Jah Wobble: 'The cockney is dead and the East End is full of hipsters now'

“The Cockney is dead, long gone, moved out to Essex,” says the great Jah Wobble (real name John Wardle) sitting in second-hand splendour in the otherwise hushed dining room of the Chelsea Arts, where the ex-punk is holding court this afternoon. He is extraordinarily good company, whether he’s expounding on his Buddhist faith, the machinations of the music industry (a founding member of John Lydon’s Public Image Ltd, he has collaborated with everyone from Brian Eno and Can to U2 and Sinéad O’Connor), self-obsessed twats (like himself, occasionally), addiction, the legacy of the or indeed the Cockney diaspora.