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Rastafari, Vedanta & De Beers – 2014

Rastafari, Vedanta & De Beers: Pictures from protests I covered on Friday 1st August 2014.

August 1st is Emancipation Day, celebrating the effective date of the abolition of slavery across the British Empire in 1834, and 2014 also marked the centenary of the foundation of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) by Marcus Garvey and Amy Ashwood Garvey in Jamaica in 1914.

In Brixton I photographed a rally by Rastafaris preparing to march to Parliament to demand reparations for the slave trade. I left to go to Lincoln Inn’s Fields to a protest outside the AGM of mining group Vedanta, responsible for killings and environmental destruction in various countries around the world.

Finally in Piccadilly campaigners were outside De Beers asking people to boycott diamonds cut and polished in Israel which fund war crimes against Palestinians.

Rastafari Demand Reparations For Slave Trade

Windrush Square, Brixton

On the centenary of the foundation by Marcus Garvey of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, Rastafaris met at Brixton to march to Parliament demanding reparations for the descendants of those taken from Africa by the Atlantic Slave Trade.

Demands for international reparations have been increasingly made in recent years, some for huge sums. As I wrote:

“In 2004, a group of Jamaican Rastafari movement groups argued that European countries, particularly Britain, should pay £72.5 billion to resettle 500,000 Jamaican Rastafarians in Africa, but the British government rejected their claim. Other claims have been lodged in 2007 by Guyana, in 2011 by Antigua and Barbuda.”

No government has yet agreed to any financial reparations to the descendants of slaves or the countries affected. The British Government at the time of abolition paid out huge sums over many years to the owners of slaves – equivalent to 40% of the national budget – and this payment was only completed in 2015. Among those who have received payments were powerful British families, including current business and political elites in the United Kingdom.

The event go off to a slow start with drumming and dances and then some speeches. It was still continuing when I left to go elsewhere and I missed the march which only began an hour and a half later.

More on My London Diary at Rastafari demand reparations for slave trade.

Vedanta Told ‘End Your Killing’

Lincoln Inn’s Fields

The protest on the opposite side of the road from the Vedanta AGM was organised by Foil Vedanta who say:

“Vedanta Resources is a FTSE 250 British-Indian mining company guilty of thousands of deaths, environmental devastation, anti union action, corruption and disdain for life on earth. They have become one of the most hated and contentious companies in the world.”

A number of the protesters had bought shares in the company so that they could go into the AGM and ask questions while others continued the protest outside.

As well as protesting Foil Vedanta have also carried out a great deal of research into the activities of Vedanta and is subsidiary companies. These include Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) in Zambia which has poisoned thousands of people causing ongoing birth deformities in major pollution spills in 2006 and 2010. They had claimed to be unable to pay their fines or their tax bill while actually making around around $500 million/year.

Protests against Vedanta here where the company is listed and on a much larger scale in India and elsewhere where they operate have so far stopped Vedanta from destroying the Niyamgiri mountain in Odisha, sacred to the indigenous Dongria Kondh. The protests in London led the company to decide to de-list in 2018. They have also attempted unsuccessfully to de-list from Indian stock exchanges.

More at Vedanta told ‘end your killing’.

Boycott Israeli Blood Diamonds

De Beers, Piccadilly

*Protesters lined the front of the shop both here in Piccadilly and around the corner in Old Bond Street*

Protesters at De Beers in Piccadilly asked people to boycott diamonds cut and polished in Israel which contribute around a billion dollars every year to the Israeli military and security industries and fund Israeli war crimes against Palestinians.

More pictures at Boycott Israeli Blood Diamonds.

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Pakistani Christians & a ‘Patriot’ March – 2010

Pakistani Christians & a ‘Patriot’ March: On Saturday 21 July 2010 I photographed a protest against the persecution of Christians in Pakistan and then a march by right wing extremists against Sharia Law and calling for a referendum on leaving the EU and an English Parliament.

Christians Protest Pakistan Persecution

Pakistan High Commission & Whitehall

Pakistani Christians & a 'Patriot' March - 2010

Only just over 1% of the population of Pakistan are Christians, a total of around two million, mainly members of lower castes, many working in sanitation and garbage collection. They were discriminated against at partition, when over 300,000 were made homeless and have been severely discriminated against ever since, including in the Pakistan Constitution.

Strict blasphemy laws have been used to persecute Christians (and other minorities) and many have been attacked by Muslim religious extremists, with some horrific cases of murders about many of which the authorities have refused to take action, even at times encouraging the mobs.

