The Off Licence

The men who run the off licence are the proud owners of a two and a half year old rottweiler called Cesur.

'The Shop'

The owner of 'The Shop' at number 40, Chatsworth Road (whose opening hours are clearly displayed in the window: Monday–Sunday: closed) enjoys living on 'this peculiar and wonderful street'.

" I bought ‘The Shop’ in 1999 where St Lucian twins were dealing in ‘import and export’. In many ways things are even more interesting now. I love the fact that a different ethnic minority occupies each shop. This block and the one opposite were built specifically as part of a new neighbourhood in the 1870s; the road was put in afterwards. Percy Ingles on the corner is the only chain on this street – that is, apart from the three bookmakers. It opened in 1991 when the market was still thriving, in what had been a bakery 150 years before."

Herbert, 87 years old

Herbert was born just off Chatsworth Road, where he still lives.

"When you woke up in the morning you could hear the birds singing. It was a different world then. There would be bands playing on the marshes, kites in the sky and real street parties with acrobats. It might sound like heaven – it was – but we didn’t know it then. There were seven butchers – I used to get faggots, salt beef and saveloys. We did all our shopping on Chatsworth Road and had all our entertainment there too. There was no need to go anywhere else. Where the snooker hall is now was the cinema and we all used to go to the pictures a lot. Cohen’s grocery store was there, the first Tesco. There were two pie and mash shops – one was where the Chinese is now; we had a lot of dinners in there. The old post office was an electrical shop and the dentist by the school was a television shop. There were two ironmongers that sold everything, as well as a tailors, a drapers and several fish shops. The Blackhorse pub was wonderful and always busy. The market stalls used to go right down as far as Chats Palace and opposite was the Corner Pin pub where everyone went. At the market they used to make sweets – they smelt lovely."

The Pound Shop

Everything from shopping trolleys to tennis rackets hang from the ceiling. Shelves stacked high with mouse traps, underpants and plastic bird nests give way to boxes full of fake flowers, football tops and face flannels. The question is: what don't they sell, here in this bargain Chatsworth emporium. A builder in the middle of buying screws asks: 'How much for the football, mate, 50p?, when someone interrupts with: 'Do you have any men's perfume?"

Fruit and Veg

Timur, (above) has just taken over the very popular fruit and veg shop that has been running for over 30 years. It's a hard job, working 18 hours a day. He gets up at 2am every day except Sunday to go to Spitalfields Market, stacking shelves until 11am. Sometimes he can have a bit of a sleep at the back until 3pm if his wife comes over, otherwise he works right through until 8pm.

Carnival Cards

"When we first opened, we went crazy, we sold everything," says Omar (above). "My family have had this shop for 26 years. It has changed a lot, partly because of legal reasons. At one time, newsagents were only allowed to sell newspapers and sweets, that was all, not even drinks. The the law has changed now, but also supermarkets and superstores are selling everything, so we do. When the market was here, we didn't bother as we couldnt compete. When the market left, sales really went downhill. We used to sell a lot of haberdashery, with wool and ribbons and threads, but we have almost phased that out now. About 15 years ago the back of our shop was just wool, and my mum used to give sewing lessons. When that stopped making money, we made it just cards."

"My dad, whose from Pakistan, worked in textiles, and when that went downhill he bought the shop. But the first year, he didn't even know what Valentines was, he didn't have a clue," explains Omar. His assistant (above) on Valentine's Day, 2010, when the shop's Valentine's cards numbered several hundred.

Today Carnival Cards also sells household goods, food, toys and stationery, as it has done since the mid '80s. Six years ago Omar's family were going to leave, as things were so "dead", then four or five years ago, the bookshop, the deli, Venetias and Hop the toy shop opened nearby and business picked up. "This end of Chatsworth Road is much better than the other. Definitely."

The Tyre Shop

Steve (above) and his family have had this shop for 51 years.