0:00:05 > 0:00:06Hello there.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09I'm Matthew Wright, you're watching Inside Out London.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13Here's what's coming up on tonight's show.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16The union wants guards to be responsible for train doors
0:00:16 > 0:00:20but Southern Rail management want this to be the driver's job.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24With frustrated commuters caught in the middle we ask - who's right?
0:00:24 > 0:00:27No one is more tired of this story than Southern commuters.
0:00:27 > 0:00:32Why such chaos over who pushes the button?
0:00:33 > 0:00:35We expose the job-seeking scam that's defrauded
0:00:35 > 0:00:37hundreds of Londoners.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39Do you know how many people I've spoken to who have
0:00:39 > 0:00:41been affected by your fraud?
0:00:41 > 0:00:44Who have lost thousands and thousands of pounds?
0:00:44 > 0:00:47And we pay tribute to Britain's first black publishing house,
0:00:47 > 0:00:50still going strong after 50 years.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53I do not believe that multicultural education would have
0:00:53 > 0:00:58been possible but for the work that this bookshop and others
0:00:58 > 0:01:00like it actually did.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13For the last six months commuters on Southern Rail
0:01:13 > 0:01:16have been enduring strikes, cancelled services and
0:01:16 > 0:01:18skeleton timetables.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21The key issue at stake, whether drivers or guards are
0:01:21 > 0:01:24responsible for closing the train doors.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28The RMT union has claimed guards have a vital role to play
0:01:28 > 0:01:30with regard to passenger safety.
0:01:30 > 0:01:34But in Europe, they already have unmanned fully automatic trains
0:01:34 > 0:01:39while British Rail introduced driver-only ones in the 1980s.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42How did Southern end up in such a mess?
0:01:42 > 0:01:45We sent Mark Jordan to investigate.
0:01:48 > 0:01:53Another week of strikes and Southern discomfort.
0:01:53 > 0:01:58It's the tale of the sad little green train, loved by no-one.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02Managers said it was inefficient, unions warned it would injure people
0:02:02 > 0:02:05if the driver closed the doors.
0:02:05 > 0:02:09The striking guards said, that was their job.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12The commuters were furious.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15In all the land no-one had worse punctuality
0:02:15 > 0:02:19than the green trains of Southern.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23No-one is more tired of this story than Southern commuters
0:02:23 > 0:02:27so why such chaos over who pushes the button?
0:02:29 > 0:02:35How did a railway grind to a halt over who shuts the doors?
0:02:35 > 0:02:37In Europe, I will meet those already running
0:02:37 > 0:02:40unmanned automatic trains.
0:02:40 > 0:02:42But here on Southern, that's for another generation
0:02:42 > 0:02:49because the UK row over guards has been running for half a century.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51The first of London Transport's automatically driven trains...
0:02:51 > 0:02:551969 and London Underground opened the Victoria Line -
0:02:55 > 0:02:57automatic, no guards.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00One man will be in charge of each train.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04Today, the entire London Tube network runs without
0:03:04 > 0:03:09guards in tighter space, underground and carrying more
0:03:09 > 0:03:15passengers every day than the entire UK rail network.
0:03:15 > 0:03:1934 years ago, British Rail fought for the same.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22These brand-new electric trains sitting idly in the sidings at
0:03:22 > 0:03:25Bedford sum up British Rail's problems.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28The trains can't be put into service due to a continuing row
0:03:28 > 0:03:30over one-man operations...
0:03:30 > 0:03:31Sound familiar?
0:03:31 > 0:03:35In 1982 British Rail finally won this dispute
0:03:35 > 0:03:37on what is now Thameslink.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40Here's where things get odd.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43This is Brighton, two trains here from London.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45This is a Thameslink, it has been running with
0:03:45 > 0:03:48driver only since 1982.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51This is Southern, they run with a guard.
0:03:51 > 0:03:56Let's take Brighton station.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58You say keeping the guards is all about safety.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00So, are the public risking their safety travelling on
0:04:00 > 0:04:03the Tube, London Overground or Thameslink because none of them have
0:04:03 > 0:04:04guards?