Christian schools and houses have been burnt and suicide bombers have attacked Christian gatherings.

The Wikipedia article Persecution of Christians in Pakistan details a few of these events. It also includes information about forced conversions and the abduction of “upwards of 1,000 Christian, Hindu, and Sikh girls” each year into forced marriages and forced conversions.

The situation of Christians in Pakistan has worsened since 2010 and regular reports of atrocities continue.

The protest in 2010 began outside the Pakistan High Commission in Kensington with a rally. A petition was handed in calling for the end of persecution. Officials received it politely and told them that that the Pakistani government supports the rights of minorities. But as the continuing persecution shows, it does little if anything in practice to protect these rights.

The protesters, led by a man carrying a heavy wooden cross then made their way along the pavements to Whitehall, stopping at three points on the way for prayers. Opposite Downing Strreet they joined others waiting for them in a further rally.

There were more prayers and some singing, and an address from Pakistani-born former Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir Ali. London Green MEP Jean Lambert also spoke and a delegation delivered a letter to 10 Downing St.

More on My London Diary: Christians Protest Pakistan Persecution.

ENA/EDL March in London Again

Tothill St – Duke of York Steps

In May 2010 a couple of hundred people from the English Defence League and others marched through London on what they described as a ‘Patriot March to Challenge Parliament’ organised by ‘British Citizens Against Muslim Extremists‘. Most were from the EDL and they delivered a letter to Downing Street.

They were dissatisfied with the reply they got to that letter and so the English Nationalist Alliance organised this further march. Like the earlier march in May it was largely peaceful and relatively restrained – except in some of the responses to a group of counter-protesters who accused them of being “racist scum”.

*Opposite Downing St were a group of around 20-30 counter protesters, chanting “racist scum off our streets”*

*One protester was held by stewards and police as he tries to cross the road to confront them*

*Counter-protesters are stopped by police as they try to follow the march*

At Downing Street they handed in a letter signed by the ENA and ten other groups, the EDL, Shieldwall, The British Society for Freedom of Speech, Christians for Democracy, England United (Weiran Ce Angelcynn), England St George, Acacia Freedom Fighters, Sikhs against Shariah, English Jewish League and Parents Against Shariah.

Another group on the march was March for England, and along with the St George’s flags and Union Jacks there were also a couple of Israeli flags and a placard from ‘One Law for All.’

At the rally at the Duke of York Steps I had a rather concerning moment when one of the speakers, Blackburn with Darwen English Democrats Party councillor Michael Johnson, pointed me out as an unwelcome guest and police stepped in as a number of people moved rather menacingly towards me.

As I posted:

“A couple of days earlier the ENA web site had published a feature which – among other things – wrongly accused me of publishing lies about the previous march, along with my picture and the statement “he must be confronted and chased away in all future events as a socialist collaborator who cannot tell the truth.”

Police stepped in front of me and requested me I move back a little to quieten the situation, and I complied.

The ENA feature had confused me with another photographer and earlier on the march I had received both a couple of apologies by the mistake and also several compliments from those on the previous march who had read my report.

Though I certainly don’t support the EDL I had tried to report the event and their demands objectively. The article on the ENA web site was an attack on press freedom,”suggesting that the ENA should attempt to impose censorship and limit reporting to those who support it.“

*Police persuade one of the protesters that he should moderate his language*

Like other photographers I have no control over how my work is used in the mainstream press, largely owned by billionaires with editors imposing right-wing views. It makes no sense to blame – as did the ENA – “socialist journalists” for the sins of a capitalist press.

And as I point out, the march was largely if not entirely ignored by the mainstream press and broadcasters. My account, published both on my own My London Diary and in shorter form on Demotix was one of only a few to appear.

Many more pictures and a longer text from 2010 on ENA/EDL March in London Again.

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Muslim Extremists Call For Sharia Zones – 2011

Muslim Extremists Call For Sharia Zones: On Saturday 30th July 2011 I photographed the march by around 70 men from ‘Muslims Against Crusades’ who marched from Leyton to Walthamstow calling for the setting up of Sharia Controlled Zones in the UK which ‘Islamic rules’ would be enforced by Muslims.

As I stated, “Muslims Against Crusades are a very small extremist fringe Muslim organisation led by Dr Anjem Choudary, a follower of the jailed Omar Bakri and co-founder with him of al-Muhajiroun, banned by the UK in 2005, spokesman for Al Ghurabaa, proscribed in 2006, and former leader of Islam4UK, banned in 2010.”

