Latest news with #EastLondon
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘Youths everywhere were spitting over tinny beats playing off a Nokia': great grime photographer Simon Wheatley
It's an overcast Thursday morning, and photographer Simon Wheatley is doing a soft-shoe shuffle through Roman Road in Bow, east London, as a market stall blares out exquisite 70s funk. 'That's more like it,' he says, with a grin on his face. 'A bit of energy.' This was once grime's artery, its chaotic central hub, even its muse – a street Wiley once told me was 'the nurturer' of local talents like him and Dizzee Rascal. And it was here, in the 2000s, that Wheatley would create a vivid and intimate document of grime in its frenzied flush of youth, and of working-class neighbourhoods like this before they became considerably more sedate. Fourteen years after the release of Don't Call Me Urban, Wheatley's long-sold-out photo-book from that era – once described by Vice as 'grime's Old Testament' – it is finally getting a rerelease, at almost double its original size. I have arranged to meet Wheatley outside the bougie Roman Road coffee shop that was once legendary grime record shop Rhythm Division. This leads to some confusion – there are simply too many bougie coffee shops in succession. 'Back in the day it was absolutely thronging with people,' Wheatley recalls. 'You'd turn a corner and down a sidestreet there'd be six guys doing an impromptu cipher [a freestyle MC-ing performance] – everywhere there were youths hanging out, wheeling around on their bikes, spitting over some tinny beat playing off a Nokia. This was the heartbeat of grime.' Wheatley became grime's documentarian simply by walking out of his front door in Limehouse when he was 'just a broke photographer' in his 20s, and daring to take an interest in his young neighbours. He did so at a time when the media and MPs were condemning the same kids as delinquent 'hoodies' or 'chavs' – as if they were somehow morally culpable for the social problems they were enduring. Photographing rising underground artists for Black music magazine RWD gave Wheatley his 'hood pass', with now-famous images such as Roll Deep's 'ice-cream van' shoot, Skepta in a chip shop, Crazy Titch and his terrifying dog, Dizzee in the studio, Kano dressed as Scarface, or Tinchy Stryder and his crew Ruff Sqwad when they were still in school. Those shoots opened the door – although some suspected he was an undercover cop when he first showed up. 'I remember [Roll Deep's] DJ Target invited me to the When I'm 'Ere video shoot, and I saw this gaggle of youngsters hanging about, looking at me suspiciously. I realised that there was a whole world to uncover, with their lives.' Over time, he won the trust of his subjects. It helped, he thinks, that he is a 'a bit of an odd case, a bit of a weirdo' – an outsider among outsiders. Wheatley insinuated himself into the pirate radio studios and youth clubs that provided the DIY launchpads for so much talent. He shot not just microphone clashes and radio sessions but fights, drug deals, hectic street-corner tableaux and intimate domestic moments; teenagers watching TV, daydreaming, having breakfast, rolling spliffs, writing out lyrics longhand, doing each other's hair. 'For me, the texture of grime is there in the real world,' Wheatley says. 'It's there on the estate, or in the radio stations at 2 o'clock in the morning, where some deeply underground crew would have a slot – the bin bag in the corner overflowing with fast food boxes and drink cans, Rizla packets and rave flyers scattered everywhere.' Don't Call Me Urban is a social document of youthful energy, boredom, angst and joy, as much as it captures a generation of musicians on their way to fame and fortune. 'I always felt that grime was a reflection of that post-Thatcherite social breakdown,' Wheatley continues. 'It was that very coarse expression of a kind of individualism.' The paradox is that it was also 'very much about the community', about mates looking out for each other when nobody else would. He is defensive of the bright, creative young people who went on to change the face of UK music, some of whom have become his close friends; I have been with Wheatley while he buys nourishing groceries for a hungover Hak Baker, the charismatic singer-songwriter Wheatley was shooting in 2006, when he was a 14-year-old MC called Swift Leng. 'Now artists like Stormzy are superstars, people forget that the first wave were treated as an underclass,' Wheatley says. 'Grime now is just regarded as a musical genre, rather than a sociological phenomenon. But it was both of those things: an incredible sound, but also this angst-ridden reflection of youth culture on the streets. That's what gripped me, and that's what I really went hard after, chasing.' At times, this chase would lead him into sketchy situations, with people pulling out long blades at pirate stations (also caught on camera), and the police rarely far away. One night, he found himself in the middle of an empty field by the Docklands Light Railway, shooting a pre-arranged fight – football hooligan style – between boys from the E3 and E14 postcodes. Some of them weren't wildly impressed when his flash went off. 