At 122 High Street, on the opposite corner from N&A Fishmongers, at the junction of the High Street and Vernon Road is 1st Choice. This is a shop which sells for slightly less the hooded clothes and baseball caps which are the mainstay of Style Overdose and, to a lesser extent, shops like Top City. Hoodies and jackets seem to average about thirty-five pounds, the caps sell for ten or so. The caps apparently carry the correct labels and motifs to justify these prices, but they are, nonetheless, made in Vietnam for next to nothing.

As readers of my blogs will know, I consider there is a difficulty with perceptions of crime as well as with an actual crime rate in our neigbourhood which is above the national average. Purveyors of these garments contribute to the problem. Perceptions of crime in this part of the High Street are quite high, as several traders have told me. One man was attacked a couple of months back by members of a gang of up to 14 youths. The irony is that they were wearing hoodies similar to those sold in several local shops only yards away from the scene of the crime; the stuff goes under the guise of 'sportswear', if gratuitous violence can be called a sport.Hoodies can be bought at several places such as at Bad Warehouse (which in retrospect seems like a name to conjure with), on some market stalls and, in the most extreme and socially irresponsible cases, at Top City, 1st Choice and Style Overdose.

It is with some feelings of schadenfreude therefore that I can tell you that the owners of 1st Choice have a crime problem of their own, as apparently their fashion conscious customers have not been averse to biting the hand that feeds them and stealing the merchandise. There is now a sign at the entrance to the store saying that only two teenagers are allowed in the shop and the management reserves the right to deny entrance.

I am not sure what they expect, given that like Style Overdose they offer hooded jackets with full facial masks built in. In the case of one they are offering, the mask includes sewn-in dark glasses. This look went out of fashion with mountaineers and arctic explorers some decades ago, so the only purpose I can see for owning such a jacket round here is to look like you want to commit crimes with impunity. The staff, I should say, are charming people who probably consider themselves law-abiding and respectable businessmen- I know they are concerned not to breach copyright laws on the designer goods they offer and would not replace them with pirated copies. I just wish they could see beyond the end of their noses. Could they for a minute think about the rest of us who live here in Walthamstow alongside them and take a good hard look at their stock and some of their customers' uses for it.

With fear levels among traders and members of the public high and respect for the police's efforts low, as reported to me privately by several local shop owners, it is clear that the efforts of our local police force to re-assure people that they can protect us do not work. Maybe the police should consider opening their station on the High Street after the hours of darkness (what's the problem, are they afraid?); upgrading it so it isn't seen by businesses as a place that only wants to act as a lost property office. The police, I have been told by a number of local traders, need to vastly improve incident response times and do a lot more to break up youth gangs. Sorry, Street Wardens, but you just aren't cutting the mustard in many people's minds. Something much, much, tougher and more effective is being asked for.