operative living where everyone shared what little they had, of living on the dole and working unpaid in the local Freewheel Book shop. However, not all was sweetness and light amongst the denizens of the Street; one of their number, Colette, complained of the Street being in complete isolation to its surrounding neighbourhood, “like living in an open prison.” Harry Wakeman could to see a change coming,
This place has had its time. Maybe its about to blossom into another stage but I doubt it. (Harry Wakeman, quoted in New Society, 12th November 1981)
Harry’s wish to see a change came in June 1982 when a contingent of New Age Travellers arrived from Glastonbury, intent on holding a fair at Harford on the City limits. The proposed festival site turned out to be the local refuse tip and, appalled at the filthy conditions in which they were expected by the Council to park their vehicles, they decamped to Eaton Common which was on the doorstep of right wing Councillor Richards. Many of the frequent visitors to the site were Argyle Street residents who not only offered their support for the proposed free festival, which never actually happened in the traditional sense, but also went there to obtain copious supplies of exotic substances for which the Travellers were notorious; purple microdot LSD.This activity also attracted the attentions of the Norwich Drugs Squad and the local media who both went at the new arrivals with a will. Local BBC news coverage of the Travellers became so intrusive that a news cameraman, and his equipment, took an early bath in the nearby River Yare. It was almost as if the battle lines had been drawn up and set the scene for future press coverage and police operations concerning both Travellers and squatters alike. The link between the two was set in stone when some Travellers decided to rest in the Street before moving on.
Because of the anti-press feeling engendered at Eaton Common during the Travellersí summer visit, many reporters became wary of venturing down the Street to cover the latest round of talks between the Co-op and the Council. Reporter Chris Young circumvented this by using a flat in Normandie Tower, which overlooked the Street. The unintended consequence of this was, upon looking up, the Squatters saw a camera