'That was very early on in my grime experience. Naivete has always been my greatest shield,' he laughs. 'I didn't really know what I was doing half the time, or where I was going. Crazy Titch said recently: 'Simon was so brave.' I wasn't brave; I just didn't know!' Wheatley's mentor was Philip Jones Griffiths, the late war photojournalist, and as a photojournalist himself, Wheatley has taken deliberate risks – going through military roadblocks in Chiapas, Mexico, disguised as a peasant while on the trail of the Zapatistas in the late 1990s, or plunging into the Paris banlieues during the 2005 riots. He is a physically dynamic photographer, well-suited to capturing the restless, fidgety energy of teenagers. 'I was a sports fanatic as a teenager,' he says, demonstrating some capoeira moves, 'and photography replaced sport for me as a passion. I can't really teach photography, but I can teach martial arts: I teach a combination of capoeira Angola mixed with yogic breathing and tai chi. I also fast before I shoot, just for a few hours, so my senses are sharper.' First published in 2011, Don't Call Me Urban was quickly out of print and in demand, its price soaring on resale sites as the genre exploded into the mainstream. 'It became almost like a relic that was appreciated by the connoisseurs of the culture, and it became this cult book,' he says – both as a rare visual document of Black British music heritage, and a source of creative inspiration. One of those connoisseur-fans is Clint Ogbenna (known as Clint 419), founder of streetwear clothes brand Corteiz, who turned one of Wheatley's famous shots of Crazy Titch into a jacket, and gave Wheatley the push and financial support to finally rerelease the book. As well as providing a unique document of grime in its heyday, Wheatley's work is a valuable visual record of every day life in east London, before the 2012 Olympics arrived and changed it beyond recognition. He is keen to avoid fetishising the pre-gentrification city: 'Who's to say all those changes are bad?' he asks. 'I'm sure some people are happy their flats have been refurbished. But artistically, texturally, there was something very gripping about a run-down block in a state of disrepair – it almost felt as if it was abandoned to the youth, to make their playground of hope, frustration and despair. There was much more atmosphere – nowadays everything is a bit cleaner.' The expanded edition of Don't Call Me Urban! The Time Of Grime (£65) is available now from Backdoor Editions.
The Sun
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Daisy Lowe marries fiance and shares first pics of incredible wedding dress
DAISY Lowe has married her fiance Jordan Saul, sharing the first pics of her incredible wedding dress. Model Daisy, 36, and property developer Jordan, 31, were joined by close friends and family as they said their vows on Thursday in an intimate London ceremony. 5 5 After the ceremony, the group headed to Brutto – an Italian restaurant in East London – where they celebrated with a cosy dinner featuring bowls of pasta and tiramisu. Photos from the celebration, shared on social media by Daisy's half-sister Betty Goffey, 18, offered a glimpse into the intimate evening. Guests gathered around a candlelit table set up outside the trattoria, creating a warm, celebratory mood. One photo showed Daisy wearing a classic off-the-shoulder white gown with her hair half-up, captioned simply by Betty: 'Da bride.' Daisy stunned fans as she later posted a string of shots from an Agent Provocateur shoot, in which she wore sets of VERY racy lingerie inside her room at the five-star Lanesborough hotel. The star wore a veil with the getup, as well as a giant white bow, and a cake between her legs. In their Instagram caption, the brand wrote: "And for the wedding night... "Daisy Lowe for Agent Provocateur, captured by Claire Rothstein." Earlier that day, her mum Pearl Lowe shared a family photo taken on a quiet residential street before the couple headed to exchange their vows. Also in attendance were Pearl's husband Danny Goffey, Daisy's half-siblings Betty, Alfie and Frankie, and her godmother, musician Zoe Grace. Jordan's family, including his parents, were also part of the celebrations. One notable absence was Daisy's biological father Gavin Rossdale, the frontman of rock band Bush. Though he wasn't present at the London ceremony, the pair remain on good terms, and he's expected to attend a larger wedding celebration the couple are planning in Somerset later this summer. Daisy and Jordan share a daughter named Ivy, who the Strictly alum gave birth to in 2023. 5 5 5 She announced her pregnancy in October 2022, after announcing their engagement in September. Daisy previously said on Instagram: "I wanted to share some news with you. Jordan and I are having a baby. "We are absolutely bursting at the seams with happiness. I'm oscillating wildly between excitement & nervousness with a dash of morning sickness thrown in for good measure! Big love to all of you." Matt Smith and DJ Mark Ronson.