0:04:04 > 0:04:07They don't have guards and we have never accepted that guards should
0:04:07 > 0:04:08be removed in any of those situations.
0:04:08 > 0:04:10Trap and drag situations, where people are
0:04:10 > 0:04:12caught, are becoming more and more prevalent.
0:04:12 > 0:04:13What the train companies and the government
0:04:13 > 0:04:15want to do is just accept the risk.
0:04:15 > 0:04:16We don't accept we need to have a risk.
0:04:18 > 0:04:22But Transport for London claim door incidents reduced when they
0:04:22 > 0:04:26turned their packed overground trains to driver only.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28The industry's rail safety standards board was
0:04:28 > 0:04:31set up to prevent accidents.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34From the research we have done over the
0:04:34 > 0:04:37last 15 years, we are very clear that operating with driver-only is
0:04:37 > 0:04:41no more risky than having a guard present.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44In many cases it is safer.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48He says safer because video in the driver cab gives a good view of
0:04:48 > 0:04:52every door and rules out driver guard miscommunication.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55The RMT dispute this.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57Deadlock.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00May I say just how much we support the guards.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04But if guards ever accept Southern's no redundancies offer and become
0:05:04 > 0:05:08customer supervisors without door responsibilities, any of their
0:05:08 > 0:05:12future strikes would no longer stop trains.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15Most of the arrangements where drivers are operating trains
0:05:15 > 0:05:18on their own at the moment are actually agreements that
0:05:18 > 0:05:22were reached by British Rail before privatisation occurred.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26But weren't we told privatisation would speed us to a
0:05:26 > 0:05:28modern, efficient railway?
0:05:28 > 0:05:32Not it seems if strikes risk ticket revenue and profit.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35There was no incentive to lose the guard.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38But then the government gave Southern a unique fixed fee
0:05:38 > 0:05:43contract, with no loss of revenue for strikes.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46Your contract means when there is a strike you still get paid.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49The lost ticket revenue is picked up by the taxpayer, the government.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51Is that correct?
0:05:51 > 0:05:54We have a very unique franchise in the way this one is
0:05:54 > 0:05:57operated and all fares and revenue does go to the government.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00There is then a cost to us reputationally
0:06:00 > 0:06:03when we have strikes.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07Southern claims the deal was to cover uncertainty over the London
0:06:07 > 0:06:09Bridge re-development.
0:06:09 > 0:06:10Overcrowded.
0:06:10 > 0:06:12Delayed and cancelled trains...
0:06:12 > 0:06:14But these angry commuters believe the
0:06:14 > 0:06:17government and Southern are in a pact.
0:06:17 > 0:06:22We are not able to even start to demystify the cosy
0:06:22 > 0:06:25relationship between Govia and the Department of Transport.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27They are secretly backing them because that
0:06:27 > 0:06:28is their agenda.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30When they deliver new rolling stock, or when they procure
0:06:30 > 0:06:32new rolling stock, that is the Trojan horse.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35They put it on the back of it destaff the trains and
0:06:35 > 0:06:37destaff the stations.
0:06:37 > 0:06:39They call that modernisation.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42What I am saying to the government, you should be
0:06:42 > 0:06:45stripping this private company of this franchise.
0:06:45 > 0:06:49Talk to us, we are willing to take over suburban trains.
0:06:49 > 0:06:53It can't be right that the government and ministers have their
0:06:53 > 0:06:55head in the sand.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59I've met so many commuters who actually hate your company.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01That is a terrible position to be in.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03I totally sympathise with our customers.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07This is why we need to make these changes very quickly now
0:07:07 > 0:07:10so we can bring everything to an end.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15If Southern win future government franchises
0:07:15 > 0:07:18could insist lines like South West Trains also
0:07:18 > 0:07:21eliminate their guards.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23If I open this cabinet.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25In London this summer, something much more radical was attempted
0:07:25 > 0:07:29on the Jubilee Line.
