When Stephen Selby opened his art and photography gallery in a decaying street market in Hackney more than 30 years ago, there was little reason to believe this corner of London's east end would one day be regarded as desirable. "This was a place that had been swept under the carpet by a local authority that did not want to know," Selby says.

Faced with proposals to demolish Broadway Market to make way for a motorway, he and his fellow traders decided to put on a fundraising street festival. "And everybody joined in," he recalls. "We had floats, bands and army majorettes, and 10,000 people turned up. That saved the day."