Many of the locations in which Lewis worked have changed beyond recognition. Tower blocks supplanted swathes of Blitz-scarred terraces; docklands was recast as the capital's alternative commercial hub. As the old fabric of the East End was consigned to memory, so were many of its traditions. Here is a glimpse of the way it was.
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| A publican serves a glass of stout to a donkey |
20 Vintage Photographs Capture the Gritty Reality of Life in London's East End During the 1960s
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| Two police officers administer a Breathalyser test to a driver on Finden Road in Newham |
20 Vintage Photographs Capture the Gritty Reality of Life in London's East End During the 1960s
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| A rag-and-bone man on his rounds |
20 Vintage Photographs Capture the Gritty Reality of Life in London's East End During the 1960s
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| A girl takes her pet sheep for a walk |
20 Vintage Photographs Capture the Gritty Reality of Life in London's East End During the 1960s
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| A row of Nissen huts in Stratford |
20 Vintage Photographs Capture the Gritty Reality of Life in London's East End During the 1960s
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| A homeless family in a halfway home |
20 Vintage Photographs Capture the Gritty Reality of Life in London's East End During the 1960s
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| Three children build themselves a go-cart |
20 Vintage Photographs Capture the Gritty Reality of Life in London's East End During the 1960s
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| A Percy Dalton's peanut seller at the dog track |
20 Vintage Photographs Capture the Gritty Reality of Life in London's East End During the 1960s
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| Gypsy families |
20 Vintage Photographs Capture the Gritty Reality of Life in London's East End During the 1960s
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| The last man to live in a Nissen hut built during the war in Stratford |
20 Vintage Photographs Capture the Gritty Reality of Life in London's East End During the 1960s
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| A milkman on his rounds |
20 Vintage Photographs Capture the Gritty Reality of Life in London's East End During the 1960s
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| Gypsy families on Beckton Marshes |
20 Vintage Photographs Capture the Gritty Reality of Life in London's East End During the 1960s
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| Two elderly ladies chatting |
20 Vintage Photographs Capture the Gritty Reality of Life in London's East End During the 1960s
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| A little girl pushes her teddy bear past a wheelchair-bound gentleman on Vicarage Lane |
20 Vintage Photographs Capture the Gritty Reality of Life in London's East End During the 1960s
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| Three men playing cards in a pub |
20 Vintage Photographs Capture the Gritty Reality of Life in London's East End During the 1960s
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| The winner of the Miss Newham 1969/70 beauty contest |
20 Vintage Photographs Capture the Gritty Reality of Life in London's East End During the 1960s
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| Pensioners' card school |
20 Vintage Photographs Capture the Gritty Reality of Life in London's East End During the 1960s
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| Queen's Road Market in the London borough of Newham |
20 Vintage Photographs Capture the Gritty Reality of Life in London's East End During the 1960s
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| A boy and a girl playing on a motor scooter parked on an East London street |
20 Vintage Photographs Capture the Gritty Reality of Life in London's East End During the 1960s
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| Pearly Kings and Queens |