0:07:29 > 0:07:34TFL ran a test on a driverless tube in a depot.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38It's an early precursor to some of the agenda that the employers
0:07:38 > 0:07:41and the government has got about dehumanising the railway.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45We are on the alert to that and trying to be vigilant about it.
0:07:45 > 0:07:50Tube drivers earn around ?50,000 a year, that is ?8,000
0:07:50 > 0:07:53more than some second officer piloting easyJet flights.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57As TFL prepares to spend 16 billion on
0:07:57 > 0:08:00trains capable of full automation, the RMT say their drivers are
0:08:00 > 0:08:02going nowhere.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06Automation is OK but there's got to be a human overseer, as
0:08:06 > 0:08:10there is on DLR which is always quoted, there is always a train
0:08:10 > 0:08:12captain on-board DLR services.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14We would expect that from any automatic
0:08:14 > 0:08:19trains operated services that come up.
0:08:20 > 0:08:24Here in Paris, they are hardly immune to the odd industrial dispute
0:08:24 > 0:08:27but on their busiest commuter line they have done something that leaves
0:08:27 > 0:08:33TFL and Southern in the dark ages of railway technology.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38This is line one on the Paris Metro.
0:08:38 > 0:08:40It carries more people every day than the
0:08:40 > 0:08:43entire Southern Rail franchise.
0:08:43 > 0:08:45The trains have no guards, no drivers
0:08:45 > 0:08:51and they are totally automatic with 100% punctuality.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55People know that it is very safe and comfortable for them.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58It wasn't a big issue.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03While Southern battle over who pushes the door button, this
0:09:03 > 0:09:06entire line is driven from here.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09What happened to the drivers?
0:09:09 > 0:09:13The drivers had a choice.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16They can either go to another line or they can stay on the
0:09:16 > 0:09:20line and become supervisors on the line.
0:09:20 > 0:09:25Any big event means more trains at the click of a mouse.
0:09:25 > 0:09:30It's quite amazing to think up to 750,000 people a day
0:09:30 > 0:09:36are speeded to wherever they are going from this one
0:09:36 > 0:09:37control room.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39In Paris, they are already automating the next line.
0:09:39 > 0:09:41Hear in Haywards Heath, the chaos of Southern
0:09:41 > 0:09:43railway has forced Claire to move out.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47The fourth day of the week and it's taken you three hours a night
0:09:47 > 0:09:48to get home.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50You are ready to burst into tears.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54I would have been at risk of losing my job.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57And six months on, perhaps the greatest insult is both
0:09:57 > 0:10:01sides still claim the fight is for the passenger.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04We actually don't care whose fault it is any more.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08We kind of want trains to run on time and we want our lives back.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14Michael Jordan reporting.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17Now then, still to come on tonight's show.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20It was actually in the Black Panthers where I discovered black
0:10:20 > 0:10:22literature, and may interest developed and I found a
0:10:22 > 0:10:25New Beacon.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29Not only did I discover a whole range of books about history,
0:10:29 > 0:10:33slavery, poetry from Africa, the Caribbean, it just opened up a
0:10:33 > 0:10:35whole new world for me.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42When you are hunting for a job it can be a great
0:10:42 > 0:10:45feeling being called up and offered a position with a decent
0:10:45 > 0:10:46salary attached.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48Sometimes it pays to be on your guard.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52An undercover investigation for Inside Out London
0:10:52 > 0:10:55has exposed a sophisticated employment scam where candidates are
0:10:55 > 0:10:59offered positions in nonexistent companies.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01A scam that has, in all likelihood, fooled
0:11:01 > 0:11:05hundreds of job seekers out of thousands of pounds.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09Guy Lynn has this special report.
