05/03/2018 Inside Out London

Hello.

I'm Sean Fletcher.

You're watching Inside Out London,

here is what is coming

up on tonight's show.

We meet the former city worker

on a mission to get rid

of London's plastic waste.

Just in one hour I've

filled up both my nets.

There is much more plastic

in the canal but I can't

collect everything.

Why antique furniture has plummeted

in price and popularity.

About ten years ago,

I'd like to think we would have got

£400 to £600 for this.

Today, it is in the

auction at £30 to £50.

And 75 years on, we remember

the victims of the Bethnal

Green tube disaster.

I heard all the people screaming

and calling for their mothers.

We just couldn't get out.

I couldn't get out.

It was a terrible, terrible night.

The recent broadcast of the BBC's

Blue Planet series has got everyone,

including the Queen

and the Prime Minister,

talking about how we can

reduce our plastic waste.

So we went to check out three very

different London projects that

are trying to do just that,

on the canals, in the classroom,

and on the high street.

In 2015, I raced a 70-foot yacht

from London to Rio de Janeiro.

And in the middle of

nowhere we found these two

turtles cut in a maze

of fishing nets and water bottles.

He's got yellow and orange

around his front right fin.

Well done.

In the middle of nowhere,

in this amazing ocean,

it is blue water everywhere and then

you have all this plastic.

Well done!

But it starts right here.

Everything needs to

stop at the source.

What is the source?

The source is us.

We couldn't have opened at a better

time if we had planned it.

We were looking to

open 12 months ago.

If we would have opened 12 months

ago, we wouldn't have been

as successful as we are now

so it is all to do

with David Attenborough.

If you take a plastic

bag, is it your fault?

I think it would be

the shop's fault.

Good answer.

In London, 66,000 tonnes of plastic

were sent for recycling last year

alone but nobody knows how much

was simply discarded elsewhere.

And while the government has pledged

to ban all avoidable

plastic waste by 2042,

some Londoners are

taking action now.

So today we were out with children

from Canary Wharf College and we

were doing plastic fishing trips.

It is really important to get

children involved in this

and excited by this from such

a young age.

Plastic Pirates!

Remember to recycle!

There was a recent study that showed

that 75% of fish that live

at the bottom of the River Thames

have plastic in their guts,

so it is a very real

issue here in London.

Back on dry land, the children

are less than impressed with

the government's 20-year timetable.

Do we think that

that is soon enough?

No!

No.

You're going to write a letter

to Theresa May in this lesson,

explaining to her why

you want to stop using

plastic in a time frame

that is up to for you.

So off you go.

In Battersea, this shop

is currently the only plastic

free shop in London.

Inspired by the owner's

experiences overseas.

There are lots of shops

like this in Australia,

like, every town has one.

I started googling about zero

waste shops in the UK

at the time there wasn't one.

I just thought, "This is not OK.

"I have to go back to London

and set a shop up."

So the idea is that you bring your

own containers from home.

It can be an old Tupperware

container, an old glass jar.

The idea is that you reuse

what you already have.

Then you just fill

with what you need.

So we have got lentils, grains,

rices, we have got cereals,

nuts, herbs and spices.

The good thing about shopping

like this is that you do not go home

with tonnes of products that

you are never going to use.

Then you just pay for what you need.

After cycling 150 miles

on the Thames, ex-city worker Drew

is now clearing plastic

from London's canals on board his

floating bamboo bicycle.

Just one hour in the canal,

I collected these two nets

full of plastic rubbish,

from packets, wo water

bottles to energy drinks

to single use packaging.

I can't collect everything

because if I collect

everything, I will sink!

The reaction from

the public is amazing.

They stop and they see and say,

"What are you doing?

"Are you cycling?

"Is that your own bike?"

They few people on

the loch say, "Stop."

So cleaning up the canal cleaning up

the river, for me personally,

I don't believe is a solution.

My whole goal is to get people

to make no more plastic pollution.

Talk about it.

Ultimately, if you're not

going to solve this,

we have to go and educate the young

people and make them more aware

of how damaging this

is and how we are destroying

their world, their planet.

You know, we're making

it worse for them.

