her laugh. ‘There’s nothing wrong with diversity at all, it’s nice. As long as everybody’s nice to each other that’s all you can ask for.’

There is a visible relief at her having finished the book. We may never know the full story, but Calvey has at least shared her side, and in her own voice. ‘It puts pay to all the speculation of what people thought or didn’t think.’ Could there be a final twist?

The Black Widow is available to buy on Amazon. If you enjoyed this article you may like our piece on the Kray twin’s notorious Double R Club

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Environmental group Extinction Rebellion ran three days of workshops, exhibitions, and nonviolent protests last weekend as part of its East London Uprising.

The weekend kicked off with a march from Paradise Gardens to Hackney Town Hall. Hundreds gathered for the march, which concluded with a children’s assembly, where children were asked for their perspective on air pollution and how it should be addressed.

The assembly was held by Alfie Castel-O’Leary and Rachel Ellman. Ellman said: ‘We’re helping to amplify their voices, because children are real leaders in the movement, but they can’t vote.’

She hopes the East London Uprising will have proven constructive. ‘It’s about solutions, education, coming together as a community to create the culture that we need to have a liveable planet,’ she said.

Castel-O’Leary said: ‘Currently not much is being done. We’ve had places declare climate emergencies, but that’s not enough they need action.’

Nearly 9,500 people die early in London each year due to long-term air pollution exposure, according to a 2015 study by King’s College London.

Other events that ran over the weekend included a skeleton procession, music and workshops at London Fields, and road blocks in Stratford and Dalston.

If you enjoyed this piece you may like reading our coverage of Tower Hamlets Council declaring a climate emergency

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Not many people know that plastic was invented right here in East London. Well, it was, and Bow Arts has put together an exhibition to prove it. Raw Materials: Plastics is the third iteration of a series about industrial history in and around the River Lea Valley. We spoke with two of the artists involved in bringing it to life – Frances Scott and Peter Marigold.

The exhibition as a whole carries a strong sense of community. The steering group that researched the area’s history was comprised of volunteers mostly based in East London. Many of the items on show have been lent by local collectors, including the Mernick brothers, who run the East London History Society, and Carolyn Clark.

You’d never imagine plastic could be so beautiful. Items on show include shimmering multicolour boxes, hand-carved combs, and billiard balls. (Some of the earliest billiard balls exploded, would you believe, though that never caught on in the pool clubs.) It’s a striking insight into the East End’s mighty industrial past.

Like the two previous iterations of Raw Materials, Plastics is a mix of history and art spanning well over a century. Plastic products hand-carved in the 1860s sit side by side with art installations inspired by the East End’s unlikely invention of plastics. The central figure of the exhibition is the founding father of plastic, Alexander Parkes, who pioneered the material from his Hackney Wick base during the 1860s.

Peter Marigold’s contribution is a series of plastic sheets shaped to a carved wooden mold, harkening back to the early days of plastic when pieces were made individually. Parkes himself carved a number of plastic items during the material’s early days, often behaving more like an artist than to an industrialist.

‘That was probably my favourite part of the story,’ Marigold says. ‘I think inside I am a Victorian. A skilled yet essentially amateur enthusiast, covering a lot of ground, kind of badly but with vigour. My pieces on show focussed very much on the straddling of the worlds of craft and industry that Parkes was positioned between.’

Marigold really is quite a kindred spirit in that sense. He is responsible for FORMcard, a bio-plastic that softens in hot water and can be used to fix things. ‘I think anything that helps people take creative control of the world around them is a massively positive thing.’

It turned out Marigold’s studio was the site of the first fully functioning cellulose nitrate factory, a fact that delights him. Creativity on Hackney Wick took a different form in the 1860s, but it was there. Science went hand in hand with more artisanal sensibilities. 

It’s a refreshing balance for Marigold. ‘Industrial designers tend to take themselves way too seriously and I have a fondness of the shoddiness that Parkes excelled at, which sadly led to the demise of the original company also.’ 

Parkes was adamant that plastic be affordable to regular people. His attempts to make production cheaper did work, but it came at the expense of quality. The Parkesine company folded in 1868 and is often overlooked in the history of plastics. 

The exhibition does its best to but that right, and in doing so has unearthed a wealth of industrial history along the Lea Valley, and from the fairly recent past. Victorian times feel so distant in part because they got the ball rolling. ‘It was just a short time ago, and thinking about how fast we’ve developed since then is incredible,’ Marigold says.

Frances Scott contributed a 13-minute film – PHX [X is for Xylonite]. The film shows a series of three-dimensional images of various plastic objects. Appropriately, PHX was itself shot on film, an industry that exists because of plastic..

‘It was important to me that I shot part of PHX on film,’ Scott says. ‘My interest in cellulose nitrate is connected to its relationship to the development of photography and film – Celluloid as it became better known – and how Xylonite was not only used as the base or substrate for film stock, but elsewhere to build props in film production. For example, in the 1956 film adaptation of Herman Melville’s novel ‘Moby Dick’, it was used to construct the prop of the colossal whale, so this production – in the soundtrack – is also embedded in PHX!’ 

Scott enjoys the analogue process of filmmaking. It pushes for more intense visuals. ‘There is a kind of magic in this, because the end image is always somehow varied to the one you might have imagined.’

The film also has a series of voice overs, with Dr. Miriam Wright narrating extracts from Roland Barthes’ essay ‘Plastics’, colour experiments listed in a British Xylonite Company laboratory formula book, and symptoms of plastics degradation, of ‘crazing’, ‘yellowing’ and ‘bloom’. 

‘I wanted to bring together, to synthesise, these elements of my research and it made perfect sense that Miriam, a scientist and lab technician, would read these texts. I wanted the soundtrack to suggest a warped love between the organic and synthetic.’

The Raw Materials project has been a learning experience for Scott as well. Hackney Wick and Fish Island has a long, storied history of innovation. Scott also enjoyed having access to unusual collections and archives, including the private collections of Harold and Phil Mernick, who live in Bromley-by-Bow and run the East London History Society.

Ram Materials: Plastics is an opportunity for locals to learn about yet another way East London shaped the modern world. Plastic is everywhere, so wide reaching that both its positive and negative impact almost beggars belief. And it all started with a tinkerer named Alexander Parkes, whose commitment to his craft seems to have left a mark on practically everyone involved in the project.

‘In the Science Museum stores, they hold Alexander Parkes’ funeral card,’ Scott says. It said “All his labours were to benefit mankind and to do good to all”. This line really stayed with me, and perhaps more than being interested in his role as artist/industrialist, it was his belief in making this material available to everyone, as a Socialist, that resonated. The irony is of course that his invention has had other, much less positive effects, but ultimately his desire was one driven by his progressive politics.

‘It’s really important we can return to these materials in order to make sense of them now, and as artists we are responsible for doing this, for opening up conversations and exchange.’ The Raw Materials: Plastics exhibition gives just that opportunity.

The Raw Materials: Plastics exhibition is running until 25 August. Visit the Bow Arts website for more information

If you enjoyed this piece you may like reading about Kidd & Co, the Fish Island ink works that powered Fleet Street

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A series of partial road closures in Bow were suspended on Saturday, just hours into a scheduled eight-day trial period. The state of play right now seems to be as follows: the trial has been cancelled, almost no-one is happy with how it has been handled, and Tower Hamlets Council is planning to come at it fresh in the autumn.