0:11:14 > 0:11:16These men and women have all been taken in by one man.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20I want to welcome you, I'm John Phillips.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24He oversees a job scam and sophisticated fraud.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27You are very well aware of what your employment life can be.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30We know it sucked in hundreds of people who have paid thousands of
0:11:30 > 0:11:32pounds.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35These are just a few of them.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39I've rarely come across someone whose scam was so realistic and had
0:11:39 > 0:11:42such a huge impact on his victims.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46What we're going to do is give you a front row seat on how that
0:11:46 > 0:11:48scam works.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52Some highly qualified, some just starting,
0:11:52 > 0:11:57all were desperate to work in HR and progress their career.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00They placed their CV on job websites which can be openly
0:12:00 > 0:12:04accessed by employers.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06Later they got contacted by John Phillips in
0:12:06 > 0:12:11charge of a large HR company offering them what they thought was
0:12:11 > 0:12:13their dream job.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15The job was an admin assistant role which was supposed
0:12:15 > 0:12:17to be based in London Bridge.
0:12:17 > 0:12:23I was going to be paid 24,750.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26I couldn't be happier, my family was happy for me
0:12:26 > 0:12:32and me personally, I felt, well, finally I've made it.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36To understand the scam we're going to apply.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40Our undercover reporter, we call her Jane Smith,
0:12:40 > 0:12:43prepares a realistic CV and posts it online
0:12:43 > 0:12:48on the kind of sites our victims have used.
0:12:48 > 0:12:53A few days later a job description and an e-mail from one company,
0:12:53 > 0:12:56Premier Employment.
0:12:56 > 0:12:57And then a call confirming this to a man called John Phillips.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08And then a call confirming this to a man called John Phillips.
0:13:23 > 0:13:29We find a website and see it's registered on Companies House.
0:13:29 > 0:13:33All the job seekers are told to come for a final interview before signing
0:13:33 > 0:13:35a contract and commencing work.
0:13:37 > 0:13:42Our reporter is on her way to an office in the heart of the city.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46But no sign of John at all.
0:13:46 > 0:13:47We are met by someone else.
0:13:47 > 0:13:49Tiffany.
0:13:50 > 0:13:52Who tells us how working for Premier Employment
0:13:52 > 0:13:53comes with huge perks.
0:14:10 > 0:14:14Next is the crux of how Phillips makes his money.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21All were asked by different assistants to pay for accreditation
0:14:21 > 0:14:23to work at the company.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26Experts say that is a warning.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29In my eyes that is exploitation of vulnerable job-seekers.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33Nobody should be paying to find, to start a new job
0:14:33 > 0:14:36with a genuine employer.
0:14:36 > 0:14:42We hand over our accreditation fee but are told it will be refunded.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49She said I'll have to pay ?480.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52And you need to bring the cash in order for you to start employment.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55You have to pay upfront before you start the job.
0:14:55 > 0:14:56But what about John?
0:15:03 > 0:15:05So, as the meeting with the undercover reporter was
0:15:05 > 0:15:09taking place inside this building I was waiting outside.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12We have heard from other victims that when it comes to actually
0:15:12 > 0:15:16receiving the money, John is nowhere to be seen.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19What I happened to record with my phone while waiting outside
0:15:19 > 0:15:21is very interesting indeed.
0:15:22 > 0:15:28I spot John Phillips seemingly running operations from outside.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31If that's in any doubt look who comes in.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34Tiffany.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38Whom we've given the money for so-called accreditation.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41She gives it to John.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44Initially, we thought she might have been part of it but later
0:15:44 > 0:15:47we discover that Tiffany herself was being conned with a fake
0:15:47 > 0:15:53job and is just as much a victim as everyone else.
0:15:55 > 0:15:57This lady, Lucille, not her real name,
0:15:57 > 0:15:59was exactly like Tiffany.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01A senior manager.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04John persuaded her to pay for premises from her own funds to
0:16:04 > 0:16:06interview candidates.
0:16:06 > 0:16:07Her task?
0:16:07 > 0:16:09To get the accreditation money off them.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25And then devastating when the whole thing turned out to
0:16:25 > 0:16:27be a lie.
0:16:36 > 0:16:38You lost confidence.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55We receive a detailed list of instructions to start work.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58Our job, to find other candidates.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02We are sent a set of e-mails and numbers to call.