Do you know, Gavin is also,

his charity is about creative ways

of solving some of these problems.

Back at Canary Wharf College,

the children are working on their

letters to the Prime Minister whilst

coming up with their own ideas

for dealing with plastic waste.

You could give artists or some

people who use sculptures

or something and maybe

they could make, like, sculptures

and art out of it or something.

In Sweden we still do this

and if you have a can or something

like that you bring it to the shop

and it gives you about

50% of what you paid.

But being ethical isn't always easy.

Starting a new business is hard

for anyone but it is even harder

when you're trying to find vegan,

cruelty-free, no palm

and minimal packaging possible.

And selling it for a decent price

whilst still being able

to afford to pay your bills.

But the community as a whole

is very supportive.

We are not against each other,

we are about helping each other

so that makes it easier.

It's mainly just the environmental

cost of using plastic.

I'm a geography teacher

so it is quite a big part

of my life, teaching people

about trying to be more mindful

of the waste they use.

I'm just really aware of not

using so much plastic.

I've been trying for a while now,

starting with getting loose

vegetables and fruit and just trying

to reduce as much as possible.

Hubbub has been set up for four

years and I think that in those four

years we have seen a real change

in public attitudes

and public perceptions

towards environmental issues.

I think there is more

of an acceptance among

the public that, yes,

we need to do something about these

issues but it does not mean

completely changing the way

that we live our lives.

It does mean re-evaluating certain

aspects of it which are just really

unnecessarily wasteful.

Seeing this plastic I feel very sad

because you are not just

destroying the way it looks,

you're also destroying

the life here.

If you can avoid purchasing

unnecessary plastic that would be

really, really helpful.

And if you can do it

and get your friends to do it

and they can get their friends to do

it it could have a real impact.

"Dear, Theresa May, I strongly

believe that your idea to solve

"the issue of plastic pollution

is great but there is just one

"problem, it is not soon enough."

"Plastic bags should be £1 each.

"The problem is that fish can

get trapped in them."

"Also, I think that if you are found

using a plastic straw,

"you should be fined £500."

"In 24 years, I will be an adult.

"We want it sooner.

"Everyone needs to come

together to help.

"This is our only world.

"Yours sincerely, Frederick."

"Yours sincerely, Maud."

"You need to act on this

fast so please help.

"It is embarrassing for us.

"Yours faithfully, Bella."

"Yours sincerely, Ian."

APPLAUSE

What a great way to get around

London and he's doing some

really important work.

Now then, still to come

on wonight's show...

In auction houses across London,

like this one in Islington,

there are incredible bargains

to be had.

Good quality, antique wooden

furniture is going for a song right

now but it is only those

in the know who realise what

a bargain you can get.

This weekend, a memorial service

was held in the East End to mark

the 75th anniversary of the worst

British civilian disaster

in World War II.

During an air raid alert,

173 people were crushed to death

as they fled to their nearest

shelter, the unfinished

Bethnal Green tube.

Recently, a fitting memorial

was finally unveiled at the sight

of the tragedy but the survivors

and families of the victims

are still seeking an official

apology for the way the authorities

handled the disaster.

I should warn you that some

of the details in this

report are disturbing.

Yesterday afternoon,

mourners gathered at the Church

of Saint John on Bethnal Green

to pay tribute to the hundred

--173 people, among them,

62 children who died on March

the 3rd 1943.

Only a handful of survivors from

the tragedy are still alive today.

We was running down

Victoria Park Square.

Wanting to see the entrance

to the tube which could not

come up fast enough.

Alf Morris first spoke to Inside Out

back in 2003 about his experiences.

He was just 13 when the air

raid sirens went off.

When we got down about as far

as where I am standing,

the rockets went across the park,

went across here.

There was a tremendous "shhh"

and everybody just leapt

forward and calling out,

"There is bombs, there is bombs."

In fact, the noise wasn't German

bombs but a new anti-aircraft gun

being fired in Victoria Park.

The unfamiliar noise was enough

to panic people as they headed

for the tube shelter.

There wouldn't have been the exits

that we have here today.

There would only have been this one.

It was covered in wood.

