‘Look up, on top of the Polish shop. You have an appointment with a man standing on top. Quack or practitioner? Champion or flimflammer?’

These testimonies come from The Threepenny Doctor: Doctor Jelley of Hackney, published by Centerprise in 1974. In 1911, Doctor Jelley opened his surgery at 172/174 Homerton High Street, where the Polski Sklep stands today. The whiff of kielbasa may have pleased Doctor Jelley - he often prescribed red meat and vegetables rather than expensive tonics his patients could not afford.