0:17:02 > 0:17:04There are 30 numbers and e-mails here.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08What's clever, so to speak, about this is were we to do
0:17:08 > 0:17:12our job and invite all of these people for interview it'd mean
0:17:12 > 0:17:16about ?7,000 for Mr Phillips.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20He is aware of the cash value of our calls
0:17:20 > 0:17:21and gets jumpy when we don't make progress.
0:17:28 > 0:17:38I didn't understand what I was supposed to be doing.
0:17:38 > 0:17:39Yes, I am.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43I read it but something's are missing.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46We investigate Mr Phillips.
0:17:46 > 0:17:50He's from St Lucia originally and uses several aliases.
0:17:50 > 0:17:51John Phillips.
0:17:51 > 0:17:53Nathan Phillips too.
0:17:53 > 0:17:54When I pose as a client...
0:17:56 > 0:17:58Can I just check what your name is?
0:17:58 > 0:17:59Bill Barnett.
0:17:59 > 0:18:00Pardon?
0:18:00 > 0:18:01Bill Barnett, Bill.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04The firms he set up have professional looking websites.
0:18:04 > 0:18:10We find more than ten, some using fake company directors.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14We speak to numerous job-seekers who have never been paid.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18With reports online suggesting this scam has been going on for years
0:18:18 > 0:18:23with possibly hundreds of victims.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25For these men and women it wasn't just the money,
0:18:25 > 0:18:27it was staking everything on a full-time job
0:18:27 > 0:18:30and all but involved.
0:18:30 > 0:18:35I wouldn't say it was exactly depression but I was completely
0:18:35 > 0:18:37stressed financially.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40Hard to cope with life in general.
0:18:40 > 0:18:41It's quite embarrassing as well.
0:18:41 > 0:18:47Especially being the age that you are, you want to be helping and
0:18:47 > 0:18:49supporting your family and yourself and being able
0:18:49 > 0:18:52to do things, but when you come across somebody like this
0:18:52 > 0:18:57it does take you low, very low.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59There is no company, there is no office,
0:18:59 > 0:19:01there is nothing behind.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03How can you possibly do that?
0:19:03 > 0:19:05Where is your humanity?
0:19:05 > 0:19:07There is no humanity.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10Young people like me just got in this country.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13You are just stealing for the poorest.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16It is ridiculous.
0:19:16 > 0:19:18John Phillips still thinks we're going to arrange him people
0:19:18 > 0:19:20to be included.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24Unusually, he agrees to meet us in person.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27To push us to do the course, to get him the candidates.
0:19:36 > 0:19:38All money spinners for him.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51He says goodbye but now we seize the moment to
0:19:51 > 0:19:55ask him some questions of our own.
0:19:55 > 0:19:57Guy Lynn from the BBC.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00Just wondered if you could tell us all about the
0:20:00 > 0:20:03high levels of fraud you've been committing against many, many people
0:20:03 > 0:20:05by lying about those jobs.
0:20:05 > 0:20:07I don't know what you're talking about.
0:20:07 > 0:20:08You don't know what we're talking about?
0:20:08 > 0:20:11We have been recording you over the last few months
0:20:11 > 0:20:13offering people jobs at fictitious companies.
0:20:13 > 0:20:14I don't know what you are talking about.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17Are you aware that what you are doing is incredibly serious
0:20:17 > 0:20:18fraud, Mr Phillips?
0:20:18 > 0:20:20I don't know what you're talking about.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23Do you know how many people I've spoken to who have been
0:20:23 > 0:20:24affected by your fraud?
0:20:24 > 0:20:25Who have lost thousands and thousands of pounds?
0:20:25 > 0:20:28What you have to say to them, Mr Phillips?
0:20:28 > 0:20:29No answer.
0:20:29 > 0:20:30I don't know what you're talking about.
0:20:30 > 0:20:34I have never seen a more pernicious kind of fraud as that which you are
0:20:34 > 0:20:35perpetuating.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37I don't wish to talk to the BBC.
0:20:37 > 0:20:38I think he's scum.
0:20:38 > 0:20:40I can't believe he's getting away with it.
