Pints, Pubs & Press Deadlines
- Ahona Anjum
- Sep 7
- 3 min read
January 2024
Sophomore winter break, I spent a week in London through my Community Journalism class. It was my first international trip with some of my closest friends, and you could sense my excitement from the “Ello luv” Spotify playlist I curated beforehand. Some of my friends loved it, others… not so much.
Our assignment in London was simple - find a story based in South London and cover it. Yet the simplicity of the instructions contrasted with the complexity of the task. Between pub-hopping, sightseeing, and endlessly swiping our Oyster cards through the Tube, I kept wondering: how do you capture the essence of a community in a place that feels so foreign? What does “community” even mean when you’re just passing through?
The search for our story began with walking the neighborhoods of South London. On Day 2, a few classmates and I set out, bundled up against the sharp winter breeze. There’s no better way to understand a city than to walk through it, and in London that meant long Tube rides punctuated with hours of wandering. After weaving through a few districts, I stumbled upon Elephant & Castle - and the story that would define my week.
The gentrification there was striking. Towering cranes and half-finished glass buildings seemed to sprout on every corner. I couldn’t help but ask myself: what happens to the small business owners who have built their lives here? My project partner, Alexa, and I started knocking on restaurant doors, hoping someone would talk to us. Most encounters were brief - some rejections brusque, others polite, but all disheartening. Then, just when we were about to give up, we found Kaieteur Kitchen.
The small Guyanese restaurant, owned by the warm and welcoming Faye Gomes, became the heart of our story. Faye invited us in like we were old friends. She shared how hard it had been to keep her restaurant open through constant relocations and demolitions, including the shuttering of the Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre. Yet despite those struggles, she had created something remarkable: a true community hub. The restaurant didn’t even have a name until university students, touched by its homely atmosphere, dubbed it “Kaieteur Kitchen” after the famous waterfall in Guyana. It wasn’t just a restaurant - it was a living metaphor for home, culture, and resilience.
That interview was everything I had hoped for and more. Without this class, I never would have met Faye or learned what Elephant & Castle meant to the people who lived there.
For a week, I wasn’t just a tourist - I was a journalist, listening and documenting stories that might otherwise go unheard. Of course, that didn’t stop me from playing the part-time tourist. My first “holy shit, I’m in London” moment was standing in front of Big Ben after grabbing my first plate of pub food. A couple days later, I found myself walking across Tower Bridge at night, the Thames glittering beneath me, fresh off one of the best meals (and cocktails) I’ve ever had at Dishoom. Pro tip I learned from TikTok: if you know the secret keyword, they give you a custom Dishoom keyring. We did, and it’s now one of my favorite souvenirs.
Our final full day in London was dedicated to tying up loose ends. My friends and I each had one last thing on our bucket lists. For Muskan, it was a tour of the London School of Economics. For Gareth, it was a shopping spree at Primark (I know). For me, it was Brick Lane.
Brick Lane, London’s Bangladeshi hub, felt like stepping into Eid back home. I had my first fuchka in ages, followed by steaming molasses cha from Momlette. For once, I got to flip the script and be the guide, introducing my friends to Bangladeshi cha - a flavor distinctly different from the masala chai we were used to. It was a small moment, but it made me feel rooted in a city that had, until then, felt distant.
Looking back, the week couldn’t have been more fulfilling. In just seven days, I maximized my time as a tourist, soaked up London’s culture through its pubs, and sharpened my journalistic instincts by telling the story of a community in flux. London was everything I had imagined and more - a city of stories, layers, and connections waiting to be discovered.
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