Behind Brick Lane

Imagine you're standing in a quiet alley off Brick Lane. Streets away from neon signs and hawkers who stand around trying to pursuade you to come into their curry house. Away from crowds and people selling junk on the street. Sorry, but let's call a broken watch or some old clothes or cracked vases what it is. And people inside the market hall selling great Asian food. Clothing created by up-and-coming designers. Funk music and cheap vegetables. And Beigel Bake, where you can stand right next to the kitchen watching the man with the beer gut sweating over boiling the bagels in water, putting them on wooden boards and shoving them in the oven. I bought six for a pound twenty and an apple strudel. Cheap as chips.