0:20:40 > 0:20:42I can't imagine how he can sleep at night.
0:20:42 > 0:20:44I don't know if he hates people.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47He is a horrible human being.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51Since our investigation, John Phillips has gone underground
0:20:51 > 0:20:54leaving behind a trail of damage for his victims.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04October is Black History Month which, amongst other things,
0:21:04 > 0:21:07offers the chance to celebrate the way black people have
0:21:07 > 0:21:09shaped our capital's culture.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12Up in North London there is a small but
0:21:12 > 0:21:16very special shop that started life as the UK's first black publishing
0:21:16 > 0:21:20house and is now celebrating its 50th anniversary.
0:21:28 > 0:21:30It sits just across the road from the ubiquitous
0:21:30 > 0:21:35Piri Piri Chicken and next door to the dry cleaners
0:21:35 > 0:21:38and you'd easily walk past without noticing it.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41But here in Finsbury Park, this tiny book shop
0:21:41 > 0:21:44is of huge significance.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47New Beacon Books has, since 1966, quietly
0:21:47 > 0:21:54gone about its business of pushing black culture into the mainstream.
0:21:54 > 0:22:00Not only was it the first black publishing house and book-sellers in
0:22:00 > 0:22:06this country, but it started at the time when there was a very
0:22:06 > 0:22:09real need for what it did.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12It was radical cultural material.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15If you look at the first few books we published
0:22:15 > 0:22:18they were political or radical in the sense they were coming
0:22:18 > 0:22:23from a Caribbean aesthetic.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26It was quite simply an oasis in a desert of
0:22:26 > 0:22:32knowledge about black history and culture.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35New Beacon was the brainchild of the late John La Rose,
0:22:35 > 0:22:38a poet, trade unionists and activist.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41It's published and sold books written from black communities
0:22:41 > 0:22:43all over the world ever since.
0:22:43 > 0:22:45John's partner, Sarah White, started the shop with him
0:22:45 > 0:22:48and still runs it now.
0:22:48 > 0:22:49It started in our bed sitting room.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52We had a book service, you could say.
0:22:52 > 0:22:53We wouldn't call it a book shop.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57It was a row of books on a shelf in our bed sitting room.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00We gradually built up a collection of
0:23:00 > 0:23:02books, you could say, of black interest books.
0:23:02 > 0:23:04We used to take them around.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07We had a motorbike and we used to take them around on the
0:23:07 > 0:23:08motorbike.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12We didn't get a shop front or anything like that for a very
0:23:12 > 0:23:14long time.
0:23:15 > 0:23:23By 1973, they had managed to buy the property they are still in
0:23:23 > 0:23:26and open a proper shop.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30It meant for the first time, Londoners could browse and buy
0:23:30 > 0:23:34books they otherwise might never have got the chance to read.
0:23:34 > 0:23:39It wasn't fashionable to carry books by black writers.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42The idea of going into a book shop and being readily able to
0:23:42 > 0:23:48pick up books about the Caribbean or written by black authors was not
0:23:48 > 0:23:51an easy thing to do.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54So, this book shop, this publishing house filled a
0:23:54 > 0:23:58massive gap where that was concerned.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01As well as showcasing the works of previously unknown authors, it
0:24:01 > 0:24:05became a meeting place where forward-thinking ideas could be
0:24:05 > 0:24:08exchanged as author Donald Hinds remembers well.
0:24:08 > 0:24:14I didn't go into a library, a public library in Jamaica
0:24:14 > 0:24:16until I was 20.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19I could come here, and even if you didn't buy a book or
0:24:19 > 0:24:23you couldn't afford to buy a book, browsing through some
0:24:23 > 0:24:26of the writers that you have heard about and hadn't got around
0:24:26 > 0:24:27to reading them and so on.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29It did a lot.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33Listening to people like you who had written a novel about
0:24:33 > 0:24:35poetry and so on.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38Listening to people who'd gone through it, talking about
0:24:38 > 0:24:40this and that and so on.
