Pictures of the week: Christmas cafes, by Alan Powdrill

Nothing says Christmas like a snow globe nestled among the ketchup and brown sauce.→ Photograph: Alan Powdrill

These east London greasy spoons have entered into the seasonal spirit, but only just.→ Photograph: Alan Powdrill

Not for them tasteful white lights and rustic, homespun wreaths: in line with their roles as purveyors of retro, unselfconscious style, these so-uncool-they’re-deeply-cool caffs have decorations to match.→ Photograph: Alan Powdrill

Thus, tinsel draped around a chandelier still has its 99p price tag, coloured lights are wrapped around a grubby plug socket, and a visually confusing, but appealingly homemade Nativity scene graces a window.→ Photograph: Alan Powdrill

If you have a creative imagination, an ironic humour and squint just a little, there is a sort of art involved here: a single Santa candle juxtaposed with condiment bottles creates a still life worthy of the working-class photography of Tony Ray-Jones or Martin Parr.→ Photograph: Alan Powdrill

Elsewhere, tinsel gracing a signed portrait of the late TV presenter Jeremy Beadle resembles a crown, lending him the air of the Messiah. Photographer Alan Powdrill was drawn to these decorations’ down-to-earth nature. 'They are sort of anti-Christmas afterthoughts that go against the usual seasonal overkill,' he says. 'They’re trying, but not too hard'→ Photograph: Alan Powdrill

They might appeal if you are a thrifty type who reuses the same decorations every year: stars hand-stitched in childhood and now threadbare, ancient tinsel shedding its glittery scales.→ Photograph: Alan Powdrill

If not, just be grateful that there are some corners of the world where it’s Christmas, only with the commercialisation taken out.→ Photograph: Alan Powdrill

To see more of Alan's work go to www.alanpowdrill.com Photograph: Alan Powdrill