Brick Lane and Spitalfields; A Review

I went to have a look…this is what I found

Spitalfields is in London’s East End, near Liverpool Street Station. At its centre is Brick Lane, which runs north-south from Shoreditch to Whitechapel. This is true ‘east-end’ territory. At least it was in the 17th-19th centuries when the area was developed. The current architectural ‘look’ is from the late 18th and early 19th century, as the industrial revolution fuelled urban growth and attracted thousands to the city for work in the new factories (the area sits on several major railway routes, which no doubt helped). Through the 19th century, the area descended into a cesspit of slums rife with disease and poverty, and the name Spitalfields essentially becoming a by-word for “dump”.

However, like almost all the once-grotty areas of inner-London, it has been reclaimed and gentrified and is full of ‘trendy’ folk and millions upon millions of tourists. This is partly thanks to The City being right next door (its glass and steel phallic temples…and the Gherkin…now tower over the old Victorian streets and reflect the sunlight down some of them creating a surreal, film-set like atmosphere). Somewhat inevitably, the whole area is now the sort of place people go to be a bit ‘edgy’ or ‘alternative’ and experience ‘sub-culture’ (whatever that is) for the afternoon. Or they go there because they’ve been told to: “oh, but you MUST visit Brick Lane!”. So they do, whilst supping on a hot mocha-locha-cappa-spreso or something, and eating quinoa (whatever that is, again). Basically, it all comes across as a bit pretentious and a bit…fake. Which is a shame. 

The area around Brick Lane is famed for its various markets, street stalls and urban ‘street art’ of varying quality and purpose. It appears that, at some point a few years ago, when it was still a bit rubbish and run down (and therefore cheap), a skint artist, or student, or something, sprayed some paint on the wall and it didn’t get removed by the authorities. Then other entrepreneurial people started doing it and formed a little arty community making murals on the walls and shops around the area. And they are, overall, pretty good. Then people began visiting the area to see the artwork and realised they quite liked this slightly dingy urban area they’d tried their best to ignore previously (“I mean, really, who gets the Circle Line past King’s Cross?”). They told all their friends about it and before you know it, the old market was redeveloped, the chain stores flooded in to leach off the older, traditional traders’ bemused clientelle, and the middle classes rolled in for the afternoon. The whole place is now a simulacrum of itself. The story of London, encapsulated within a medium-sized-Victorian-indoor-market. 

Inevitably, the Tourists got wind of this ‘cor blimey guv’nor!’ bit of London, and hot on their heels were the over-priced stalls and ‘arts and crafts’ shops selling ‘vintaaaage clothing, yah.’ Thus, another area became another monster; posing and preening itself for the masses. A monstrous Disney-like parody, somewhere between Mary Poppins’ London and Quadrophenia. It even got a new train station and was moved into Zone One (higher price tickets, you see).

Despite all this, it is still worth going around and having a look for the afternoon. After all, it’s so artificial it’s a spectacle in its own right, like Covent Garden. Plus, it is one of the few areas where you can still get a sense of what Victorian London would have been like (if you look up at the buildings or bother to wander down one of the quieter side streets), but don’t expect to find anything too genuine. There are no petticoated whores in doorways, not even on Petticoat Lane. The gas-lamps and smog have gone, and horses aren’t emptying their bowels on every corner. Be prepared to queue for hours behind hundreds of people taking pictures of what’s been painted on the wall too. It’s very much a typical ‘hip’ London district now, like Hackney or Soho. One for the tourists.