There was one very narrow doorway

so none of us know what dark

is like today but in the dark

of the black out, inky

dark of the black out,

people would have had to come

to the shelter by feeling their way

along the railings to find their way

here and they went through the door

and straight down these 19 steps.

You had 300 or 400 people trying

to get through this narrow door

and at that same time,

a lady at the bottom of the stairs

holding a child fell.

She pulled another man on top

of her and before they could get up,

others were falling on top of them.

And all those people coming

through this door just could not see

what was unfolding below them.

So they were falling on top

of people all the time.

Ray was nine years old when

he went down the steps

with his brothers and sisters,

just ahead of their parents

and grandparents.

It was such a surge going down,

pushing, you went with the surge

which ever way it went.

The people fell over

and people started going over

and that is when we were going down.

We got pushed out in the corner,

right at the bottom.

It was like a floodgate opened

and everything happened at once.

Ray and his siblings managed to get

out of the crush and reach the lower

staircase but they got separated

from their older relatives.

The rest of the night we stood

at the bottom of the stairs just

looking up waiting to see

the others come down.

They did not show up.

It was at that point,

my sister was saying,

"This is really bad,

this is, something really

"bad has happened."

Alf was stuck in the crush

at the bottom of the stairs.

I could not get out but a lady air

raid warden named Mrs Chumley

grabbed my hair and pulled.

That wouldn't happen so she put her

arms underneath my arms

and just yanked me out.

All my legs were all bleeding

and I was frightened out of my life.

I heard all the people screaming.

They were calling for their

mothers and fathers.

We just couldn't get out.

I couldn't get out.

Mrs Chumley pulled me out.

It was terrible.

At the time it was terrible.

After three hours of trying to pull

people out, the children, you know,

some of them were not recognisable

except by what they were wearing

and the rescuers really suffered

from the most horrendous trauma.

They laid bodies along street

here and had to go along

the bodies

with a mirror under the nose to see

if it steamed up to see

they were still alive.

My grandmother and my cousin died.

And my mother and my

aunt were survivors.

For Ray and his siblings,

it was many agonising hours before

the fate of their older

relatives was confirmed.

My sister, she was 17 at the time,

she had been round the hospitals

and couldn't find any of them.

So she ended up going

round the mortuaries

and that is when she found my father

and grandfather and grandmother.

She then carried on looking

for my mother and somebody said,

"Well, they took them

to the hospital in Dalston."

She was in a bad way

but she was alive.

Her face was all bruised,

her legs were bruised.

They went through it down there.

At the time, the disaster

was covered up so as not

to damage wartime morale.

And an enquiry published

after the war suggested

that the crowd had panicked

for no reason.

For the survivors, the bereaved

and the whole Bethnal Green

community, achieving greater public

recognition of the disaster

has been a long road.

Just before Christmas,

after a ten-year fundraising

campaign, a striking memorial

was finally unveiled to the victims.

I took one look at it and my niece

had to give me a handkerchief.

I got so emotional.

I think it is absolutely amazing

and I have said for donkeys years

that I wouldn't see that finished.

All my family come

from Bethnal Green.

One of my relatives died

in the tragedy in 1943,

Dickie Corbett, his actual

name was Coleman.

He is up on there.

Coleman.

He was a boxer.

Although I wasn't born

until 1944, the family always

talked about the terrible

Bethnal Green Underground disaster.

With due respect, we name

and honour the 173

people whose names now

are here permanently, openly,

publicised and not hidden away.

I'm born and raised in the city.

I am a London.

I am a --Londoner.

Even I was not aware of this tragedy

until a few years ago.

It is important we remember

the stories that the

survivors still remember.

The memorial was designed by local

architect Harry Paticas who thought

that the small plaque over

the station entrance

was inadequate for the

scale of the tragedy.

I thought that the plaque was not

really a very sufficient reminder

of what actually happened.

I suddenly had an idea

for a memorial and the concept

was to take a cast of the space

where everybody died and to lift it

up above that stairway.

The memorial has become known

as the Stairway to Heaven.

It's a very powerful moment

to stand underneath it

and look up into the space

where all those people were.

