London

The joy of socks: Selby in his E8 gallery

The gallery owner Stephen Selby
Age 65, runs Off Broadway Gallery, E8
‘I opened Off Broadway photographic gallery in 1975 and I’ve been here ever since. I moved over to the East End from west London, I live above the shop and I love it here. The gallery is quiet during the week, but is always heaving on Saturdays, when there is the farmers’ market.

I helped get the market started up two years ago and it has brought about a big change to the area. People are getting to know Broadway Market now in a way they never did before. A few years ago if you asked a taxi driver to bring you here from central London he would have told you he wasn’t coming out this way, but now things have changed. Feature continues

‘People shop at the market because they like the food and they have money to spend. We don’t get the tourists like they have at Borough Market and so people can get to the produce. We also have terrific restaurants here. The thing I love most about this area is the community spirit that brings everyone together. The old East Enders generally mix well with the people who visit and work at the Saturday market. It takes you half an hour to walk down the street here as everyone knows each other and everyone is prepared to help each other. You don’t get that anywhere else.

‘The East End used to have a rough image, now the words I hear associated with the area are “trendy” and “fashionable”. I love the fact we don’t have a tube station, so people have to make an effort to find us. Having said that, my son lives over the road from me and his friends still see it as something of a difficulty to make their way over here from west London. There is a perception that Hackney is a long way away from everything else.

‘I am worried by the impact of the Olympics on the East End. The area has a history of manufacturing industries and many businesses have already been lost to make way for the games. There are so many developments now. The concreting over of east London seems to have begun. Residents are worried about how quickly things like football pitches will disappear.’