Things, as they are fond of saying in the east end, are not what they used to be. Not even a Kray funeral. Reggie Kray, the last of the notorious family line, was buried yesterday but the event was a shadow of the send-offs afforded to his mother and brothers before him.

No more than 2,500 people turned out to watch the gangster's last trip down the Bethnal Green Road yesterday morning, and the gawpers would have been disappointed by the mourners. The official party was notable more for who was not there than who was. It would have been impressive for an ordinary east end lad perhaps, but not for a Kray. It was a limp end to the legend.

When the twins' mother, Violet, made the same trip in 1982 it is said more than 60,000 people lined the route from undertakers W English & Son to St Matthew's church little more than a mile away; in 1995 when Ronnie was buried similar numbers turned up. Even brother Charlie, whose reputation was far less fearsome than his younger brothers', drew a five figure crowd earlier this year. But each of those occasions had something this by its very nature did not: a real live Kray to look at.

Outside English & Son at 10am, as scores of wreaths were delivered including one from from EastEnders' Barbara Windsor, it seemed the mourners might be outnumbered by the security.

With police keeping a discreet distance, about 100 burly men in dark suits, dark glasses and gold chains cleared a path from the chapel of rest to the horse drawn coach in which Kray's coffin was to be carried. It looked more like a doormen's convention than a funeral. Each wore a red badge bearing the initals RKF (Reggie Kray Funeral), and a red armband.

"They symbolise all the blood and tears that have been spilt over the years," said the head of security, Richard Grayston. "Today is the end of an era, when we close the chapter. I think this is the end of the whole Kray illusion."

Behind the cordon ageing men greeted old acquaintances and swapped stories of failing health and dimly remembered days when the brothers were free. Many of them would once have gone by the euphemistic description "associate of the Krays", but the watching crowds, now swelling, struggled to put names to faces.

This was no surprise. The celebrities the Krays had assiduously courted in their pomp were largely absent although Stephen Berkoff, who played Ronnie's victim George Cornell in the film The Krays, was there. He spoke of the twins performing "a mythic service in a dull, dreary post-war environment", and providing "a sense of colour and identity".

Also absent were some of the gangsters with whom the Krays stood trial, men who did time for crimes committed on the brothers' behalf. Freddy Foreman, who admitted killing Frank "The Axeman" Mitchell at the Krays' request, was absent, as was Tony Lambrianou who cleaned up the mess after Reggie had stabbed Jack "The Hat" McVitie to death in a flat in Stoke Newington.

Both stayed away after Roberta Kray, who married Reggie three years ago in Wayland prison, Norfolk, declared it was not to be a day for grandstanding by men from Reggie's past. Perhaps the twins, with their respect for strong women, would have approved.

Foreman had visited Kray on his death bed a week ago and left thinking that he was to be a pall bearer. Roberta, however, chose four friends from Reggie's latter years and Foreman stayed away. Two of them, Bradley Allardyce, an armed robber who shared a cell with Kray in Maidstone prison, and Tony Mortimer, former singer of East 17, were not even born when the Krays went down in 1968.

The service at St Matthew's was also dominated by characters from his last days, and focused on Kray the reformed Christian, not the hoodlum who stabbed McVitie so ferociously his liver fell out.

Kray's solicitor, Mark Goldstein, gave an address. "I had first hand knowledge of his generosity. Reg was an icon of the 20th century," he said, before the coffin left the church to Frank Sinatra's My Way.

Back on the Bethnal Green Road, as the cortege of 18 hearses began the journey to the family plot in Chingford cemetery, opinions were mixed as to the significance of the day. One shopkeeper, a Pakistani who moved to the east end two years ago, said he did not understand the fuss. "I have seen the film though," he said. Edward Peek, 82, had nothing but regrets. "He was a nice man, he'd help anyone. May he rest in peace," he said.

At the cemetery a planned flypast by a Spitfire failed to happen. Sam Glazebrook and his pal David Kerr, both 16, had bunked off school in Ruislip, Middlesex, to be there.

"He is an idol. He stood for good morals. There were nasty things too but I think he was a good man who was misunderstood," said Sam, adding that he thought the streets were safer when Reggie was free, too. The last of the Krays may be dead, but there is some life in the old myth yet.

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