0:24:40 > 0:24:44It was fantastic.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57The book shop also houses the George Padmore Institute,
0:24:57 > 0:25:01founded by John La Rose 25 years ago.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03It is an archive storing material that tells of the experiences of
0:25:03 > 0:25:07Afro-Caribbeans in Britain in Europe.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11The documents they hold often relate to radical change and include groups
0:25:11 > 0:25:14like the once once vilified Black Panthers.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17New Beacon worked closely with the Panthers selling books
0:25:17 > 0:25:18at meetings.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22I was a Black Panther.
0:25:22 > 0:25:25It was actually in the Black Panthers where I discovered black
0:25:25 > 0:25:31literature and my interest developed,
0:25:31 > 0:25:32and I found New Beacon.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34It played a significant part in my life because
0:25:34 > 0:25:37not only did I discover a whole range of books about Africa,
0:25:37 > 0:25:41history, slavery, I discovered a lot of poetry from
0:25:41 > 0:25:43Africa, the Caribbean.
0:25:43 > 0:25:48It just opened up a whole new world for me.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51# This is the beat of the heart.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55# This pulsing of blood that is a bubblin' bass
0:25:55 > 0:25:57# A bad, bad beat...#
0:25:57 > 0:26:00Linton Kwesi Johnson's ground-breaking reggae poetry
0:26:00 > 0:26:04was hugely popular and gave us a greater insight into
0:26:04 > 0:26:06the black politics of the time.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09Thus creating a greater togetherness and he reckons
0:26:09 > 0:26:13that is exactly what this tiny book shop was all about.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16Integration as opposed to assimilation where you lose
0:26:16 > 0:26:18your identity.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20Integration is a two way street.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24We, the newcomers, adjust themselves for the way of life of
0:26:24 > 0:26:26the country.
0:26:26 > 0:26:32The people who were here already get to find out about us.
0:26:32 > 0:26:37New Beacon played a significant part in others getting to find out
0:26:37 > 0:26:38about us.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42The book shop was able to take that idea of integration even further
0:26:42 > 0:26:46by taking its books into schools and libraries for the first time.
0:26:46 > 0:26:51Our children were not being given access to anything about their
0:26:51 > 0:26:53own lives or their own history.
0:26:53 > 0:26:58And so, in addition to having the book shop,
0:26:58 > 0:27:01one of the things that we did, that New Beacon did, was to make
0:27:01 > 0:27:05books available to libraries, make books available particularly
0:27:05 > 0:27:08to teacher centres, professional development
0:27:08 > 0:27:10centres for teachers.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12We were getting quite a lot of orders from the libraries.
0:27:12 > 0:27:19When the libraries began buying it was really in the 1980s.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22This was part of the government's response to the riots.
0:27:22 > 0:27:26It was an attempt to create a West Indian middle class.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30You suddenly have actual government money.
0:27:30 > 0:27:35The libraries had a pot of money to buy Afro-Caribbean collections.
0:27:35 > 0:27:40I do not believe that multicultural education, as it came to be known,
0:27:40 > 0:27:46would have been possible but for the work that this book shop and
0:27:46 > 0:27:50others later like it actually did.
0:27:50 > 0:27:54But it also did something else, it encouraged young people,
0:27:54 > 0:27:56British-born, to write.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59It encouraged them to see themselves as
0:27:59 > 0:28:02capable of becoming authors.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13So, from a very modest beginning of a few books in a bedroom we get
0:28:13 > 0:28:17inspiration, integration and education.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20Not bad things to be remembered for after 50 years.
0:28:20 > 0:28:24And still very quietly going about its business.
0:28:24 > 0:28:32New Beacon Books, what an amazing little place.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35That's it for this week's Inside Out.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38Don't forget, if you have missed any tonight's show
0:28:38 > 0:28:41and you'd like to catch up on iPlayer, head to our website.
0:28:41 > 0:28:42The address is -
0:28:42 > 0:28:46bbc.co.uk/insideout and then just click on London.
0:28:46 > 0:28:48Thanks very much for watching.
0:28:48 > 0:28:49See you again next time.