The original trial was organised by Liveable Streets, a £3.3 million programme to transform transport infrastructure and public spaces in Bow. Sections of Coborn Road and Antill Road had been closed, and the stretch of Tredegar Road between Fairfield Road and Parnell Road was open only to buses between 7am and 8pm. 

That was the plan, but after redirection issues and backlash against the trial, including a vocal minority reportedly being aggressive to staff working at the bus gate, Mayor John Biggs ordered that it be cancelled.

This does not mean the end of Liveable Streets. ‘The objective – to reduce unnecessary traffic, particularly through traffic that should stay on main roads – remains,’ Biggs said.

If nothing else, the trial has certainly improved public engagement with the scheme. A Change.org petition to open the traffic gate at Tredegar Road has quickly garnered over 1,800 signatures, while a Change.org petition to reinstate the closures and finish the trial currently has over 100 supporters.

Biggs’ Tweet announcing the trial had been cancelled (below) received dozens of comments, most of them criticising the council for folding to pressure so early.

Fairfield Road and Wick Lane were affected most by the closures. Bow East councillor Marc Frances said: ‘Last Saturday’s trial is a serious setback to the Liveable Streets project and the wider campaign to improve air quality in our terribly polluted borough. As local councillors, we argued that the first and most important step was to tackle the thousands of cars and vans unnecessarily driving along Parnell Road, Old Ford Road, Tredegar Road, St Stephens Road, and Roman Road every morning and evening. Just because it’s been going on for decades, doesn’t mean we have to put up with it forever more.’

Frances thought it had been agreed the trial would operate Monday to Friday and not at weekends, but the dates were changed back. 

‘I’d love to know who decided that and why,’ Frances said. ‘Understandably, residents were not persuaded that a restriction to stop commuter rat-running was needed on Saturdays and Sundays too. Targeting our own local motorists first off is no way to build consensus among our community for action to reduce pollution in Tower Hamlets. The council collectively has to listen to all residents and learn from this mistake before trying again.’

Bow West councillor Val Whitehead said: ‘For me a positive from the trial is that a lot of residents who didn’t know or care much are now engaged, some against but also many in favour.’ She confirmed that Liveable Streets is planning to conduct a revised trial in the autumn. 

‘We will need to do a better job of communicating the aim and scope of the eventual scheme and also the information about the trial, which many people believed would be the final scheme, and clearly didn’t believe us at all when we said it wasn’t that.’ 

Whitehead encourages locals to continue submitting their feedback to the online consultation.

You can submit your feedback on the trial at the Liveable Streets website

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Roman Road Market has been one of East London’s most renowned markets for over 150 years. Running three days a week (Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays) with dozens of stalls, it remains one of the capital’s most vibrant destinations. The Roman is an ever-evolving patchwork of old and new East London, with decades-old stalls rubbing shoulders with artisanal newcomers. From loaves of sourdough bread to packs of knickers, Roman Road Market has you covered.

We love it all, but newcomers may not know where to begin. That’s where we come in. We want you to know what you can expect when you come down. Mile End tube and Bow Road station are only only a five minute walk away, and the no 8 bus drops you off at each end of the market. Or if you’re a driver, there’s £2 parking on Saturdays. There’s no real substitute for heading down and exploring the market yourself, but for those of you unsure where to begin, or what to expect, here are 10 brilliant things to do down the Roman.

1. Polenta Paola

Polenta Paola’s homemade Italian cooking has proven something of a sensation on the market since arriving in 2015. The stall’s owner, Paola Battista, has developed a delicious menu of stews, pastas, ragu, and polenta, drawing inspiration from her upbringing in Milan. As well as family recipes, there’s some old classics drawn from Italian cookbooks dating as far back as 1929. It’s the real deal. She even runs a WhatsApp preorder service – order Tuesday and collect on Saturday. Visit Battista’s website to see what’s on the menu this week. 

2. Steve’s Pets at Roam

For all your doggy (and other pet) needs, head to Pets at Roam near Gladstone Place. Spanning three stalls it offers pet food and treats, toys, collars, and coats. Best selling items include the branded diamante range of matching collar and leads, as seen on Danny Dyer’s bulldog Lady Di on EastEnders, but at a bargain price. Steve comes to the market on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and can be found at pitch 63-65. Smack bang in the middle of the market, this is a proper East End stall.

3. French Connection outlet stall

For decades Roman Road Market has been the go-to place for top fashion brands, many of them at end-of-line discount prices. Top Shop and Ralph Lauren are always well represented on the market, but the jewel in the crown of the Roman’s fashion credentials is surely the French Connection stall. With racks and racks of clothes, this is a must for anyone wanting to stock up on high-quality basics and evening wear from French Connection. The brand had design studios in East London back in the day, though today you’ll have to settle for their products at bargain prices.

4. Adrian’s underwear stall

Fancy fashion brands are a big part of the market, but you can’t forget the essentials. Grab two pairs of fancy tights for a fiver, or the comfiest PJ pants money can buy at Adrian’s underwear stall. Adrian on the left (aka Ginger) pulls out all the stalls at the crack of dawn every market day so he’s a font of local knowledge. A regular at Bethnal Green and Watney Markets, Adrian also runs a toy stall – Toysfourless. Yes that’s how it’s spelled. 

5. Candi Donut Co

Andy Adenegan, known to locals as ‘The Donut Man’, has been selling churros on Roman Road Market for over 20 years. His Candi Donut Co has expanded to other markets since 1996, but he keeps the price at £1.50 for Roman Road. He has a selection of sauces to accompany his delicious vegan snacks: chocolate, caramel, strawberry, coconut, apple, and banana crème. Lemon crème and white chocolate are also in the works.You can find Adenegan at his spot outside the old Bow library, usually smiling broadly.

6. Stuart’s fabric stall

Come rain or shine there is always a huddle around the this stall. The crowds are so big and so constant that we’re still not entirely sure what Stuart sells, though we’re fairly sure it’s clothes and fabric. The stall has been there for decades, and carries on the old tradition of dressing up smart to go down the Roman. Stuart always looks dapper in shirt and jacket, though we’re not so convinced by the toupée. The stall can be found at the western end of the market, near St Stephen’s Road. 

7. Saint Sugar of London

This enigmatic artisan of baked goods has fast become a staple on Roman Road. Saint Sugar of London is a treasure trove of bread, pastries, tarts, soups, and more, all freshly made by Enzo Moschetta and his family during the preceding week. The stall’s Instagram feed is heartily recommended to any food porn fans out there. As well as being a mean baker, Moschetta is also a keen reader of philosophy. Drop by ready to talk Kierkegaard and sourdough bread.

8. Dog watching

Everyone loves dog-watching (well, several people), and there’s no better place to do it than Roman Road Market. Check out this guy above for starters. You get all sorts down the Roman, but our favourite has to be Skye, the noble Shih Tzu who can usually be spotted riding the scooter of Roman Road’s very own Cheeky Cockney, Chris Kimberley. 

9. Lucy B’s fabric stall

Outside the school gates of Old Ford Primary School is Lucy B’s fabric stall. It gets mobbed by mothers at the school drop-off and pick-up. Lucy is also a dressmaker and will run up any fabric into your own designs. For rolls of fabric or to get your own bespoke piece made by Lucy, head to Pitch 27 every Thursday.

