Cafe Royal Books News

As rap music was taking its first baby steps, New York was the place to be, raw, edgy - a heady stew of cultures

Great selection of sound systems, dancers, you can almost feel the bass rock your ribs and smell the weed from here.

Pioneering protestors, "crusties" and local residents fought long and hard against yet another soulless development and tree-culling. The battle was eventually won. The ingenuity of the aerial house and tree-top construction of the demonstrators continues today in Germany and elsewhere.

Worth it just for the Peckings
& Jah Shaka portraits,
and a certain Mr Marley..

Long before the hipsterisation of the neighbourhood, it had barely changed since the war, as the newly installed Bengali community filled the vacuum made by the relocated descendants of 19th century Jewish immigrants. Low rent, boarded up shops, but a place teeming with character and steeped in East End history.