We are inside the Colin Campbell, a small pub on the Kilburn High Road. The sun is setting on the celebrations of the announcement: Brent is to be the Borough of Culture for 2020. People are pouring into the pub for refreshment and rest. A large banner above the bar reads: ‘The Kilburn High Road Pub Crawl’. Another sign reads: ‘BRENT BOROUGH OF CULTURE: 2020’.

The Campbell is a quiet pub, usually occupied by a few all-day lone drinkers, but today these old men in their wrinkled suits are suddenly inundated by a colourful crowd. There’s been dancing; some people are in carnival-like costume; there are people in their national dress, families, teenagers, lovers. Every possible kind of person. The bar staff struggle to serve the influx of people and seat them all, but after a bit of kerfuffle, most have a table, and now begin opening packets of crisps, or their own tubs of home-made food …

There is, in one corner, a little makeshift stage, with a home-made sign hanging behind: ‘Celebrating Local Stories’. A red-headed young man with his back to the audience has a video camera on a stand, ready to film whoever comes up to talk – but people seem reluctant. Music is playing, footie is on the TV, we can’t hear the people, but we see lots of little local dramas and conversations playing out, and may notice one especially striking woman, ALVITA, WIFE OF WILLESDEN. She’s settling seating arguments, she’s handing over pints to people who can’t reach the bar, laughing and joking with everyone …

In one corner, the AUTHOR sits, quieter than the rest, with a laptop on her table.

AUTHOR

It was the summer of 2019.

I was back home, checking the local scene

And the whole neighbourhood was in the streets

To celebrate the recent local feat:

Winning the London Borough of Culture.

Call it a pilgrimage: all together

We crawled down Kilburn High Road, until we

Reached the Colin Campbell. We drank. Polly

Bailey, who runs it, suggested a

WHOLE CAST

LOCK-IN!

PUBLICAN POLLY

Let’s get our drink on with the whole block.

And, wait, listen: here’s what we’re gonna do:

From right now till … let’s say … half past two

We’ll have a little contest. Your stories

On that stage. I’ll be the judge and MC.

And when everyone’s told their tale, the best

One will receive a full English Breakfast

Tomorrow morning, on the house. With chips.

All cheer.

AUTHOR

Everyone got on their open-mic tip …

We had all types of people in that night,

Young and old, rich and poor, black, brown and white –

But local: students, merchants, a bailiff,

People from church, temple, mosque, shul. And if

There’s a person in Brent who doesn’t think

Their own life story isn’t just the thing

To turn into a four-hundred-page book

I’d like to meet them. So off they went. Look

At them.