10. Perfume Pat

Roman Road Market is rightly renowned for its fashion, but looking good is only half the battle. One really ought to smell good too. That’s where Perfume Pat comes in. Her stall is piled high with household name perfume brands being sold at bargain prices. Pat is an institution on Roman Road, coming from a long line of East London market traders. You’ll find her, appropriately, towards the eastern end of the road.

If you enjoyed this piece you may like reading about the history of Roman Road Market

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If Simon Stephens was a biscuit he would probably be a Wagon Wheel. He didn’t arrive at this conclusion lightly, and you have to say it’s a good fit. Unconventional, large in stature, and not necessarily a biscuit, Stephens’ plays have been seen by millions in theatres across the world. He’s one of the UK’s foremost playwrights, but it hasn’t gone to his head in the slightest.

Bow has been his home for over 20 years. Originally from Stockport, Stephens had stints in Edinburgh and north London before settling down in Bow in June of 1998. He and his wife, Polly, were about to have their first child and wanted to raise it in the right setting. North London was beautiful, but it didn’t always feel fully lived in. 

In the years before moving to Bow, Stephens rented a room in Islington, round the corner from Tony Blair before he moved to Downing Street. ‘I remember going for walks and never seeing anybody, and being daunted by the beauty of the fruit bowls in the windows in the basement kitchens in Islington, and of looking down thinking, “Jesus, look at those fruit bowls they’re exquisite.” They seemed more a demonstration of wealth than actual fruit for people to eat.’

The fruit bowls are for eating round these parts. Stephens clicked with the area immediately. ‘East London was the first bit of London that reminded me a little of Edinburgh,’ he says. ‘The compactness, the tension between history and modernity, I guess the possibility of community.

‘Moving to the East End it was the first time we got this sense of people talking to you at bus stops that we would get in Edinburgh all the time, or going into shops and people talking to you. It stuck. Stephens and his family (he has three children now and a whole lot of pets) are still here today. 

‘I absolutely love it,’ he says. ‘More than I think of home as being Stockport or Manchester, I think of it as being East London.’

The area has changed massively during his time here. We meet at the Pavilion cafe in Victoria Park on an altogether idyllic morning. The fountain in the lake was even making a rainbow. 

‘I think you can measure the gentrification here using the bacon sarnies,’ Stephens says. When he first moved to the area the sandwiches at the Pavilion were made with sliced white bread and margarine and tomato ketchup and watery bacon, and cost around 90p. They’re more upmarket these days, for better or worse.

Stephens himself has marked a kind of evolution in the area’s makeup, or rather, his son Oscar has. The family were regulars at the playground when the kids were younger. ‘Just after he was born, we’d call out “Oscar” and get about ten people turning around looking at us thinking what the fuck have you called your child? Then within about five years we’d call out “Oscar” and about seven of the children would turn their heads.’

Stephens laughs at the memory. He is expressive and open, though he arranges his words carefully, as playwrights are probably wont to do. He’ll poke fun, but he’s no cynic. The buzz that drew Stephens to the East End is going strong in both its old and new elements.

He was a huge fan of Gary Arber’s printing shop on Roman Road, which closed in 2014 after 117 years in business. ‘It was such a gorgeous shop to go into,’ Stephens says. ‘It was like a shop from a kid’s story, piles and piles of papers and books and all kinds of things, and he was the only person in the world who knew where anything was. He could get you anything within five seconds of asking.

‘It was a beautiful place. I miss it.’

Not that some of the newer kids on the block haven’t risen to the occasion. Should you wander down the Roman there’s a good chance you’ll see Stephens and his black Cockapoo, Gilbert, in a certain blue-fronted cafe. ‘I’m really, really keen on Mae + Harvey,’ he says. ‘It terms of food it’s absolutely magic, it’s a smashing little atmosphere.’ Being an altogether sensible fellow, he is also keen on their Taco Tuesdays. 

It’s obvious as we talk that Stephens draws a lot of strength from the area, usually via walks. Gilbert is with him when we meet. They see a lot of East London together. ‘We walk in Bow Cemetery every day, and it’s exquisite. It’s a beautiful space that cuts to the quick of the natural beauty of the East End, and the history of the place as well.’ 

Walks are important to Stephen’s creative process, though not of the dog variety. The walks with Gilbert are for him behaving as a human rather than as an artist. ‘The walking I do when I’m writing is more about exploring a space,’ he says. 

Randomised walks have been a growing interest of his. He recently recruited Karl Hyde, a founding member of the electronic group Underworld, in a little experiment. Stephens printed out a map of Bow, traced Hyde’s hand over the top of it, and followed the route as best he could. ‘I walked Carl Hyde’s hand around my home neighbourhood,’ he says, delighted. 

‘You see things you wouldn’t ordinarily see.’ He traces the route in the air as he talks. ‘When we go to our neighbourhoods we go to places we go to all the time. We become so familiar with what we’re looking at that we stop seeing it.’ If you see Stephens walk to the end of a street then turn around and walk back the way he came, he’s probably on a hand route.

Little experiments like that keep Stephens fresh, alert to the details of a neighbourhood where there are always things to discover. This keen outward-looking streak extends to his passion for education. Stephens comes from a family of teachers. Indeed, he was one for a short while before he became a playwright full time.

When his children were still at Chisenhale School, he ran playwriting workshops with year six students then got professional actors like Tom Sturridge, Arthur Darvill, and Jessica Raine to come in and perform their plays. ‘That was always one of the highlights of my year, it was absolutely thrilling.’

Nowadays Stephens visits school often. He wants to show students what an artist looks like, that making a living as a creative is possible. ‘I think kids don’t feel entitled to think of themselves as possibly being artists, because they’ve never met artists,’ Stephens says. ‘They might have met taxi drivers or bankers or shopkeepers or doctors, so those are the jobs they think are realistic.’

For each visit he sits down he tells the children to ask him anything they want, and that he will answer honestly. This, happily, leads to plenty of thoughtful conversations, as well as few deceptively deep funny questions. One of these concerned biscuits. After Stephens introduced himself to a class in Doncaster a girl shot her hand up and asked: If you were a biscuit what biscuit would you be? 

Stephens, to his eternal shame, originally answered with his favourite biscuit. (Fox’s chocolate chip cookies with extra chocolate on the bottom.) It was only some soul-searching that he settled on the real answer. ‘I’m a big person, oversized. I’m a playwright so it’s a culturally marginal profession, and even as a playwright my plays can be quite dark or violent or strange – not to everybody’s taste.

‘So what’s oversized and not really to everybody’s taste? I decided I would probably be a Wagon Wheel.’ He laughs. ‘Is it even a biscuit? A cake? I don’t know. I think that’s part of why it’s the right answer.’

The next time he was in Doncaster he made sure the girl was informed of his new answer. Now she knows, and he knows too. 

Stephens is under no illusions that his visits will entirely shake off the idea that theatre is a niche club. ‘The older I get the more reconciled I am to the fact no matter how hard we try to interrogate that assumption, it’s gonna kind of be there. Theatre is never gonna be like gaming or cinema or football in terms of its reach. It’s always a bit odd.’ It’s about showing what’s possible, what our futures can look like. There are fruit bowls and then there are fruit bowls. 

