Photograph - A.E. Barrow Newsagents

Object

Photograph

Production date

10/2010

Object number

2023.25

Physical Description

Print of a photo of a man in the doorway of a newsagency. He is holding a blue plastic carrier bag and a walking stick. He wears a brown flat cap and green jumper underneath a dark coloured coat. The floor of the doorway is tiled black and white and in the window display are Wrigley's Spearmint chewing gum props. Part of a photo series by Colin O'Brien. Similar to 2023.18.

Object history

The man in the photo, Albert, is the owner of the newsagents 'A.E. Barrow' which closed in 1994. The window display still remains - locals called it the 'Wrigley's shop'. Albert was 83 in this photo.

Since O'Brien took this image, the shop has been taken over like 'Lab Tonica' a herbal wellness brand.

This photo is part of a series that featured in the exhibition ‘Last of the Real High Streets’ held in 2010 at Chats Palace, an arts centre and theatre in Hackney. The exhibition captured the changing shops and communities on Chatsworth Road, and included the stories of people written by travel writer Jane Egginton.

Associated Organisation

Chats Palace (Featured)

Associated Person

Colin O'Brien (Photographer)
Jane Egginton (Writer)

Associated Place

Chatsworth Road (Place)

Material

photo

Dimension

Length: 587mm
Width: 419mm

Exhibition Label

From the exhibition 'Last of the Real High Streets' at Chats Palace [8 October - 27 November 2010].

Changing Face

Many businesses have closed because of financial difficulties, family feuds, or death. The ‘Wrigleys shop’, as locals affectionately call it, features a dusty, fading window display of giant packets of chewing gum. They lie untouched since the sprightly, twinkly-eyed 83-year-old owner finally shut up shop in 1994. Over the years, the traditional ice cream parlour has been replaced with a powder blue coffee shop, the old library is now a community arts centre and the pie and mash shop has become a Chinese take away.