I go on in my post on My London Diary to briefly examine the other ten or so organisations that were claimed to support the march, all of which were linked to Choudary. They included some set up after al-Muhajiroun disbanded when threatened with a UK ban in 2005, though the actual ban only came in 2010. Muslims Against Crusades were banned shortly after this march in Novermber 2011.

I’d been photographing Choudary, at other extremist Muslim events for some years, and listening to his speeches and like many others had concluded that he was allowed to continue (and perhaps even funded) by our security services as someone who let them easily keep tabs on other Muslim extremists in the UK.

The authorities patience with him finally ran out in 2015 when he was charged with inviting support of Islamic State, a proscribed organisation and sentenced to five years in prison in 2016. Released on licence in 2019, by 2021 he was again involving himself in Muslim extremism.

In 2023, Canada and the US became involved, and he was charged with “membership of a proscribed organisation and directing and encouraging support for a proscribed organisation” and in 2024 he was found guilty of “directing an organisation concerned with the commission of acts of terrorism” and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 28 years.

It seemed to many of us that this trial could have been held in 2010 when the UK government banned Al-Muhajiroun.

Muslims Against Crusades (one of a whole string of organisations set up by Choudary as others were proscribed) had told the press before the event that there would be around a thousand of them on the march, but only around 2 arrived by the time it was due to start, with another 70 or so turning up later – some having had problems in finding Leyton.

Before the event there had been for some weeks “a poster campaign in several East London Boroughs including Waltham Forest, with small posters being stuck on bus stops and lamp posts declaring the area a ‘Sharia Controlled Zone’

These stickers stated that the area was now under ‘Islamic rules’ and that these prohibited drinking alcohol, drug taking, smoking, prostitution, gambling, musics, concerts and pornography.” Of course

A picture showing one of these became one of my most pirated images, published without permission or payment on right-wing extremist web sites around the world as if these zones every really existed. Unfortunately although I was able to get a few taken down by Internet Service Providers they simply appeared again on other hosts; getting payment for my work proved financially unfeasible.

A speech by Choudary before the march made clear that Law in these Sharia zones would be enforced by the kind of cleric-led officers and vigilantes that we see in countries such as Iran, although he did not make clear if we could expect to see stoning, hanging and amputations.

The march was through an area with a high Muslim population and many stopped to watch it, though I saw no expressions of support. As one shopkeeper told me, activities such as this give Muslims a bad name.

*Police kept some who wanted to protest against the march shut in a pub*

There were a couple of places where a few right-wing extremists had come to oppose the march though many had followed the advice on most right-wing web forums to ignore it. Police kept them away from the marchers and I saw no incidents.

*Bill Baker of the English Nationalist Alliance*

Police did allow a few members of the English Nationalist Alliance to protest on the opposite side of the street as the march reached central Walthamstow and I went across to photograph them and talk with their leader Bill Baker who was holding several placards. He asked me to make clear that they are not an anti-Muslim organisation but simply opposed to the kind of Muslim extremism represented by Choudary, and proposals to bring Shariah law to Britain.

Again, more about them on My London Diary, where I quote one of their placards:

Sex, Drugs, Beer & Rock and Roll, it’s our Western way of life, so get over it or leave, simple as that.

As I commented, ” I’d prefer to leave off those last five words and simply call for toleration.”

The march ended with a lot of shouting between the two groups, but was generally peaceful, and I think the few scuffles at the rally involved young Muslims objecting to the extremists.

You can read more and see many more pictures in the much longer account on My London Diary: Muslim Extremists March For Sharia Zones

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Trans+ Pride – 25 July 2026

Trans+ Pride: Some of my photographs from the huge Trans+ Pride march last Saturday – 25th July 2026.

It was a hot day and after the march had been going past me for two hours on upper Regent Street I was exhausted and went home. Standing on a bench before I left I could see there were still people with trans flags coming round past the BBC to start the march.

I’d thought that it might be smaller than last year’s event when an estimated 100,000 took part, but it was larger – perhaps the 150,000 figure could even be an underestimate. Certainly it was huge.

It seemed as if the whole gay community had come out to support trans people, as well as many others who respect the dignity and differences of human beings.

Trans people have come under increasing attack in the past year since the Supreme Court decision that the definition of a “woman” or “man” in the Equality Act refers strictly to biological sex.

