Stratford: Another East End is a memoir of working-class life written by the late John Gorman, born in the Stratford without swans and Shakespeare. At that time it was the largest industrial borough in England.

This essay originally appeared in Outsiders & Outcasts, a series of articles in honour of the historian of the East End of Whitechapel and Spitalfields, William J Fishman. It draws on John Gorman’s longer memoir, Knocking Down Ginger.

John Gorman was a printer – he originally set up his firm G&B Arts with Lionel Bart. His other books include Banner Bright, Images of Labour and To Build Jerusalem, classic works on the visual history of the British trade union and labour movement. He was a Governor of the Museum of London and an honorary fellow of Ruskin College, Oxford