Daily Mail
7 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Daisy Lowe is married! Model ties the knot with long-term partner Jordan Saul in low-key ceremony
Daisy Lowe has married her partner of five years Jordan Saul in a low-key ceremony in London on Thursday. The 36-year-old model and daughter of Pearl Lowe and Gavin Rossdale and the property developer, 31, said 'I do' surrounded by their closest family and friends. After the ceremony, they headed to East London's cult Italian restaurant Brutto to celebrate over bowls of pasta and tiramisu. Photos shared by Daisy's half-sister, Betty Goffey, 18, showed the intimate dinner party unfolding on a candlelit table outside the trattoria. One shot shows Daisy in a simple white off-the-shoulder gown, hair half up, which Betty captioned simply: 'Da bride'. Another snap, shared by mum Pearl Lowe earlier that morning, showed the family posing for a picture on a quiet residential street just before the nuptials. Joining the happy couple were Daisy's musician mum Pearl, her stepfather Danny Goffey, her half-siblings Betty, Alfie and Frankie, and her godmother, musician Zoe Grace. Jordan's parents and close family were also in attendance. Notably absent was Daisy's biological father, Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale, whom she discovered was her real dad as a teenager after a paternity test. But there's no bad blood. The pair are on good terms and he is expected to attend a much larger wedding celebration in Somerset later this summer. Ex-Strictly star Daisy and Jordan met during lockdown in 2020 while they were both walking their respective dogs. The couple now share a two-year-old daughter, Ivy. While the Thursday ceremony was a private affair, Daisy has big plans for their summer wedding. The family will officially celebrate again in Somerset, where Pearl and Danny have lived since relocating from Camden in 2005, and where Daisy and Jordan are now putting down roots. Daisy said: 'I'm moving to, and marrying in Somerset. That's how much I love it.' Daisy said she is currently deep in planning for a sustainable yet glamorous countryside wedding. Ivy will be a flower girl, and Daisy plans to coordinate her look with her daughter and bridesmaids. Jordan, whom Daisy lovingly describes as her 'soulmate,' is in charge of logistics, while she handles the creative touches. 'I'm really lucky I have my mum to talk to about styling. She's got such brilliant taste,' Daisy said. 'I don't feel actual pressure, but it is an exciting idea that it could be better than my 18th, which was one of the best parties ever.' That's no small feat: in 2007, her parents threw her a birthday bash complete with a gig by Dirty Pretty Things, bussing guests out to the countryside. Her 21st, held at Babington House, saw Daisy in full Ice Queen regalia with Alexa Chung and Pixie Geldof on the guest list. Daisy and Jordan will soon rent a small eco-home in Somerset while they search for the right patch of land to build their dream house - complete with wormeries, reusable water systems and a heat pump. 'We don't want to just build it without any footing,' Daisy said. 'Community is really important. I love old houses, but Jordan said, 'if you really care about the environment, you should build a home,' and I was easily swayed.' Despite juggling a toddler, wedding prep and a house move, Daisy seems more grounded than ever. 'We've always done everything backwards - having a baby, getting married - but that was always my dream,' she said. 'I wanted to be really mindful of Ivy having a secure attachment.' In her twenties, Daisy dated a string of famous faces including Mark Ronson, actor Matt Smith and Hurts frontman Theo Hutchcraft.
Telegraph
a day ago
- Telegraph
‘Man with gun' arrested at London Underground station
A 61-year-old man was arrested at a London Underground station after reportedly carrying a gun. British Transport Police officers swarmed Elm Park station on Thursday morning after receiving reports of a man 'in possession of a firearm' in east London. The force was called as rush hour began at 7am, with commuters starting to board the Tube at the District Line station. The station was closed for several hours as a result, with Transport for London confirming it had only reopened by 10.45am. A British Transport Police spokesman said: 'A 61-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possession of a firearm and taken into custody. 'Anyone who witnessed the incident or who has information is asked to contact BTP by texting 61016, or by calling 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference 109 of June 19.'