It was a decision that surprised many of the MPs who had voted for the Act, and the subsequent Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) guidance has created huge problems for trans people – and for organisations open to the public.

These problems have been amplified by some of our politicians and by the media who have often given a great deal of attention to small and highly vociferous groups opposed to trans people and their human rights.

I went to London’s First Trans+ Pride March in September 2019 (the idea had come from Brighton) attended by only a few hundreds and commented:

“The event aimed to increase visibility for the trans+ community and to protest against the discrimination that continues around the world against trans people, with increasing transphobia in the British media, attacks on trans people on the streets, hate speech by trans-exclusionary feminists, and by right-wing national and state governments.“

The situation has worsened since then, but the marches have certainly made trans people more visible. They have always been a integral part of the gay community – and were important in the 1979 ‘Stonewall Riots’ which marked a new beginning for the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.

Many more pictures in my Facebook album: Trans+ Pride March, London, 25 July 2026.

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Lebanon: Ceasefire Now! – 2006

Downing St, Westminster

Lebanon: Ceasefire Now!: In July 2006 there were protests in London over Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Palestine. There had been a large march on 22nd July and the pictures here are from a second protest on the following Friday, July 28th.

I posted about the first of these events here last week and you can read further details about what was happening around the world including in Lebanon and Palestine on July 28th on Wikipedia. UK Prime Minister Tony Blair was on that day in Washington holding talks with President George W. Bush on the crisis in the Middle East.

I didn’t write much about this protest at Downing St: “Several hundred demonstrators lined up on the pavement in Whitehall opposite Downing Street. They included a number of Jewish protesters who also felt that the Israeli bombing and invasion was an entirely disproportionate action, as well as supporters of Hezbollah.”

The presence of many Jewish protesters has been a continuing feature of all the protests against the Israeli attacks on Palestine and Gaza, something which is seldom mentioned or given any prominence in media coverage or the comments by politicians on these events.

*Jew and Arab in solidarity opposing the Israeli action*

Accurate reporting on these events and an end to government ministers and leading politicians describing them as hate marches and respecting those Jews who feel compelled to protest against the Israeli government actions – rather than promoting the views of pro-Zionists would I am sure have lessened both the rising anti-Semitism and Islamophobia we now see.

More pictures on My London Diary

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Lewisham, Black Heath and Heathside – 1990

Lewisham, Black Heath and Heathside: Pictures from the final part of my walk on Sunday 18th March 1990. The previous post on this walk was Deptford, Greenwich and The Point – 1990.

House, 17, West Grove, Greenwich, 1990, 90-3m-56 — *House, 17, West Grove, Blackheath, Greenwich, 1990, 90-3m-56*

I came down from The Point onto more or less the top of Point Hill, which rises steeply from Greenwich and turned east into West Grove where a few houses including this one overlook the western edge of the Black Heath – and a short distance across the grass the A2. Different maps show this section as the east section of Blackheath Hill or the start of Shooters Hill, though this section is more or less flat. There are a few trees in the grass which is criss-crossed by footpaths.

This Grade II* listed house, Manna Mead at 17 West Grove, was built around 1800. Although a fine building I think it owes its unusual Grade II* listing at least partly because of its position on the edge of Black Heath and its views. It is divided into flats.

*Dartmouth House, Dartmouth Row, Blackheath, Lewisham, 1990, 90-3m-34*

I walked along to the well-known Rangers House on the edge of Greenwich Park and taking a few pictures there and on the way, including the listed Conduit Head for the water supply to the Greenwich Royal Hospital, none of which I have yet digitised. I went across the A2 and down Dartmouth Hill to Dartmouth Row.

Dartmouth House was a very substantial house and the sign outside suggests it was in process of being converted into flats. It was built in 1928-9 as a nurses home for the Miller General Hospital. This had been built in the grounds of the Royal Kent Dispensary in 1883 to celebrate the Dispensary’s 100th anniversary and “as a memorial to the Revd Canon John Cale Miller (1814-1880), the founder of Hospital Sunday”. This was an important national collection day every June, established in 1873 to support the work of voluntary hospitals, vital before the foundation of the NHS. Its inception is more generally attributed to London’s Lord Mayor.

Miller was Vicar of St Alfege, Greenwich and had greatly supported the work of the Dispensary. The hospital was closed in 1974 and the home was redundant. It briefly became a home for single mothers and was being converted into 17 2- and 3-bed flats.

This Dartmouth House is sometimes confused with the Grade II listed Blackheath House of the Earl of Dartmouth which was also in Dartmouth Row, just south of the church.

