Bandana boys banned from Stoke estate

People living in a Stoke Newington estate now feel safer to walk on their streets, after the police introduced a new 3-month dispersal law banning youngsters from wearing bandanas in the area.

The Hackney Gazette reports that the youths mainly use the bandanas to cover their faces to hide their identity, and were intimidating residents. Its understood they were mainly from Islington and came to Milton Garden estate to cause trouble.

Every night the police would receive several calls from the residents who were too scared to go outside once the bandana boys hit the area. Since the law has been indtroduced, some boys have been ordered out of the area and calls to the police have been greatly reduced.

The dispersal order means police can order such people to leave the area and not return for 24 hours.

Waiter, there’s a spicey roach in my soup!

Goodness knows how long folk in Walthamstow have been eating cockroach dropppings buried in the dishes served at a Srik Lankan restaurant.

Help me out if I’m being an alarmist here, but, according to Walthamstow Council, the restaurant was forced to shut down because of the severe cokcroach infestation; the entire place was filthy with dirt and food accumulating on every surface, and cockroach droppings were also found in the cupboards containing food trays.

What I can’t fathom is that the owner was given a warning and told to start treatment before this action took place.

But when health inspectors visited the place again, little had been done to get rid of the ghastly creatures.

Perhaps, being a small business owner, he could not afford the fumigation costs? Or maybe, like the other dodgy restauranters lurking out there, he simply didn’t think it was a pritority.

Whatever his reasons, he’s learnt the hard way; and I’m not sure if I pity the guy or his customers/victims more.

Teenager stabbed in Walthamstow

Yet another teenger has been been murdered in London.

Yesterday morning, Charles Junior Hendricks (18) was found bleeding to death from a single stab wound near a bus garage in Walthamstow, east London, by police officers on a routine patrol.

He was taken to a nearby hospital by ambulance but died shortly after his arrival.
It is not yet known who killed the young man or why.

He is the 24th teenager to be killed in the capital this year

New Brick Lane book

Brick Lane is one of my favourite places in East London. I like the long winding lane’s crowd, from the curry touts to the city and bohemian visitors.

Now another book’s due for release on the place. I remember reading Monica Ali’s ‘Brick Lane’ and sighing ‘wow’ when I finished it.

East London born Rachel Lichtenstein's ‘On Brick Lane’ could be just as palatable, with an expected historical twist.

Her grandparents arrived in Brick Lane during the 1930s. The Jewish community remained there until the 1960s when a new wave of Asian Immigrants poured in.

“I was fascinated by the immigration experience which was common to all the communities which settled here,” she says, adding that, “The Bangladeshi community went through the same struggles as the Jewish community to stay in the area and fought hard to have a place.”

Look out for it on book shelves on August 28

Where’s Christine hiding?

It’s hard to tell what local Olympic stars get up to in their spare time. I say this because I’ve not seen Christine Ohuruogu shopping in the mall in Stratford or on our streets. As you know, she’s back from Beijing having done Newham – and Britain, no doubt – proud by clinching the 400 metres gold medal.

She says she worked too hard to expect less of herself. Let’s hope she’s now relaxing and taking it easy, even if its out of sight.

Cowboy builders strike in Woodford

Just a few weeks ago I mentioned – warned – that there's a bogus charity worker doing the rounds in Ilford. She knocks on doors asking for money, claiming to present a charity.

Once the cash hits her hands, she’s gone. Now the Walthamstow Guardian reports that police in the Snaresbrook and Woodford area are cracking down on cold callers, or shall we say, door-to-door salesmen after a cowboy builder fleeced a pensioner of
a £1000.

As with the bogus charity worker, this ‘builder’ spoke convincingly. So much, in fact, that the pensioner allowed him to work in his home without asking for his address or surname, before he disappeared.

It’s hard to believe there’s still such trusting people out there. Or are they simply vulnerable?

Bringing out the craziness in families

I’m yet to meet the perfect the family. Sure, I’ve come across some who appeared to be sqeeky clean, but were actually something else at a closer glance …

There appears to be one worth checking out though, and that’s on stage at Hackney Empire from 9 September 2008.

The Family is a Russian clown production about a disfunctional family; so get ready to giggle about serious stuff.

Sounds solid from the reviews I’ve seen.