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Street life in Gilbert and George land
Evening Standard 31.01.07
Gilbert and George in Spitalfields
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Fournier Street
"All the people in the street were mystified when we started to restore the house. They would ask: 'What's the game? What's the catch?' When we bought a house from a neighbour, he was talking about how beautiful Fournier Street was, and we said: 'Don't you remember how crazy you thought we were?' And he said, 'Yes, I wish I'd been crazy like you!'
Gale Furs, 65 Hanbury Street
"This is where Gilbert has his hats made. And we have collars for our winter coats made here too."
Meraz Cafè, 56 Hanbury Street
"It says on the menu: 'We are not a commercial organisation. This is handy food.' You have to be there at 11 o'clock. The chef is in at 7.30am. And at 11 o'clock the chef leaves."
Shalimar, 70 Brick Lane
"Good for lunch. It's only good at 12 noon exactly. That's when it comes out, fresh."
Taj Stores, 112 Brick Lane
"In these shops you can buy in bulk. They sell anything. Totally different from the European supermarkets."
Bangla City Brick Lane (opposite the top of Fournier Street)
"It is built on the site of the public baths featured in the Bomberg painting The Mud Bath. On Friday night, the people that ran the mudbath used to go to Billingsgate and get a load of fish, and they would have women wrestle in a trough of fish."
Franks Cafè, 641 Commercial Road (they eat there on Sundays)
"A lovely Italian cafè. We go on Sundays. Two brothers run it and they used to fight each other like cat and dog. Now they manage."
Les Trios Garcons, 1 Club Row
"It used to be a Victorian pub. It's three young men, all handbags hanging from the ceiling. The most camp interior in the world, like big dogs with big balls hanging down, stuffed animals."
Lounge Lover, 1 Whitby Street
"Madonna had a birthday party here. It's very good to take foreign friends. It's so camp you won't believe it."
Market Cafè (no longer open: 5a Fournier Street)"It was like a canteen at first, rather than a public cafè. At first they were very hostile to us. It took us weeks, maybe months, to squeeze in."
E Pellicci, 332 Bethnal Green Road
"English cafes became Italian in the Sixties. Now the Italian cafes have become Turkish. We used to go to Pellicci's in 1968."