*Church of the Ascension, Dartmouth Row, Blackheath, Lewisham, 1990, 90-3m-35*

Dartmouth Chapel was established in 1699 as private chapel for the Earls of Dartmouth so the Vicar of Lewisham could to preach a sermon for the family every Sunday. Traces of the original building may have survived the considerable rebuilding in around 1750 and 1834.

It had served as a temporary parish church for Lewisham in 1774-7 but was consecrated as a separate parish church, the Church of the Ascension in 1883. Much older material was also removed during rebuilding after wartime damage in 1950. The church is Grade II* listed.

View, Council Estate, Morden Lane, 1990, 90-3m-24 — *View, Heathside Council Estate, Morden Lane, Lewisham, 1990,*

These flats on the side of Blackheath Hill were the Heathside Estate – Ferguson House, Melville House, Varden House, Glennie House and Travis House – built in 1948 by the LCC. They have since been demolished and the area redeveloped.

Stairs and View, Council Estate, Morden Lane, 1990, 90-3m-26 — *Stairs and View, Heathside Council Estate, Morden Lane, Lewisham, 1990, 90-3m-26*

Noted for its vibrant community life, this estate on the edge of the London Borough of Lewisham was in a poor state structurally by the 2000s and in 2009 plans were approved for its demolition and replacement by new Heathside and Lethbridge estates.

House, 83, Morden Hill, , 1990, 90-3m-12 — *House, 83, Morden Hill, Lewisham, 1990, 90-3m-12*

A fine example of a 1930s house with its Crittall windows intact. Although many houses like this were built with flat roofs, this had a pitched roof with a large overhang you can see here. The house still looks in good condition now, though the carefully trimmed bushes have gone.

*Railway, Offices, Multi-storey Car Park, Molesworth St, Lewisham, 1990, 90-3n-01*

I began and ended the walk at Lewisham Station and I’m unsure whether I made this image – taken on another camera – at the start or finish of my walk. The picture is made on a footpath that leads over the River Ravensbourne around a quarter of a mile south of the station and was taken from just on the east side of the river looking under the railway line towards Molesworth St. Although central Lewisham has changed drastically in the past decade or so, I think both the buildings in the background remain.

My next photographic walk was in North London two weeks later. Coming here shortly.

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Rhubarb-Rhubarb 2007

Rhubarb-Rhubarb: In July 2007 I was a reviewer at the photography portfolio review festival Rhubarb-Rhubarb in Birmingham, then one of top four or five such events around the world.

The event, based on the first this type of event, FotoFest in Houston, Texas which had been founded in 1986, had begun in Birmingham as a portfolio day as a part of a ‘Seeing the Light‘ festival for photographers in 1997, named after photographer and educator Rhonda Wilson‘s 1993 book ‘Seeing The Light: The Photographers’ Guide to Enterprise‘.

Following the success of this review, Wilson went on in 1998 to organise the annual 3-day Rhubarb-Rhubarb International Festival in Birmingham which drew photographers from around the world to have their portfolios reviewed by a mixture of well-known photographers, educators, magazine editors, photography critics and others. And in 2007, me. And although I wasn’t going there to take photographs I did wear my Leica M8 with a 35mm f1.4 lens and couldn’t resist taking a few snaps.

The 2007 event attracted many mainly young photographers, including some who have gone on to be very successful in the photography world. I was invited to take part as a reviewer as for around seven years I had built up one of the largest and most followed photography sites on the web as ‘Photography Guide’ on one of the many micro-sites of About.com. On it I had tried hard to write about many well-known photographers and to write about photography in countries around the world.

Unfortunately although my work on About.com received many positive responses from photographers and collectors around the world – and some of my words were widely pirated on gallery sites and helped earn many students their degrees, the whole of About.com had recently been taken over by the New York Times, which saw it simply as a way to make a quick buck to finance their other activities. My micro-site had been a part of the fifth largest site on the web but a few years later the whole site had essentially disappeared.

Until then I had worked with great and supportive editors. My new editors didn’t like what I was doing. They didn’t want any serious writing about photography and had no interest in anything that was happening outside the USA. They wanted short easy pieces which would appeal to a wide American audience – taking pictures of your family, babies, Thanksgiving, July 4th etc – and more importantly to US advertisers. Readers in Australia, Bangladesh, Chile, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Honduras, India, Japan, Kenya, Lithuania, Mexico, Norway etc – and I had them in many other countries too – were of zero interest to them.