As a politically engaged playwright, Stephens is also acutely aware of the benefits of creativity in the context of an uncertain future for the UK. 

‘I think the skills that a country will need to thrive in that position will be communication, collaboration, imagination,’ he says. ‘We need to be able to talk to one another better, we need to be able to collaborate more, and we need to imagine possibilities, and all of those skills will come from an arts training. On every level it’s important work.’

The work never slips from Stephen’s focus. He’s had plays on Broadway, worked with the likes of Andrew Scott (as in Moriarty and more recently ‘that’ Hot Priest) and Jarvis Cocker, and his award-winning adaptation of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time won the Oliver Award for Best New Play and ran at the National Theatre from 2012 to 2019. But it’s all part of the gig to him. Success isn’t something to be taken too seriously, not least by the successful. That’s what he hopes to share.

‘If I’ve learned anything in life it’s that we learn fuck all from success. Success doesn’t teach us anything. The only thing experience we learn from is failure. I’m not saying everybody should fail, but nobody should be afraid of failure. 

‘If you’re afraid of failure, if you aspire to succeed, the best you’ll do in your life is be very, very good. If you’re unafraid of failure, if you can look failure in the eye and say, “Come on then, bring it on. Let’s see what happens,” you might be extraordinary.’

If you enjoyed this piece you may like reading our interview with Bow’s queen of colour, Sue Kreitzman

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Gem is an English Literature student at Queen Mary University London with a passion for concerts, queer literature and all things vegan.

Picture the scene. A pistachio green-fronted cafe with tables scattered outside, seating a multiplicity of different people. A warm, Moroccan-inspired interior with traditional Moroccan music pulsing in the background. Targa Green Cafe on Tredegar Road is bursting with life and a community feel, despite only being in its third year of residence in Bow. 

I delighted in spending the afternoon conversing with owners Sanni and Targa about their cafe, as well as about tourism, Shakespeare, the seven secrets of the world and madness, amongst other things. 

The first person I met was a regular who explained she can’t get enough of Targa Green Cafe and eats there every day the cafe is open (365 days a year). She then introduced me to the eponymous owner of the establishment: Targa.

Targa immediately apologised for the lack of the cafe’s famous buffet, explaining this was a rare occurrence and sheepishly holding up a bandaged hand. Indeed, injury seemed to be the only thing able to stop the passionate artwork that is Targa’s buffet – made fresh every day with a combination of new and traditional recipes rooted in Moroccan cuisine. 

I was recommended the vegan falafel wrap, which I paired with a soy decaf latte, whilst my friend chose an iced coffee and a huge slice of moist-looking coffee cake, enticed by samples on the counter.

The coffee is literally the best coffee I or my friend have ever had. Piping hot, just how I like it, the coffee was a rich roast and topped with two inch foam so thick that I could literally eat it with a spoon (and of course, I did).

The falafel wrap was spiced, encased in a hot-pressed soft wrap and very filling, making it good value for money. The layers of crisp salad, tortilla, hummus, and falafel were well-balanced and ran no risk of being dry like some falafel wraps can be. 

After my delicious meal, I sat down with Sanni to discuss how Targa Green Cafe represents the local community. Sanni explains Targa Green Cafe is a place where ‘people can express and be themselves,’ believing each person is an individual part of the community, with a different style and ‘creative life inside their fridge.’ Certainly the cafe’s creative life comes straight from the fridge, not the freezer. Sanni likes food fresh at Targa Green Cafe.

Being big on freshness and health is where the ‘Green’ portion of the cafe’s name come from. When asked why, Sanni quipped, ‘Do you like to go to the doctor every time?’ Delicious food is good. Delicious food that’s good for you is even better. ‘We want to put the GP and the NHS out of order,’ she jokes.  At Targa they  choose ingredients to benefit the internal organs, as well as the taste-buds.

The taste-explosion, Sanni explains, is all down to Targa  - ‘executive chef by title’ – who combines ‘beautiful dishes from all around the world.’ With an impressive 23 years in food service and teaching culinary skills globally under her belt, Targa opened the cafe three years ago, with the encouragement of Sanni. 

Why Bow? Targa felt something was missing in Tredegar Road; all the coffee shops closed down after the Second World War. Targa Green Cafe resides in a shop that is 115 years old. In this way, Sanni and Targa combine elements of life like recipes combine elements of food, to create something wonderful. Sanni explained people come from all around the world to witness and taste this wonder, despite wondering if he’s ‘getting too old for this shit.’ 

I came for food and left with life lessons and a heart as full as my stomach. Summarised best by Sanni: ‘Targa Green Cafe is about the community.’

If you enjoyed this article you may like our review of East London Liquor Company’s in-house restaurant

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They say a busy station is a happy station, and if they’re right Bethnal Green Fire Station on Roman Road is a very happy station indeed. Ahead of their open day to celebrate 50 years of firefighting, we go behind the scenes with local photographer Tom Keeling.

The crew used to be based at what is now the London Buddhist Centre, which opened in 1889. Given the old station was built to the specifications of horse-drawn fire engines it’s no real surprise a new one was built in the late 1960s. That’s the concrete Bauhaus number you see on the Roman today, and which has sent crews to many major incidents in London over the past half century – the King’s Cross fire, 7/7, and Grenfell among them.

The building is beautiful and spacious, with just a few touches that date it – long disused lights embedded in the ceiling, a booth in the drill tower where hoses were left to dry when they were still made out of canvas. They’re made of rubber now. Old and new blend seamlessly. Teleprinters and iPads each have their part to play. 

There are private flats built over the back of the station that used to be for firefighters and their families. David Carnegie, one of the station’s four Watch Managers, was born when his parents were living in a flat at Belsize Fire Station. He shows us around. The phrase ‘man mountain’ was made for the likes of Carnegie. He is proud to work at Bethnal Green Fire Station. Everyone is. Some firefighters travel past ten, twelve stations to get to Bethnal Green. 

There are two engines at the station – one of which is a specially equipped fire rescue unit. The backs of the trucks are like endless swiss army knives. Inflatable boats, jaws of life, Tirfor winches, jacks, compressed air cylinders, popup decontamination showers, you name it.

Firefighter Dave Egan has been at the station for 18 years. He walks us through every gizmo with encyclopedic knowledge. ‘Do I sound like I know what I’m talking about?’ he jokes. He does.

Firefighter TJ O’Sullivan joins us on the tour, listening as keenly as we do. O’Sullivan is the newest recruit at the station. He’d been there six weeks when we dropped by. He’s young and hardworking and earnest, and older heads clearly love him for it.

It’s all business on the ground floor and garage, but the station gets homey upstairs. Firefighters have nurtured a small garden on the patio between the drill tower and main building, complete with a helmet plant pot. Inside the walls are covered with photos and certificates and trophies. In the lounge there’s a 100 movie scratch poster. They’ve got through about half.

The station had a cook until eight years ago; now the firefighters take turns. ‘Cooking dinner is always a thankless job,’ says Station Manager Mark Jordan, laughing. ‘It’s never good enough.’

