Being down and out in Ilford today has comparisons to the 1920's

A forgotten history: Though the book above is known by Redbridge Museum they were unaware of the mention of Ilford!

Sometime in the 1920's, a struggling author, named Eric Arthur Blair wrote an account of his near homelessness in France and experience of washing dishes in Paris' restaurants.

He later coupled the publication with a further description of a period of time he spent homeless in London. He used artistic licence to create the impression he was actually homeless, and not simply living as a vagrant for his research. His publication met with rave reviews and 55,000 copies of  'Down and Out in Paris and London' were eventually printed by penguin books in 1940. Read more (here)

The author many years later became ranked as Britain's second most important authors since 1945, under his pseudonym George Orwell (which many of you will recognise). Quite interestingly, his article mentioned the work of the Salvation Army and other church establishments; some positive and some derogatory. He even went as far as naming the town of Ilford in one of the pages near the end of a chapter. Even back then it could be seen that the town of Ilford was known as a place where homeless people could expect a good meal - although the cafe involved seems to have been cheating the homeless of the full value of their voucher which was distributed by the Salvation Army.  How empowering must it be for homeless people in modern times that they are now able to choose venues and even complain about them. It gives them a chance to feel important again and ensures only the real committed venues, with passionate staff, continue to operate.

I discovered the book during a conversation with the pub landlord of the Prince of Wales Pub, opposite our community centre. This is where I was having a meal with my father Wilson Chowdhry.  David Christof, the owner, was once illiterate, but 12 years ago had taught himself to read and this was the first book he read, and it has always triggered strong emotions from him.

The solitary mention of Ilford in the book may be the earliest mention of our town in any novel.

David had heard from local people about our homeless feeding centre, which reminded him of a chapter within the book that talked about our local area. He was encouraged by the fact that Christian charities are still helping the homeless, just as they were a hundred years ago, and that Ilford was still a place where they could find help. Though not a believer himself, he said it was inspiring that Christians have such heart for community. David had always wondered where the coffee house mentioned in the book was located, and after a trawl through the internet my dad found a link to a historic coffee house that was once located at the former Pioneer Market (Where Pioneer Point now stands). The coffee house was part of the new style shopping centres of the time, and it is interesting that a place in such a high profile place might offer the voucher supported meals for homeless people. Then again, the waitress seemed condescending by the account of Orwell so could explain things, but of course I cannot be confident this was the cafe mentioned in the book. Below is text from a website (click here) that describes the former cafe:

"Pioneer Market Cafe [Ilford] NEW

'The Market is a prototype shopping mall, built in the 1920s. It is a maze of corridors, filled with old fashioned individual shops such as wool shops, wet fish shops, butchers shops, pet shops and household wares shops. As well as a gem of a second hand record shop called Back Trax - if you are into that kind of thing - right in the middle is the cafe, which has some of its original frontage and a lurid turquoise interior. Up until recently they had a marvellously kitsch collection of Tea towels of the World pinned on the walls, although these have now been removed. Worth a visit, as is the Pioneer Market itself.' [e-mail from Sally.]"

Contributors from a Facebook group called 'Growing up in the Ilford area (Redbridge, Gants Hill etc) in the 60/70's' believe the Coffee Shop could have been Lyons Tea House with one located at 36 Cranbrook Road and the other vat 165 High Road.  This is entirely possible too.  My research suggests they pretty much had a monopoly on fast food at the time.


Hearing about the book and its mention of my former home town, challenged me to purchase the book and read it. I learnt how back then homeless people travelled all across London to obtain help and assistance - much the same as today. This is due to the rules regarding stay-length at homeless shelters from anywhere between 3 to 30 days. In the old days, homeless people would have to walk miles for each centre and were required to pay for them - not an exorbitant price mind you, but then again the state of them as described by Mr Orwell was pretty disgusting. In modern times, access is free and the homeless will use bikes or oyster cards to get from one venue to the next.

My mum with some of the homeless near Redbridge Library

Many homeless people then and now simply gave up with the system. In my home town for instance, when my mother and I visited the 'rough sleepers' that had been sheltering in tents near the back of Redbridge Central LIbrary and Museum, we found many lived in modern tents. Modern tents make life slightly more comfortable and personal for the homeless, but there are many that live in cardboard boxes, under concrete car parks and other locations as they eke out their existence. We met with a few who lived along the pavements to the rear of Ilford exchange car park, (where the spiralling car park incline provides a shelter), and under the Ley Street underpass, especially the council car park by the side of Lynton House where many reside of an evening.  

Homeless people come in all shapes and sizes and one thing about the Orwell book is that it makes that very clear. Moreover, it removes some of the ridiculous stereotypes we have of the homeless, especially the common misconception that homeless people are all drug-users or alcoholics. When my mother and I began a homeless feeding centre at the British Pakistani Christian Association centre, we were very surprised to find that there was not one drug or alcohol abuser who visited. We slowly discovered that members of the homeless group we serve do a certain level of self-policing, by not sharing news with addicts.

Overtime, some alcoholics have begun to attend but they have all been relatively calm and other homeless friends are there to protect them and us. There seems to be a strong camaraderie amongst those we serve and their desire to help others. Our regular visitors inform us of homeless hot-spots that we should visit to encourage new visitors. These personal friendships within the local homeless community, are well described in Orwell's book, even with the people that are serving them - though not always the case.

The design and service provision at homeless shelters and 'soup kitchens' has changed a lot from the 1920's, and we should all be pleased about this. Homeless have fully-fitted shower facilities and users have their privacy maintained. Moreover, washing of clothes is done through machines and some charities even replace items that are beyond washing or repair. This is not a perfect system, and some homeless people still wear odd shoes, happy to have a covering over their feet rather than none, especially through the recent winter season when some days have been bitterly cold.

As a group, we had to get our kitchen inspected by Redbridge Council's Food Safety Team. During the process I had to undergo a food safety course myself. I have spent hours cleaning the kitchen and planning its design with my mother and a local builder. So you can imagine when the end result was a level 5 attainment in food safety (which is the highest possible mark), I was quite ecstatic.

Video of our work with the homeless

Moreover, the grading illustrates that our commitment to making sure these most vulnerable of victims are given a good quality and healthy meal is on par, with if not better than local restaurants - well that's how I feel. We must be doing something right anyway, as the number of visitors at our centre is increasing weekly, and we have been told that this is illustrative of the trust homeless visitors have in us.

Reading the book was fascinating, as the homeless culture has changed little, though facilities and services for this vulnerable group have improved vastly. Sadly, homelessness has not been eradicated from our society and this should prick our global moral conscience. I think it is important that we look to the past to improve our future, so I will be framing a copy of the book open on a page referring to Ilford and Romton (it is believed Orwell distorted name of Romford for legal reasons)  and will give a copy to Redbridge Museum and to Havering Museum and hope that it will trigger an exhibition on local homelessness. And if nothing else reminds our communities of the first major novel by one of the nation's most important authors, that detailed our wonderful Borough's.

If you would like to help the many homeless people being fed at British Asian Christian Association's community centre you can learn more (here).