I fought with them for around seven months, making some small concessions but continuing to try to write – as I had been engaged to do in 1999 – for serious photographers, collectors and people with a real interest in the medium, while also providing some of the things the editors demanded. But by the time I arrived at Rhubarb-Rhubarb I was just out of a job.

I’d started Re>PHOTO a few months earlier, anticipating my sacking, largely as a site on which I could publish my thoughts on photography when I was no longer writing for money, though over the years it has slowly changed into being a site almost entirely about my own past work.

*Barry Lewis set up his white tent and photographed people*

Almost immediately I returned from Rhubarb-Rhubarb I posted a short piece on it, ‘Rhubarb Rhubarb: Three Canons‘, the title and structure referring to a short text with 3 pictures by Minor White. My ‘Three Canons for Reviewees’ based on my experience as a reviewer are perhaps worth repeating:

Three Canons for Reviewees

Be still, let your work speak and your reviewer think. Say only what is necessary.

When making your pictures think for yourself; when preparing to present your work, think of your audience.

Erase the word memory from your memory, your statements, your discourse. Let your work be memory, if so, then no one will need to be reminded.

*Curzon St Station, Birmingham’s first station for trains to London, viewed from the London train*

Rhubarb-Rhubarb in 2007 was held in the former Curzon Street station in Birmingham, a fine building which was Birmingham’s first railway station in 1838, but closed in 1966. It may open again around 2038 as the terminus of the ridiculously over-budget and emasculated to pointlessness HS2 line from Old Oak Common.

At the end of my 2007 >Re:PHOTO post I promised to write about some of the photographers whose work I reviewed – and I did. You can find more about them and Rhubarb-Rhubarb 2007 in August 2007 posts on >Re:PHOTO.

The last Rhubarb-Rhubarb was in 2009 and was the largest and most successful of them all, but the recession and the withdrawal of Arts Council funding put an end to them. Sadly Rhonda Wilson died in 2014 having been ill for several years.

You can read more about the 2007 event with many more of my pictures at Rhubarb-Rhubarb.

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Shops & Yards, Leyton – 1994

Shops & Yards, Leyton: Continuing with pictures from my walks around Leyton in September 1994 her is a final set of pictures of shops and yards which caught my attention. Although I originally captioned some as being in Leytonstone I think by this part of the walk I was back in Leyton. This post follows on from More Leytonstone Shops – 1994.

Cake Shop, Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, 1994, 94-910-56 — *Cake Shop, Leyton, Waltham Forest, 1994, 94-910-56*

This amazing brightly sunlit near-symmetrical window display in a shop selling cakes has as its centrepiece a rather unhealthy looking plant in a bright orange container with a pentagonal gold design on its front.

Under each box was a carefully placed doily – a decorative openwork piece first popularised by London Draper Mr Doiley in the 17th century as woollen pieces to be worn. Later doilys became used as head coverings, napkins and largely “crocheted tatted or knitted out of cotton or linen thread” and became used under jugs, plates, vases and dishes on dining and other tables. More commonly they are now made – like those in this picture – from paper.

The interior of the shop can also be seen, if dimly, in the picture, and there are also some reflections, including me at the bottom of the frame, though more obvious is a road sign warning of the low railway bridge which I now think is that Hainault Road – and which can also be made out across the top of the picture. The interior and reflections merge well and it is hard to sort them out.

M W White, Metal Dealer, Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, 1994, 94-910-43 — *M W White, Metal Dealer, Leyton, Waltham Forest, 1994, 94-910-43*

Somewhere in Leyton was a small and packed yard of metal dealer M W White and I think it was next to Midland Road station on Midland Road and I made this looking down from the station platform. This site was redeveloped before 2008.

*Lea Bridge Sauna, Lea Bridge Rd, Leyton, Waltham Forest, 1994, 94-910-45*

The shop occupied by Lea Bridge Sauna at 171 Lea Bridge Road has undergone frequent changes of business since I made this picture and in 2025 was a mobile phone and vape shop. I think it has kept the central door but now has large glass windows on each side, though more often the whole ground floor frontage is covered by a metal blind.

*Tropical Fish, Lea Bridge Rd, Leyton, Waltham Forest, 1994, 94-910-31*

I felt that one of the tropical fish in the ‘aquarium’ across the top half of the picture which had fallen off, leaving its outline and the bare wood behind was now swimming across the window below.