The dining table could seat 20 people. It is the hub of the station. ‘Fire service culture is around that table. It is a hub for watch life, where tensions get resolved,’ he says. ‘There are disagreements of course, but what family doesn’t have those?’ Talking in terms of family is natural. Jordan too is proud to be part of it. ‘It was an honour to be given Bethnal Green.’

Beyond the dining table, the dining room has a pool table and a bay window that juts out over Roman Road. You may have eyeballed it passing it by. Two armchairs are squeezed in facing each other, one looking west down the Roman, the other east.

The station gets three calls in while we’re shown around, and it’s all systems go. Down the poles, into the engine, and off to the rescue. One call would be enough excitement to last most people a week or two, but it’s all part of the routine at Bethnal Green Fire Station. Once a call has been answered they’re straight back waiting for the next one.

Most calls aren’t as serious as you might think, but the dangers of the job are never far away. The last London-based firefighters lost in the line of duty were Billy Faust and Adam Meere, who died tackling a Bethnal Green blaze in July of 2004. A memorial in their memory can be found in Bethnal Green’s Museum Gardens, just round the corner from Bethnal Green Fire Station.

The work never ends at Bethnal Green Fire Station, and the risks can never completely disappear, but it does seem a happy place. Alert, but happy. From fire calls to community visits (the London Fire Brigade carried out 84,000 fire safety visits last year) they are there for all of us 24/7, 365 days a year.  

To learn more about the upcoming open day on Saturday August 3 from 11am to 3pm, where you can meet the crew and tour the station, click here.

These photos by Tom Keeling offer a peek at life behind Bethnal Green Fire Station’s big red doors. You can see more of Keeling’s work at his website and on Instagram

If you enjoyed this piece you may like reading about Bow Bus Garage

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Camilla Brendon is an artist currently in residence at Chisenhale Studios. Her project, which focuses on materials and plant life found in and around the Hertford Union Canal, will culminate in a summer residency show from 8-10 August. The works Brendon makes are partly or wholly made out of found objects in the environment she’s studying. We caught up with her to hear how she’s found working beside East London canals.

To put your residency into context, can you share a little about your Coast series and how Hertford Union fits into it?

Coast is an ongoing series which I began a couple of years ago, after working with found objects for my whole career. Through Coast I explore coastlines and all water systems. I then use my work as a tool for dialogue, awareness, and activism in the area of conservation.  

The works are made partly or entirely with found objects and then altered, painted on, and shaped to resemble natural forms. Inspired by patterns found in nature I draw attention to sustainability by using stunning beauty found in water systems and coast lines. 

When I saw that Chisenhale was offering a summer residency and that Studio 4 looked out over the Hertford Union Canal I thought it was the perfect opportunity to get to know this corner of London and make work that directly interacts with the canal below. 

How have you found working in studio 4, overlooking the Hertford Union Canal and Victoria Park?

It’s very fitting to my current working practice. I’m interested in how man-made and natural things co-exist, or struggle to. By looking out over the canal I’m able to consider making a large scale installation that flows out of my windows and down to the canal below. It’s brilliant because I can stop and look at the movement of the duckweed on the water and goslings resting on the wall and water lilies opening and shutting below depending on the time of day. The evening sky is also very captivating and the colours this throws out also inform my work.

This is your first time incorporating plant life into your work, correct? How has that impacted the process for you?

Yes, it is the first time that I’ve incorporated plant life into my work. I’ve used forms based on nature, photos, photocopies, and everything else linkable to nature, so having the living plants was a natural progression and adds a new layer to the intertwining of man-made and natural that you see through out my work. I’m just at the beginning of this process and have ideas to go on to make natural, yet unnatural worlds and to make permanent fixed living installations.

What’s been your favourite aspect of the residency so far?

There have been so many! Let’s see…

Studio 4 is the most incredible space. It’s large with a high ceiling, an old factory in fact. I’ve been given the space to push myself and stretch the process to the next level size wise and so far I’ve been making the most of this. 

I’ve long enjoyed altering public spaces with installation and here having the body of water that I’m investigating below is allowing me to let the work go back to the water from which it came. This also lets the work escape the white wall gallery or studio setting and be viewed by passers by on the towpath or in boats, sparking the question, what is that? I love the idea of art reaching those who aren’t looking for it. 

What do you hope visitors get out of coming to your residency show?

I always make art that I hope will spark thought and dialogue. I make work with simple forms taken from nature and bold, inviting colours that are pleasing to look at. In doing this I hope to make complex and sometimes overwhelming topics approachable and to give viewers ideas and even tools to act on the subject matter that I’m visualising.

I also work with materials that are found, donated, and cheap. I hope that this will encourage more budding artists to try their hand at it and not have to worry about funds or making something ‘good’. 

What will happen to the pieces you make? Are they available for purchase?

The work that I make is for sale and 20% of my profits from work made during the residency will go to The Lower Regents Coalition, who have supported me throughout this. I will also be donating a piece of art to the Lower Regents Coalition, to be put on a towpath wall near the Ragged School Museum.

 If you are interested in an existing or bespoke piece of living or non-living art please come and see me at studio 4 for my artist talk this Thursday 1 August, form 7-8pm, (doors 6.30pm) or to my work in progress Coast-Hertford Union Canal Show, August 8th 6-9pm and 10/11th August 12-8pm. Alternatively get in touch to arrange an appointment. Unsold works will be kept safe in a friendly garden before being toured at other art and science venues. 

Visit Camilla Brendon’s website for more information the upcoming open studio. You can also follow her progress on Instagram at @camillabrendon

If you enjoyed this piece you may like reading our interview with Bow’s canal heritage superwoman Carolyn Clark

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The nuts and bolts of a place like Bow Stables are the same now as they would have been a century ago: hay, horseshoes, saddles, and tea. Mounted police aren’t as widespread as they used to be, but they remain an essential part of the force, and those horses need homes. 

The one in Bow, tucked behind old Bow Police Station, is particularly impressive. The stables are housed in a Grade II listed building designed by Gilbert MacKenzie Trench in 1937, a Scottish architect who also designed the police box flown around by Dr Who. All-white and neatly arranged, it’s home to eight horses and twelve officers.

One of them is Police Sergeant Robin Gehring. He has been in mounted division since 2005, though has just finished a year at Scotland Yard. He’s delighted to be out in the world. Everyone at the Bow Stables has been in the force for years. You can’t go straight into the mounted branch; you have to earn it.

There are ten horses at Bow Stables. Two of them are away on holiday when we visit. Like anyone, police horses need a break from time to time. They go to a forest in Epping for a little R&R. ‘Club Tropicana,’ Rob calls it with a laugh. 

The horses there are Rebel, Urbane, Rusty, Judge, Quest, Strathmore, and Scrumpy Jack. They are named on an alphabetical basis. Each round of horses being trained has a different letter so you know which batch they’re from. W are currently in training, and the V lot are starting to join the force.

Scrumpy Jack is introduced to us as a ‘cuddle monster’, and he doesn’t disappoint, nuzzling Gehring all the time he’s in the pen. Strathmore is enormous and the gentlest thing you’ve ever seen, shifting his hazelnut mass with the delicacy of someone handling crystal. A lot of the horses are Irish Draught – friendly and unflappable.

Which is just as well, for they are first and foremost police horses. ‘One day they may be at Wembley, the next at a match between Tottenham and Arsenal when it’s all kicking off, then the next strolling round Bow,’ Gehring says. They attend Trooping the Colour every year. Sometimes they’ll be driven as far north as Norwich.

