Esoteric London

Chapman Road, London, E9. Photo © Roger Dean 2013

Toilers in London; or Inquiries Concerning Female Labour in the Metropolis – The “British Weekly” Commissioners, 1889:

A Commissioner visited a woman lodging in Bethnal Green. There was a little shop on the ground-floor containing one sack of something. The landlord had up a notice that he mended boots; but he was sitting unoccupied in his dark shop, with a gloomy smile on his face. He was very old, very grimy, and very ill-tempered. Being asked for Mrs. Goodluck, he broke out-
“Good luck! Not much good luck she brought him. She owed him her rent, and out she would have to go. He was not going to keep her. Goodluck, indeed!”