Telegraph
a day ago
- Telegraph
How Britain's forecourts became crime hotspots
At two o'clock on a warm and breezy afternoon in east London, a blueish-grey hatchback sweeps into a petrol station on Vallance Road, which links the bustling streets of Whitechapel with Bethnal Green. The garage, located between a 24-hour gym, a Halal grill house and a Jewish bakery, is quiet, save for the cheery sounds of children playing in the grounds of a nearby primary school. The hatchback parks beside Pump Three, one of eight pumps on the forecourt, and the driver, a tall, thin bespectacled man in trainers, grey trousers and a maroon coloured jacket, gets out and fills up. Three minutes later, he returns to the car and speeds off – without paying. It's a brazen example of fuel theft, also known as 'bilking', or 'pump and dash', a crime that has grown rapidly since the pandemic and the sudden surge in oil prices in 2022 sparked by the war in Ukraine. Industry experts warn that it's 'spiralling out of control', threatening family businesses that are responsible for running thousands of Britain's petrol stations. It is increasingly being linked to organised crime networks who use stolen, fake or cloned number plates to evade detection. Some criminals even fill up containers of fuel hidden in their vehicles to sell on the 'black market'. 'It's a really serious issue and we've definitely seen it get worse,' says Gordon Balmer, executive director of the Petrol Retailers Association. The body represents companies which own over 4,000 forecourts in the UK – about half of the total. 'People think they can get away with it' 'People think they can get away with it, so unfortunately it's gone through the roof,' says Balmer, adding that posts on social media have encouraged others to have a go. 'We've even had people film themselves filling up with fuel, and not paying, and then it appears on TikTok,' he says, citing a recent case in North Yorkshire. Statistics from police forces, obtained by Forecourt Trader, an industry publication, suggest there've been more than 131,000 reported drive-off incidents in the UK over the past five years, with fuel losses estimated at £6.55 million. But the figures hugely understate the scale of the problem because they exclude the thousands of cases that aren't notified to police. The industry accepts that with tight budgets and other more serious offences to deal with, detectives are unlikely to devote resources to an investigation into fuel theft – so most crimes go unreported. 'It can tie a policeman up for half a day reviewing CCTV, coming onto a forecourt. It's a lot of time and effort for a low value crime,' says Balmer. Adding in cases that aren't recorded by police, the British Oil Security Syndicate (Boss), a not-for-profit organisation which campaigns for petrol station safety, estimates that there were a staggering 1.5 million incidents last year, a rise of 50 per cent in two decades. On average, it cost forecourt operators £9,800 per site, with garages in London, Surrey, Essex, the West Midlands and Oxford the worst hit. A shift towards 'no means of payment' cases About one-third of cases involve motorists leaving a petrol station shop or forecourt without any attempt to pay for their fuel. But Bruce Nichol, operations director at Boss, says the 'most dramatic shift' is a move towards 'no means of payment', which now account for two-thirds of cases. It's where drivers tell garage staff they haven't got enough money or claim to have forgotten to bring their cash or card. In such instances, staff will ask for the driver's details and make arrangements for them to pay later, taking action in the civil courts if they don't cough up. Nichol says it's an unwelcome 'trend' with motorists exploiting the goodwill of petrol stations, to allow payments to be deferred until there's enough money in the bank. 'It's become a seven-day payday loan – we're finding it more and more to the point where we'll have to address that model,' he says. The increase in 'no means of payment' cases suggests that genuine cost-of-living pressures may be one of the factors behind the overall rise in incidents – but the problem has been exacerbated by opportunist thieves and organised criminal gangs. The Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) says that is supported by research on the links between retail theft more broadly and organised crime. 'There are people who turn up in a transit van, they have a filling point that's connected to a tank and they fill up with 1000 litres, making off without payment,' says Balmer. 'We have criminal families who move from one jurisdiction to another getting fuel and flouting the law.' Industry sources say criminal gangs within travelling communities pose a particular challenge for petrol retailers, sometimes using false filling caps to steal fuel, which funds other criminal activity, and moving across police force boundaries, which makes them hard to trace. Andy Dunbobbin, the joint lead on retail and business crime for the APCC, told The Telegraph there was 'a view' that gangs within travelling communities 'contributed significantly' to the problem. Declining confidence in the justice system Dunbobbin, the Labour North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner, describes fuel theft in general as a 'big, big problem.' He says: 'The financial impact on retailers and the lack of effective enforcement affects not only their profitability but undermines confidence in the justice system as well,' pointing to 'low' prosecution rates. Data obtained by Forecourt Trader revealed that at least 131,000 drive-offs had been reported to police across the UK since 2020 – with 95 per cent of cases dropped because a suspect could not be identified. About 13 per cent of vehicles involved used false number plates. While shocking, the figures, from a Freedom of Information request, actually under-state the scale of fuel theft in the country as 12 police forces didn't respond. Last month, however, in one of the few successful cases of clamping down on the wave of criminality, James Dunn was jailed for 16 months, after committing nine thefts from petrol stations across Kent. Dunn, who admitted various other offences, was said by police to have poured petrol into containers stored in the boot of his car, as well as refuelling the vehicle without paying. When officers caught up with him, he drove into a lamp-post. At Vallance Road petrol station, whose site includes a cashpoint and well stocked mini-supermarket, the spike in fuel theft cases prompted an urgent re-think about security. 