There's 173 holes cut into the roof

of the stairway and these cones

are orientated towards South

and they are asymmetrical so they

will let the sunlight come through.

There will be this moment at certain

points of the year at around midday

when there will be 173 spots

of light that will be shining

through the void of the stairway

and onto the grounds.

We have many memorials around London

for smaller disasters so I think

it is incredibly important.

I think maybe for the national

consciousness, that this disaster

is properly recognised.

75 years have now passed

since the disaster.

But many still feel

that the historic record

of the tragedy needs to be

officially put right.

Certainly somebody

should be apologising.

This should never have happened.

It was preventable.

If only the entrance had been safer,

nobody would have fallen down.

The host secretary sprinkled his

statement in Parliament

with "the loss of self control"

phrase and so that's probably made

the survivors feel really guilty.

I hope that having this memorial

here now across the road

is helping them, in a way,

to have closure, that at least

people know what happened to them

and how awful it was.

20 years ago, London

was home to hundreds

of antique shops and dealers,

now, just a handful remain

because antique furniture

has plummeted in both

price and popularity.

So with brown furniture at rock

bottom, could now be a good time

to snap up a bargain?

We sent financial expert

Jasmine Birtles to find out.

In auction houses across London,

like this one in Islington,

there are incredible

bargains to be had.

Good quality, antique wooden

furniture is going for a song right

now but it is only those in the know

that realise what a

bargain you can get.

I just really want

to show you this...

Tracey Martin runs this

Islington auction house.

This is a typical

example of Victorian...

About ten years ago,

I would like to have thought

we could have got £400

to £600 for this.

Today it is in the

auction at £30 to £50.

Fire surround.

I can sell that for £45.

Sold for £45.

That is really sad that

that is genuinely all you think

it could really get.

It is a considerable drop.

I think a lot of that is

to do with fashions.

Things go round in circles

but I also think it is to do

with how it fits into our lives

and our houses.

This is the first time

I have been to an auction

and I found some great pieces.

There is a real mixture

of people buying here.

An old teacher's desk,

made of oak and it's

got this lovely little

bit at the front here.

I've got a very small

flat but I will use this

as a chest of drawers

and remember my old days teaching.

It is very unique.

That is what you're looking for.

I have bought many

things over the years.

Tables and chairs, they're just such

good value and you just can't

buy them for that price

new and they are better quality.

It is not just lower-end brown

furniture that has suffered.

High-end antique dealers

have also taken hit.

Kensington Church Street

in West London used to be

full of antiques shops,

now in this section, I count five.

The rest are being replaced

with restaurants,

hairdressers and nail bars.

Patrick Sandberg is one

of the remaining few.

I started 25 years ago

and it was the height of the market.

We had many, many Americans

and private trade.

It was an amazing time.

If people were going to buy a desk,

if they did not buy it from me,

they would buy it from one

of the other people on the street.

Everyone would get

a bite at the cherry.

But the millennium brought with it

minimalism, white walls

and flatpack furniture.

Antiques fell out of fashion.

Over the past decade,

sales of antique furniture

have fallen by 40%.

Business did get more difficult.

Dealers were forced to close.

20% have gone.

How have you survived?

I think by being competitive.

Someone said to me if you've got

a commodity like coffee,

when the value of it has dropped

to an extent that it is so stupidly

that it is so stupidly cheap,

then people will, forgive

the pun, smell the coffee

and start buying it again.

There is hope for the antiques trade

and I am sure we are not

all going to disappear.

Despite having had a devastating

time over the past decade,

things are looking up.

Exciting new figures released this

week by Art Market Research show

a small but significant

upturn in sales.

Talking to dealers, there

is certainly a renewed interest

in buying antique furniture.

That is exciting.

It is something that as a magazine,

we are championing.

There are some interior

designers who are using them

in fresh, interesting ways.

Jasper Conran, Ben Pentreath,

they are making

these pieces fashionable.

Caroline is one interior

designer who is championing

the revival of brown furniture.

I was brought up with nice antiques

and I have worked in the antiques

business for about 30 years.

I think mixing old and modern

can work very well.

Here it is.

Well, it's a very nice space

with lots of sunlight pouring in.