I think the only fish now for sale on the Lea Bridge Road are probably in fish and chip shops. I always enjoyed walking past the many shops on this road and at one time used to visit to buy bargain photographic paper and film at Marston & Heard at 378 Lea Bridge Road. In the late 1970s they became part of a larger group of dealers, the Phototec Group with various branches around London and elsewhere. Among other things in the early 1980s I bought fairly large stocks of Agfa Portriga paper which Agfa then no longer sold in the UK. The group disappeared around the end of that decade.

*C Barralet Builders Merchants, Leyton, Waltham Forest, 1994, 94-910-33*

The only information I can find searching on Google for C Barralet is based on these two pictures I took back in 1994, and this builders merchants otherwise seem to have disappeared without trace, though I’m sure will still be listed in out-of-date directories and other records.

In the background here is a distinctive huilding and further away two gasholders, presumably those of Lea Bridge (Clementina Road) Gasworks to the south of Clementina Road, which were taken out of use in 2012 and demolished in 2019. The parked gas can suggests this might be part of the gasworks site.

*C Barralet Builders Merchants, Leyton, Waltham Forest, 1994, 94-910-36*

Comprehensive redevelopment of this area since 1994 makes it impossible for me to precisely locate these pictures, and I think all of the buildings shown have now been demolished including the factory at the right of this picture.

*Leyton, Waltham Forest, 1994, 94-910-23*

I think this industrial site was probably also in the same area south of Lea Bridge Road in Leyton and also now redeveloped. The buildings here seem to be largely steel frames covered with sheets of asbestos and I can identify none of the rusting stacks of products.

*Leyton, Waltham Forest, 1994, 94-910-25*

Finally a closer look at the front of one of the sheds and the items in front of it photographed over the green fence with items of a similar colour and a large brighter green door. But what makes the composition stand out is the orange paint over parts of the structure of the large doorway, perhaps looking like some flat-footed robot standing arms outstretched holding vertical spears blocking the entrance.

I think this was the end of this walk in Leyton and I probably caught a bus back to Hackney Central for the North London Line.

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Deptford, Greenwich and The Point – 1990

Deptford, Greenwich and The Point: More pictures from my walk on 18th March 1990. The previous post on this walk was Lewisham and Deptford – 1990.

I walked from Deptford into the area between Deptford and Lewisham, mainly in the London Borough of Greenwich, then up the hills towards Blackheath. As often on my walks there was a good deal of wandering around as I tried to at least look down every street on my way.

*Eagle, 20, Deptford Broadway, Deptford, Lewisham, 1990, 90-3g-11*

This terrace of buildings from 17-21 Deptford Broadway dates from the late 17th century and is Grade II listed. The Eagle is perched on top of the Transport Cafe which was at some long past time a tavern. The listing says the building is probably from the late 17th century and still has two original staircases.

*Houses, 25, 27, Blackheath Rd, Greenwich, 1990, 90-3g-14*

Two houses which caught my attention for their verandas. Both were built in the 1840s and are larger than you might think as you can just see they have basements. I wondered if the left hand house of the pair was built for a client with a larger family.

Ditch Alley, Blackheath Rd, Greenwich, 1990, 90-3g-15 — *Ditch Alley, Blackheath Rd, Greenwich, 1990*

Ditch Alley runs from Blackheath Road to John Penn St which gets its name from the engineering works of John Penn & Sons which were begun in 1799 and from 1825 produced marine engines here as well as boilers at its riverside site at Palmers Payne Wharf, Deptford.

The alley went through the centre of the site and I think all the buildings in my two pictures date from 1863 or later. Among other claims to engineering fame the company produced the world’s first wind tunnel in 1868. The company declined as shipbuilding declined in London and was wound up in 1914.

*Ditch Alley, John Penn St, Greenwich, 1990, 90-3m-62*

John Penn Street was originally known as Cold Bath Lane but was renamed John Penn Street in the 1870s. Parts of the works site were later occupied by the Broomfield Bakery which closed in 1992 (and is still missed by some locals – Gregg’s sausage rolls are not the same), and while Lewisham Council dithered over adding some of the remaining buildings to the Statutory List they were demolished. The site is now occupied by Wickes, Pets at Home and a large car park for these stores along with housing. More details on the Greenwich Industrial History site.

