Magistrates' court melancholy

10:32am Thursday 14th August 2008

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This job just keeps getting more and more glamorous.

I had my first ever outing to Waltham Forest Magistrates' Court on Wednesday morning to cover a hearing about a Leytonstone restaurant with, among other things, a cockroach/mouse infestation and plenty of mouldy food and unsanitary cooking equipment all over the place.

The proprietors were taken to court by the department of environmental health, who helpfully brought along a sample of the mouldy food, some dead cockroaches in a handy plastic display bag and lots of pictures of the various hygienic failings, which they very kindly showed me. Nice.

Nonetheless, it was an educational experience. Having only ever been to magistrates' court once in the North East (a rather tragic story about a man who stole some bacon from a Co-op to make a Valentine's meal for his girlfriend) my experience is limited, to say the least. It seems, however, that Waltham Forest Magistrates' Court shares a certain synthetically lit, stale aired misery with its South Tyneside counterpart.

Sitting on the wire mesh seating (another commonality with the South Tyneside court) on the concourse, as the corridor outside the courtrooms is somewhat arcanely called, there was a certain sense of habit - that the people waiting, for whatever reason, had been there time and again. They stood, sat, or slouched in little bunches, talking quietly, some conferring with solicitors, some laughing mirthlessly, some dead-eyed and silent, and many of them looking far too young to be there.

A visit to our local magistrates' court, it seems, is a pretty sad affair.

Unlike South Tyneside, there was none of the buoyant defiance or even mild drunkenness to break up the monotony. There was just a lingering sense of dejected resignation, as though everything that was about to happen was a foregone conclusion - a painful inevitability.

On the bright side (and it is a very qualified bright side), the case of the filthy restaurant made a good online story and it should hopefully also get a showing in next week's paper. I do feel, however, that having done a story about dog mess and a story about cockroaches, I've had my fair share of hygiene (or lack thereof) stories for the time being...