ABSTRACT
Plebeian London was a city of neighbourhoods, and this term congers up warm and positive images, the situation were somewhat different during the period on Thomas study. In which, Thomas recognizes Plebeian Londoners were not isolated, alienated individuals tossed hither and yon in anonymous sea of humanity, when he continued that 'many districts in big cities were essentially little villages, where anonymity was impossible'. However, neighbourhoods also played positive roles in the lives of the men and women who lived within them: reputation and respectability were crucial in the sustaining aspects of neighbourhoods. The uncertainties and irregularities of work that afflicted these people meant that it made little sense to accede to notions of individual initiative, thrift and foresight. The poorest and least reputable used night-cellars cheap drinking places as shelters in which to pass the night. Reputation and respectability emanating from it were vital in this society, both in self-regard and approbation of others, and for very practical reasons.
