There is a growing recognition of the importance of pre-literacy skills among pre-school children. Evidence that children from relatively deprived backgrounds face poorer outcomes in speech and language development and educational achievement has led to an assertive attempt to lessen social inequalities at the earliest opportunity. The UK government-funded Sure Start initiative aims to provide services to promote play and learning opportunities for such children under the age of four. This paper describes the background and method of setting up an Early Listening programme in a deprived, multicultural and multilingual area of North London. We also present findings on the effect of the programme on children's phonological awareness. The results indicated improvement in rhyme awareness following direct input, with more tentative signs of positive trends in phonemic awareness and visual memory. We suggest that this programme may have considerable value in a wider local educational context. The information gathered from this pilot work will assist the development of more definitive research. (Contains 3 figures.)