36-year-old Oliver has just moved

into his new home and has

enlisted Caroline's help.

If we can add height

to the room somehow...

What exactly do you want to achieve?

We just want a little

bit of theatre to it.

We're hoping antiques will add a bit

more character to this space.

A mirror there will visually open

the room and give a little

bounce to the sunlight.

Absolutely.

I will go away and talk

to my dealers and arrange

for some stuff to be sent.

Brilliant.

How exciting.

The younger generation don't

choose antiques enough.

They need to learn to appreciate

them and not regard them

as something their grandmother had.

Caroline's search for antiques

begins in Chelsea, at Lawford's.

I am working on a project

where a client wants to mix some

modern furniture that he has already

got with some 18th-century

style furniture.

OK.

So brown furniture.

Brown furniture, maybe painted

furniture.

OK.

I've got this lovely book case.

There is nothing quite

like the grain on a wood

that is 100 or 200 years

old, maybe more.

You're not going to see it

in somebody else's house.

You own that one.

It is a lovely honey colour

and a nice fine grained oak.

Unfortunately, just a bit

too high for this house

because the ceiling is very low.

I think the prices have kind of gone

as low as they can go.

People are going to see the value

in this and they are going to start

looking at brown furniture.

There was one I saw

that had a rounded top.

Caroline has seen a few items

online that she likes.

I mean, in theory, if it is too

high, we could just not

put the top bit on.

We sell to a great many

designers and interior

companies across London.

A lot of these people are mixing

in very eclectic, cool designs.

It's a trend that is reflected

in magazines like House & Garden.

I remember one interior

designers saying you need

a bit of black in a room.

I think antiques and brown

furniture add that depth.

It stops it all looking bland.

There is a move to use colours,

not so many patterns,

things look a bit punchier.

Back at Olive'rs,

the antiques have arrived

and the team are hard at work.

Wow!

This is great.

It looks quite different

to what it was before.

It is just with a few pieces.

So talk me through it.

What is new and what is antique?

The sofa is new although

it looks very old.

The coffee table is 1960s or 70s.

These pretty painted oval chairs

are Edwardian, 18th-century style.

The lamps are brand-new.

This is lovely.

That is a Swedish mirror

from the early 19th century.

Oliver's front room has been

transformed from this to this.

Wow!

It is fantastic.

I like the mix of things.

This piece that Caroline has chosen

has made the room higher.

It has pushed the room further back.

A lot of my friends would certainly

like to use antiques.

There's not a lot of

education out there about

antiques and where to go.

You sort of think, "Where the hell

am I going to find these things?"

It is easier just to go

to IKEA or the high street.

Roughly how much

was this whole room?

I would have thought

most of this together

about £5000 to £6,000.

I didn't have the time

to really shop around.

If you look on the Internet

or you buy at auction,

then you can buy cheaper.

So if now is the time to buy,

what should we all be investing in?

Chest of drawers, little console

tables, things like that that

are stylish key pieces.

Invest in a few really good pieces,

this has to be a good time for it.

Fall in love with something

because if you really love a piece,

you can generally build around it.

I really hope that brown

furniture will be back.

I think it well.

Well, I will definitely

be keeping my eye out

for some brown bargains.

Jasmine Birtles reporting there.

Right, that is just about it

for tonight's Inside Out.

Before we go though,

let's have a quick look

at what is coming up

on next week's show.

Why London's commuters are deserting

the tube in their droves.

Tomorrow is my last

day working in London.

Goodbye to the commute from hell.

And to high childcare costs.

Could the much-mocked British

bungalow be coming back into vogue?

Architectural critics began to get

this bee in their bonnet

about what they call bungaloid

growth and it was a bit like working

people taking over the countryside

that had no rights to it.

And the untold story of the secret

canary girls of World War II.

You couldn't have had the army,

the air force and the Navy working

without the bombs that

were being made here.

Without the munitions,

the war could not have been one.

That is it for this

week's Inside Out.

Don't forget, tonight's programme

will be available on the iplayer.

Just head to our website.

BBC.co.uk/InsideOut

and click on London.

Thanks very much for watching.

See you again next week.