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“This article you're writing,” says Matt Hunt Gardner, an exasperated expression taking over his face, “well, it comes out every few years.” And invariably, he tells me, it’s wrong.
As a sociolinguist, Gardner works at the intersection between history, society and language at institutions like Oxford University and Queen Mary, University of London. We’re currently sitting opposite the latter, in a lonely redbrick pub called the Bancroft Arms on the main road out of Whitechapel. Surrounded by pleather chairs and stained carpets, we discuss the answer to what I thought was a simple question: what happened to London’s Cockneys?
In recent years, there’s been an unending stream of academic studies, news articles and thinkpieces about the supposed disappearance of London’s Cockney accent and, by extension, the East End identity interwoven with it. But none of those pieces go any further: Why is it disappearing? Where did it go? And what does it mean to be Cockney anyway?
Our meeting point feels fitting: surrounded by elderly regulars, behind Gardner are black-and-white historic photos of the area and a haphazardly-framed A4 page bearing a photo of a pub and the caption “the one pub they could not shut down”. If there was anywhere in London to hear the dying echoes of the old East End accent, it would be here.
But as the interview goes on — and as I conduct weeks of research and interviews — it becomes clear that what I thought was a simple question isn’t so clear-cut after all. It’s a complex story of 14th century chickens, Yiddish slang and 1960s town planning, and one that reveals some fascinating misconceptions about one of London’s most recognisable voices.
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