Parry's Dispensing Chemist, Lewisham Rd, Lewisham, Greenwich, 1990, 90-3m-64 — *Parry’s Dispensing Chemist, Lewisham Rd, Greenwich, 1990, 90-3m-64*

By 2009 Parry’s Dispensing Chemist’s premises at 6-8 Lewisham Road were occupied by Juliet Q Unisex Hair Beauty Salon but this closed shortly after and I think the ground floor has since remained unoccupied. But although Mr Yip may well have left us, the shop next door at No 4 is still a Chinese Take Away.

*Dutton Street, Maidenstone Hill, Greenwich, 1990, 90-3m-66*

Although Google Maps calls this Maidenstone Hill, the name on the houses clearly reads Dutton Street, while a newer sign on the other side of the road favours Google’s choice. This is certainly a hilly part of London and I made my way to the top of the hill.

*View, The Point, Greenwich, 1990, 90-3m-51*

The Point has been noted for centuries as a viewpoint over London with wide views to the north and the west, and remains as a small area of public open space. Although now in Greenwich it was formerly in the Hundred of Blackheath, Kent, and was named The Blackheath Point.

On a clear day there is a protected view of St Paul’s Cathedral, but although I had good weather, the city was covered in the usual murk of pollution, atmospheric but hiding it. I think to get a clear view you would need to be up here after a thunderstorm had scrubbed the London air.

*Point Hill, Westgrove Lane, from, The Point, Greenwich, 1990, 90-3m-53*

The land drops away steeply here to a road full of houses for the fashionable and wealthy in the Victorian era – and still now for the rich. These houses are quite a contrast to the working class homes in my Dutton Street picture above.

*View, The Point, Greenwich, 1990, 90-3m-55*

Looking roughly north there are more plebeian residencies close to The Point and in the middle distance a number of large council blocks from the 1930s or 1950s. Beyond them is housing on the Isle of Dogs and the growing development of Docklands, as yet without its towers, though the cranes are busy.

I was coming close to the end of my walk but I took a few more pictures before leaving for home which I’ll post shortly in the final selection from this walk.

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More Leytonstone Shops – 1994

More Leytonstone Shop Windows: More pictures from my walk in September 1994.

*Tailor, High Rd, Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, 1994, 94-903-32*

High Road Leytonstone is a main road which stretches from around the junction with Cann Hall Lane and goes though the centre of Leytonstone to the Green Man Roundabout around a mile and a half to the north. When I made these pictures I had little interest in their exact location. It was the content of the picture that interested me, this plastic-wrapped head and arm-less torso in a tight top and skirt with rather odd chains with hanging tassels and the curtains with flowering branches and vases of flowers.

Tailor, High Rd, Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, 94-903-33

I stood further back to take a more overall image, but this meant I was unable to control the reflection. This shows a rather distinctive end of a terrace of shops which I can’t now find on High Rd, Leytonstone, but there are some very similar frontages close to the south end of the road. But perhaps someone with local knowledge will be able to comment and post a more detailed location for this and the other images.

*Café, Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, 1994, 1994, 94-903-36*

A sparsely furnished brightly coloured café with shining clean tables, but strangely lacking in condiments, with just a single pepper pot on each table. And apparently nothing on the wall behind. Those double-side bright red benches look to me rather narrow and uncomfortable and a possible cause of friction with those sitting on the bench on the other side.

*All Occasions, Florist, Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, 1994, 94-910-61*

The lettering and decoration of ‘All Occasions Florists’ suggested to me a Greek or Turkish hand behind them, but the posters covering the windows indicated this was no longer in business selling Wedding and Funeral Flowers.

*Wig Shop, Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, 1994, 94-910-63*

I could never understand the large number of wig shops in all of the most deprived areas of London, and photographed many of the displays. And why at the front of the window was there a bright blue bald head?

*Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, 1994, 94-910-51*

Most of the wigs seemed to be for women, but I was attracted to this window for men, with a head with a ridiculously fake moustache and behind, with staring blue eyes and ridiculous eyebrows, a figure with a crudely drawn collar and tie. And another bald head, this time white while the other male heads were – unlike those in the previous picture – some kind of skin colour.

*Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, 1994, 94-910-54*

And a second, wider view of that same window, with at the bottom a photograph of a man wearing the ‘St Giles’ wig and giving some technical details: 60% human hair and 40% modacyrlic fibre it weighs 42 grams and is available in a wide range of colours.

People wear wigs for various reason, including to cover hair loss due to alopecia or chemotherapy as well as for fashion and changing their looks – as well as for theatre, TV and film. Apparently many people including some stars are never seen in public without one.

More colour from Leytonstone later.

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