The officers start at 7am and do all the stable work themselves. It’s a seven days a week, 365 days a year job. ‘At Christmas you’ll see a couple around,’ Gehring says, ‘usually with tinsel on their head.’ It’s demanding work, but the officers take it in stride. Before a ride Gehring dips out to change and reappears in riding trousers and boots. ‘You feel a bit like Mr Benn, changing all the time,’ he says.

They are kept well groomed, with tidy cropped haircuts like soldiers in the army. Their tails are kept at a uniform length, roughly the equivalent of the wrist to the elbow. The horses have to look dapper before going out, otherwise, Gehring reasons, why would anyone take them seriously?

Police Constable Lucie Slay brushes the horses down while Gehring changes. She has been in the Met for 23 years. London is too noisy for her nowadays, but she loves the work. The police force has gotten better at supporting those it arrests, she says. ‘They may be wallies when you nick them, but a lot of the time they’re just in a bad place. You want it so by the end it’s been a good thing for everyone.’

Keeping the horses fresh in such a busy line of work takes a lot of work, more than you might realise. When contributing photographer Tom Keeling and I arrived a horse called Quest was having his shoes fitted. Stephen Gowing, a third generation farrier, held a red hot horseshoe against the bottom of one of Quest’s hoofs and was swallowed by a ploom of smoke. As it cleared, Gowing examined the markings on the hoof, shook his head, and disappeared into the forge to make some adjustments.

Shelves and shelves of horseshoes and metal strips waiting to be shaped. There are hundreds of types of horseshoes, each foot requires a custom fit, and horseshoes are changed every three weeks. It takes five years to become a qualified farrier. Gowing has around 100 horses under his care. That’s 400 feet, and each foot needs a custom fit. ‘It’s not like you’re a size six and I’m a size six, you can borrow my trainers,’ Gowing says. 

As well as custom shoes the horses have custom saddles. The horses are different shades of huge and you can’t have a general fit. Strathmore is gigantic with a body like a barrel, while Rebel is slight (by the standards of a horse). ‘If you went to a tailor and got a bespoke fit, it might look good on you but silly on me, and vice versa,’ Gehring says.

Mounted branch is the gentle giant of the police force. People feel comfortable approaching them. At football matches some fans go round to all the horses there that day and give each of them a carrot. ‘You can’t quantify community engagement,’ Gehring says. ‘You get young people coming up and saying things they’d never say to a regular copper. I think they’re talking to the horse as much as anyone else.’

The horses like a good graze in Victoria Park, though they prefer Mile End Park because it’s a little wilder. Gehring likes Victoria Park. ‘You see every little corner of East London,’ he says. When you see horses trotting around Bow, they’re likely on a stroll from Bow Stables. Don’t be shy about saying hello, but be warned: some of the horses are real flirts.

The photographs from that morning were taken by Tom Keeling. You can see more of his work at his website and on Instagram

If you liked this piece you may enjoy reading about life at Bethnal Green Fire Station

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Is education about having the answers to the questions, or having the skills to work out the answers for yourself? For Faraday School the key to children’s education is nurturing creativity and the arts.

Sat at the heart of a creative community on the north bank of the Thames, Faraday School has positioned itself as a kindred spirit, a place where children learn to take risks, overcome challenges, and be ready for life’s trickier conundrums.

Head Teacher Claire Murdoch believes that creativity is essential to education, and that struggle is essential to creativity. If you’re not being challenged, how much are you really learning?

It’s no good training exam machines; children who can breeze through the tests and come up short when reality proves a little more complex. At Faraday it’s about flexibility. ‘It will always change,’ Murdoch says. ‘The world will change, and the jobs and technology will change. I think it’s about being aware and adaptive.’

Integral to this is knowing mistakes are opportunities to learn. Whether we’re five or 55, fear of failure stifles our ability to learn. ‘You want to keep that desire to get things wrong and to take a risk and keep going, because if we give them the answers too often they lose the ability to make a mistake and be ok with it. They’re missing the opportunity to really learn.’

A supportive environment is essential to this, of course. With a capacity for 140 students, the school is small and tight-knit. Students become fellow travellers. ‘They’ve started to realise that if you struggle through that part there’s this real sense of achievement where they didn’t find it that easy. Maybe they made some mistakes on the way, but they kept on going.’ At Faraday that’s essential. ‘I think for all real ingenuity and inventiveness, which is what creativity really is, you have to go through that.’

Faraday School is well-placed to instil that kind of ethos. It sits at the heart of Trinity Buoy Wharf, surrounded by artists and musicians and entrepreneurs; mistake makers and pioneers. There are filmmakers and 3D pen artists. Round the corner from the school is a bright red tug that has been converted into an animation studio, with a music studio down below. As the site develops the English National Ballet and London Film School will move there too. This is the school’s scene.

Already artists drop in to share the finer points of their craft. One artist, Harry Dwyer, is working with the children to make a speedboat made entirely out of plastic bottles. A mosaic of the school, made by the students together with another local artist hangs, proudly over the main stairway. Each year the school sends a number of entries to Fourth Plinth School Awards, in which London children design for the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square. This year pupils won two awards, and their art co-ordinator a third.

 ‘I’m a believer in setting high expectations and pushing the children a little bit, treating them maturely and showing them things they are able to access,’ Murdoch says. ‘It makes excellence accessible. Children see people round the corner doing things and think, I can do this too.’

Murdoch puts a lot of stock in experience. Theory is important, but without the chance to apply it that theory is incomplete. It’s about trusting children to understand. ‘They’re able to do more than we can imagine and if you give them those experiences, it’s amazing.’

That experience extends to the teachers themselves. Much of the ethos at Faraday School comes down to role-modelling, taking ownership of your craft and exploring it. As the school is small, this allows teachers to have a flexible approach to the syllabus.

Murdoch encourages them to do so. ‘Because it’s small it’s quite human, it’s coming from real people. Teachers aren’t ploughing on with the curriculum so that the children just pass their tests and move on. It’s all quite adaptive and organic.’ Again it’s about modelling risk, and the sense of achievement that comes when it pays off.

‘We’ve got our curriculum and we know what we’re doing, but we’re able to amend it, and that means the teachers are more invested. They really care about it.’

Going round the school it’s clear the environment there encourages students to push themselves. In a previous life the school was a series of artist studios, and it carries on in that spirit. There is life and noise at Faraday, but it is focused. 

Murdoch herself speaks with fluid enthusiasm. For both students and teachers, Faraday is not a school with the brakes on. ‘I think that’s how it has to be,’ Murdoch says, ‘because we’re modelling to them. I think a lot of what they’re learning is from the teachers, and it’s not necessarily in the lesson, it’s all of the time.’

Interested in a school that nurtures creativity and places the arts at the centre of the teaching? Faraday School runs regular open mornings every other Tuesday at 9.30am and encourages parents and children to see the school in action.

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Brixton Pizza has opened at 494-496 Roman Road, offering authentic Neapolitan Pizza with a south Italian twist.

The new restaurant has a pizza oven, imported Italian wine, homemade tiramisu, and coffee from Salice Salentino, Italy, the hometown of one of the founders.

