Sowerbutt's Riots

 "Jimmy and the lads were busy over the Bank Holiday in 1947," the retired writer for the East London Pioneer, who still has the notebook from his early 1960s interview with Jimmy Sowerbutt, said. "Instead of sunning themselves down at Clacton as they had planned, they were patrolling the streets, trying to dampen down any trouble.

"There were riots against the Jews that weekend across the country, some really nasty. A couple of army sergeants had been hanged in Palestine by the Jewish extremists and that did not sit well with a lot of people. Jimmy and some of the lads went over to Whitechapel and guarded Jack Shakes' tailor's shop. Jimmy wouldn't have his friends touched. He'd guarded the shop during the Battle of Cable Street, 11 years earlier. A couple of gangs who were daubing paint everywhere gave Jimmy some lip and got a good thrashing for their pains. Nobody tried it on after that.
"Spaghetti and a couple of lads went to Grosvenor Square where Jack's cousin's girl was running a posh millinery shop, selling Polly's hats. Nobody turned up there.
"One thing Jimmy was serious about - nobody touches his Family. That was the law of the streets in the East End in those days."
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