'There were some people that were coming almost every day,' says Nicolina, the site's section leader. 'They put in £70 and they would just drive off because they knew nothing's going to happen to them… I don't think it's fair to other customers who come here paying for their fuel.' The owners installed high-tech surveillance cameras around the forecourt to monitor every vehicle entering and exiting. The images are displayed in 'gallery' form on a screen behind the tills in the store, along with each car's number plate, location on the forecourt and how long it's been on the site. The registration numbers of vehicles that are linked to an incident of non-payment are logged in the system. If the car pulls up at a pump again, the cashier is immediately alerted and blocks them from accessing the petrol – unless the driver pays in advance. The system works well with known repeat offenders. For those who have managed to evade detection because the registration number isn't stored on the database, like the hatchback's, there is a different process. The operators, Vars Technology, will try to trace the owners by obtaining information from the driver licensing agency, DVLA. A letter will be sent requesting payment for the fuel they've taken; if the deadline for payment isn't met, the owner faces escalating administration fees and potential legal action, through a debt recovery service. 'Spiralling out of control' 'Fuel theft is spiralling out of control because the police can't do anything, they don't have the resources and petrol stations have nobody to help them', says Vars director John Garnett. 'The beauty of our system is that we get the driver's details and we follow up.' He says the measures have reduced 'drive-offs' by 80 per cent in the 1,500 petrol stations his company works with, but acknowledges that the system is not a panacea. 'People who steal regularly will not give up stealing fuel – they'll just move to another petrol station,' he says. Or, they will use cloned or fake number plates. Experts say it's an increasing problem, not just for petrol stations, but more generally, as criminals try to circumvent Britain's well established network of ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) cameras, which flag suspect vehicles to police. Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, an independent transport research body, says petrol retailers may need to learn from car park operators who have developed innovative solutions to the problem of non-payment. 'The parking industry has some very fancy technology – in many places you can book your parking slot, you park and drive out, passing a barrier which rises automatically if it knows if you've paid. 'It is possible to envisage that kind of system for petrol stations – though it would be very hard to gate them. But if the problem keeps getting worse then it might be something the industry needs to think about,' says Gooding. Others say that although oil companies and supermarkets might be able to afford installing and maintaining barriers in the forecourts they own, it would cost too much for the 4,000 petrol stations that are operated by small businesses, many of which are family-owned. The industry is also likely to resist moves towards pre-payment pumps – where drivers pay on the forecourt before filling up – as a way to prevent fuel theft. Although common practice in the United States, and used at some British sites, there's a concern paying at the pump would deter drivers from using a visit to the petrol station to have a coffee, grab a sausage roll or do some shopping. 'I compare forecourts to sub-post offices – the proprietors really want you to come into the shop, to buy milk, flowers, chocolate,' says Gooding. 'It's in the grocery shop where they are making more money.' There are, however, some signs of progress. The Policing and Crime Bill, which is going through Parliament, would scrap a rule that the Government says creates a perception of 'immunity' to criminals who steal goods worth less than £200 by treating them as summary cases, dealt with only by magistrates. In future, such cases could be heard in the Crown Court where the maximum sentence would be seven years, rather than two, as at present. A coordinated approach is needed And a Home Office drive to combat retail crime is focusing police minds, with the National Police Chiefs' Council having set up a dedicated intelligence unit to tackle theft linked to serious organised crime networks, Operation Opal. 'It's got to be a real, coordinated approach to tackling this,' says Dunbobbin. Back at the Vallance Road petrol station, in a broom cupboard-sized office at the rear of the mini-supermarket, Nicolina is viewing CCTV footage of the hatchback that drove off without paying. 'Some of them actually forget,' says Nicolina, who's been employed at the garage for five years. 'When I first started working I was surprised how many times it happened that people forgot. Some people are in a hurry,' she says. This driver certainly appears to be. After filling up with 33 litres of unleaded petrol, he replaces the nozzle, screws the fuel cap back on and briskly walks around the car to open the offside front door, before starting up the engine. Within 19 seconds of refuelling he's gone – driving off without even putting his seatbelt on. Was he in such a rush that paying for the petrol slipped his mind? Or did he keep the trip to the garage as short as possible to avoid being caught? 'Who am I to judge?' says Nicolina. 'I don't want to say someone is a thief – maybe they're not.' Whatever the reason, the outcome is the same. The petrol station has lost £42.94 and will now have to devote time and energy, through its security firm, to recover the money – without any guarantee that it ever will.