Most of the products and ingredients come from Puglia, a region in southeast Italy renowned for its wine and olive oil. Their pizza dough is 100% vegan.

The restaurant is open 11am to 11pm Monday to Saturday, and 11am to 10.30pm on Sundays. It also has the option of takeaway via Deliveroo. 

It is the third restaurant in the chain to open, and the first north of the Thames. The other two are on St. John’s Hill and, would you believe it, Brixton.

The first Pizza Brixton opened in February 2017, the creation of Cosimo Grasso, Zak Uddin, and Anis Rahman, who each have over 20 years experience in the restaurant industry.

The menu, which was created by Grasso, offers a selection of ‘verace’ pizzas, antipastos, and sides. The drinks menu includes wines, beers, cocktails, and softdrinks. 

The restaurant’s full menu can be seen here. Visit the Pizza Brixton website for more information.

Like this piece? You may enjoy reading our review of East London Liquor Company’s in-house restaurant on Bow Wharf

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With its origins in north London, the story of how the London Buddhist Centre came to operate from the Old Bethnal Green Fire Station is an extraordinary one. A tale of resourcefulness, resilience and hard graft – with a sprinkle of good fortune – it is emblematic of the transformation of the self in Buddhism (known as the Dharma) and the wider rejuvenation of much of the East End over the past decade-or-so.

Before moving to Globe Town, the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO), as they were known back then, were based in Archway, north London. Their main centre was significant only for its proximity Karl Marx’s tomb in Highgate Cemetery – just a stone’s throw away. And at the time of their first convention in 1974 they had barely 20 members to their name.

A Sixties youth movement

This membership mainly comprised twentysomething veterans of the Sixties youth movement. As Subhuti, current President and former Chairman of the London Buddhist Centre recalls, their mantra was ‘sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll… at least in theory.’ But this co-existed with serious attitudes that were prevalent among much of the younger population during that tumultuous time. ‘There were all sorts of vague, anarchic ideas that went with that – getting rid of the old and on with the new! We saw Buddhism as a part of that.’

And it was a case of ‘out with the old and in with the new’ that prompted this rough and ready band to look for new digs. Word came down from the local authority that the area they’d been squatting in was earmarked for demolition, with plans for redevelopment; London was still in the process of rebuilding in the post war era. So, it was time to go.

Finding new premises, however, would be no easy task. The community could barely scrape together a living between them. They were living a hand-to-mouth existence. One member, as the story goes, had given up their acting career and was living off the royalties from a beer advertisement. So, perhaps not the most dynamic or pro-active group.

It was Subhuti that devised a master plan to scour London for their next spiritual base of operations. He took a large map of London, divided it up and assigned members their own patch of the capital to search for vacant properties. They considered a number of old school buildings and a grand Georgian house opposite the British Museum. They even sought assistance from estate agents.

A new home in an old fire station

During all this, though, someone came by a flyer for the Old Bethnal Green Fire Station. It had been vacated in 1968; the fire brigade had moved just a few doors down to a custom built, Bauhaus-inspired concrete castle. So, was the old station going to be their gift from the gods?

Well, in truth it was more like a Trojan Horse. Whilst the exterior of this Victorian-era fire station was extraordinary, the interior was in a shocking state of disrepair. But, despite the broken windows, the dry rot, the fire damage and the missing floors, the building had potential due to the quality of its construction. They don’t build ‘em like that anymore…

The walls were solid and several feet thick. The roof was intact. There was an abundance of space. This gave Subhuti all the encouragement needed to begin visualising their new home. ‘The engine shed was an immediate shrine room with room for another shrine room behind it and there were three floors for communities.’

So, following successful negotiations with the Greater London Council – an FWBO member’s father had the ear of the gentleman in charge of the letting – they were invited to an interview. Subhuti remembers the conversation that took place:

‘ “How much do you think it’s going to cost to convert?” they asked. I said, “Somewhere between ten and thirty thousand pounds.” They looked a bit embarrassed, so I said, “We’ll be using all our own labour. We’ll use cheap materials. We’ll do it up roughly and then do it up properly later.” They looked acutely embarrassed, so I said, “You’ve obviously done an estimate. How much do you think it’s going to cost?” They said, “Upwards of a hundred and fifty thousand.” ‘

As it turned out even the GLC’s estimate was considerably lower than the eventual cost of renovation, which was just as well given the FWBO only had around ten thousand pounds in a trust fund. But this was a foot in the door. The GLC approved their application and even threw in a 12-month rent free period for the renovation – this is the time period Subhuti considered would be enough to get the job done.

The workforce

Perhaps a group of well-funded, highly skilled, and experienced tradesmen could have transformed this space in a year. But that’s not what the group was. This was a group of young anarchists. They were middle-class art graduates. They had little experience of the working world, let alone the world of manual labour. Incredibly, however, lady luck was to intervene once more.

One of the members, named Atula, was a skilled carpenter and builder. Following a great deal of persuasion and encouragement, and much deliberation, he agreed to take up the post of foreman. This meant there was now someone with experience and know-how leading this group of enthusiasm-rich, skills-poor young Buddhists.

Atula wasn’t the only character to enrich this story and drive the narrative forward. Another influence on proceedings was Morishita, a Japanese monk. This was a man with a shady past. Once a member of the Japanese mafia, known as the Yakuza, Morishita had turned his back on a life of violence and extorsion in exchange for enlightenment. His job within the group was to go to Roman Road Market at the end of each day and collect leftovers to feed the apprentice tradesmen.

Eventually, Morishita became a bit of a local celebrity, especially among the children of Globe Town and Bow. When they spotted this tattooed former gangster making his way around the neighbourhood, they would get incredibly excited, shouting and cheering as they marched behind him.  

However, even with well-intentioned characters such as Atula and Morishita on the firm, the challenges of a project on this scale made for a fractious relationship between the workers at times. All living on site, it was a perfect storm of young men with limited skills, working in difficult conditions with little in the way of incentive.

Despite the best efforts of Subhuti, morale began to plummet due to the seemingly insurmountable workload. It was time for another stroke of good fortune.

The turning point

The 1970s is widely known as a decade of rising unemployment. By the end of the decade, the number of people out of work had risen to over 2 million. To tackle this, initiatives to get people back into work were created. The Job Creation Scheme was a status awarded to projects that provided employment for local people. And the FWBO managed to bag this status. This was a real coup for them, and a turning point for the project.

This status came with funding from the local authority, and it meant the existing workers were now being paid in exchange for their labour. Furthermore, they could also expand their workforce, employing local people from Globe Town, Bow, and Bethnal Green to really light a fire under proceedings.

Providing work for local people proved to be mutually beneficial, as Subhuti remembers, ‘Some were coming to us because they were interested in Buddhism, but most were just off the dole list.’ And despite the injection of cash and new workers, the commitment to the community, or the ‘Sangha’ in Buddhism, was still paramount, ‘So, that gave us the funding and the community members all gave in their pay, so we then had the extra money we needed. People were getting minimum wage, but most of it they just put into the common kitty.’

This community interest extended beyond employing local people. As renovation drew ever closer to completion, Subhuti began to set up ‘right livelihood’ businesses. Nowadays we’d know them as social enterprises – co-operatives operated by the community for the community.

These businesses included Friends’ Foods (remember?), Jambala Bookshop and Evolution Craft Shop. And they’ve served the community for many years, providing members of the LBC with a livelihood that is ethical, creative and productive, whilst also delivering services to the local population.

But even though many of these businesses are no longer in existence, as Subhuti theorises ‘…many of our right livelihood businesses have disappeared as the surrounding economic environment got tougher…,’ their influence can be seen in the local area today.

The lasting local and global impact

In transforming their new home – their Sukhavati or ‘Pure Land’ as the building came to be known – they in turn were transformed as an organisation.

The idea of the Dharma involves ‘the path of the higher evolution of the individual.’ In other words, it is the journey of perpetual self-improvement. And through the struggle involved in this monumental project, the members, the building and the wider community went through an evolution aligned with this idea.

The London Buddhist Centre opened its doors in 1978. And from its base in Globe Town, the FWBO (since renamed the Triratna Buddhist Community) spread their message of the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha as far as New Zealand in the east and America in the west.

Forty years later the centre teaches meditation and Buddhism in a way that is relevant to modern life. It is central to Buddhism locally and to its global network.

The organisation’s lasting impact, then, owes a great deal to the Old Bethnal Green Fire Station and the group of rag tag Buddhists that transformed it.

If you enjoyed this piece you may like our article about why Globe Town is the wellbeing mecca of London

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Bex Shaw has lived in Bow for 10 years and immortalised many of the area’s shop fronts with her artwork. Two years ago she was featured in Spitalfields Life, sharing drawings from across the East End. We thought you’d like to see her beautiful pictures of Roman Road. We caught up with Shaw to talk Bow, sign painting, and her evolving creative process.

What are your fondest memories of the Bow and Globe Town area?

I really love the area! I’ve actually lived  in the East End on and off since the 70’s but only recently discovered, quite unexpectedly, that I have ancestors from the 1800s buried in what is now Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park! I think my earliest memory of Bow is coming to Roman Road in the ‘70s to buy second hand furniture with my mum. 

What inspired you to start drawing shop fronts and stalls?

I have always loved market stalls and shop windows from a purely aesthetic point of view. There is something magical for me about the thoughtful displays that shopkeepers and stall holders construct! I mean have you seen London Food Centre’s fruit and vegetable display on the Roman? It’s a work of art! 

I particularly enjoy finding art in the everyday and for me displays are a place very rich in this respect. I also loved Eric Ravillious’ famous High Street book as a child, my Granny (also an artist) had a copy of it which I loved to pore over. Mainstone Press (who also have Roman Road connections!) published an amazing book called The Story of High Street all about it which I am lucky enough to have seen up close! 

My Granny’s dad was a sign writer and shop interior designer over a hundred years ago so maybe it’s in my genes… I was also a sort of Artist in Residence at a vintage clothing fair from 2010-13 where I drew the stalls and the stall holders wonderful wares as well as selling some of my greetings cards so that got me into drawing markets as a series. Now whenever I see a good stall or shop window I have to capture it. 

What materials do you use and what’s the process? Do you draw from life or from pictures?

I tend to do a mixture of drawing from life, taking photographs, and later drawing from them or using them to help me add detail and colour into drawings at home once my fingers get too cold to continue outside! I mostly use coloured pencils, watercolor, and acrylic ink on watercolor paper. However, over the last couple of years I’ve really got into using a very basic free phone app to draw with. This enables me to zoom in (I love all the little details so this is really appealing for me) and I’ve been surprised at how much fun I’ve found this process.

How do you get your art out there?

I have had a stall quite a few times with Urban Makers Fairs, including a really fun one on Roman Road itself! I really enjoy their fairs as they have a great atmosphere! I decided to do fewer stalls generally and to focus more on illustration specific events mostly because you have to sell a lot of greetings cards to cover the cost! The next fair I’m doing is Ink Paper Print at Cambridge Guildhall in November. Helen at SNAP took a few of my cards and prints to see a while ago now too. I approached her, if I remember rightly, after I attended a lovely origami workshop in the shop a few years ago.

What will you be drawing next?

I’ve nowhere near drawn all the places on Roman Road that I’d like to so it’s a bit of a never ending project for me! I’ve drawn lots of other  shops and market stalls in the East End from Brick Lane and Columbia Road to Chatsworth Road as well as other places in London and around the world! To be honest whenever I pass a good shopfront or stall I’ll stop to take photos, it’s very irritating to anyone I’m out with as I do tend to take photos or draw wherever I go. 

My dream would be to packed off to different countries around the world with a mission to draw different town’s shops and markets! Seville has some really beautifully preserved vintage shop fronts  from the ‘20s and ‘30s with curved plate glass and drawing them would be a real treat! Ultimately though visiting Japan and Mexico are my big drawing trip dreams!

See more of Bex’s work at her website and on Facebook

If you liked this gallery you may like our interview with Roman Road’s friendly neighborhood sign man Ged Palmer

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On the east side of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, outside the London Aquatics Centre, there is a striking piece of public artwork. All warped and buckled steel reaching skyward, it is a remnant of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and a call for a more peaceful, harmonious future. 

Donated to London by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, it is one of only six Twin Tower remnants to be sent overseas. The 28ft-tall, four-ton piece was chosen by Peter Rosengard, founder and chairman of SINCE 9/11, a UK charity which teaches students about the events, causes, and consequences of 9/11.

It was treated and polished by New York artist Miya Ando before being unveiled in Battersea Park for the tenth anniversary of 9/11. Finding a permanent home for the artwork proved difficult until it settled permanently in East London in 2015.

A total of 2,977 people from over 90 countries were killed on 11 September 2011 when passenger jets hijacked by al-Qaida terrorists struck the twin towers of the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon in Washington DC and a field in Pennsylvania. Of those who died, 67 were from the UK.

Rosengard considers the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park a natural home for the artwork. ‘The artwork represents peace, unity, inclusion, tolerance,’ he said. ‘That’s what the Olympics were. All faiths, all religions. It’s a perfect location.’

He added that you have to see it in person to fully understand both its gravity and its ugly beauty. ‘It’s only when you touch it that you realise this used to be part of an incredible skyscraper, the heart of New York, of the world even.’

SINCE 9/11 partners with the UCL Institute of Education to promote fundamental British values and teach respect to all religions. A multi-faith, non-political charity, it aims to reduce extremism of all stripes. The artwork is part of that ethos.  

Mark Camley, the park’s executive director, said: ‘Young people leaving school and going on to adult life this year are unlikely to remember that awful day. The artwork provides a focal point for engaging discussion and thought on what happened and how we can learn from that to reduce the chances of it happening again.’

The polished section of the artwork gives it new life. Like the work of SINCE 9/11, the piece is as concerned with the future as it is with the past, literally reflecting life in the city. Speaking at the artwork’s unveiling, Sir Simon Schama summarised its duality.

It is not just a kind of brutally tragic utterance made out of the debris of the World Trade Centre but there is also as you will see another aspect to the piece which is a reflection, and the reflection is of where we are now dear friends, of trains travelling past, of the great pulse of the city, the most brilliantly cosmopolitan city in the world.

Sir Simon Schama

Visit the SINCE 9/11 website for more information about the artwork and their ongoing educational programme.

If you liked this piece you may be interested in the Stairway to Heaven memorial in Bethnal Green

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