London Grit: Whitechapel

[Chelsea Spy]

Some pictures from Whitechapel, in east London. In the C19th Whitechapel was one of London's most notorious slums, made infamous by Jack the Ripper. Since WW2 conditions have improved and the character of the neighbourhood has changed considerably. About 60% of Whitechapel's residents are of Bangladeshi origin and the streets reflect this - with vibrant markets, sari shops and literally hundreds of take-aways. The district is a mixture of Georgian and Victorian houses that survived war bombing, warehouses (many now converted into trendy lofts) large and depressing post-war housing estates and new condo developments capitalising on the dsitricts proximity to the City.

Here's London at its most diverse. Enjoy!

[nito]

Amazing. Whitechapel is on of my favourite locations in London - the true divider for the Square Mile and Canary Wharf. Once Crossrail is built this is going to be even more of a hub for the immediate area.

[ColDayMan]

Awesome!

[peanut gallery]

Fantastic tour of the area. Makes me long for London even more. On my first trip to London, a co-worker dragged me to a Jack-the-Ripper walking tour our first night there. Touristy, yes, but fascinating nonetheless. Plus it helped me adjust to the time change when I really wanted to go to sleep at like 6pm after our meetings ended for the day.

[Sekkle]

looks like an interesting hood. Thanks!

[Top Of The Park]

nice mix of grit and beauty

[Kingofthehill]

Muslims are gonna take over

[harryc]

Now that's a city. thank you for the view from a new angle.

[SuburbanNation]

London!

[ChrisLA]

I totally missed this neighborhood when I visit last year. Oh how I want to hurry up and visit London again. But our almost worthless U.S dollar (compared to the pound) isn't helping the situation.

[Tom In Chicago]

Cool pix. . .

[aspiringArchitect]

London's ghetto?

[FrancoRey]

Excellent photos! A very interesting area of London not usually visited by the masses of tourists. But it looks like for me at least, that will change. That's the beauty of the City. Almost any central neighborhood is a mere hop, skip or a jump from the Underground. What is the closest line to this neighborhood? Aldgate? Liverpool East? Just curious for the next time I go.

[NYC4Life]

Fantastic thread. The grittier side of London.

[GO_UAE]

Hmmm maybe i should go visit my mums country !

[GO_UAE]

Originally Posted by Kingofthehill

Muslims are gonna take over

[Chelsea Spy]

thanks for the kind comments - glad you like the pics - there's a lot of interest in the area. Hopefully, one day I'll take you on a tour of Hackney for some much gritter hoods. The nearest tube is Whitechapel (Hammersmith & City/ District/ East London lines) also Aldgate/ Aldgate East. The area is only 15 mins stroll from Liverpool Street - once you enter funky Brick Lane the character of the area starts to change - but retains a neat compromise between the bohemian and the Bangladeshi. On the whole the area is fairly safe - one has to watch out for gangs of roving Asian rude-boys but they largely only pay attention to each other!!

[muppet]

ah, brings back memories, Chelsea ur the best. Whats weird about the area, although its one of the poorest its also one of the safest in London.

Its also a complete revelation to find out that Bangladeshis are a minority there though they are so many Bangla restaurants, businesses, mosques and Bangladeshis. The residential reality is that the area caters to Bangladeshis (as opposed to housing them persay), thus attracting the whole community into the one area. Abit like Vauxhall and Soho's gay strips attracting LGBTs from all over the city.


btw London doesnt have ghettoes despite 40 percent of the city being foreign born and one third being non white. Alot of the ethnic neighbourhoods are actually majority White residentially, in the same way as Whitechapel.

It often astounds Londoners to find out areas such as Brick Lane, Brixton, Peckham, Southall etc are racially evenly mixed - the highest percentage of any one minority is the 70 percent South Asian community in the Chalvey area of Slough (and even then its made up of disparate Hindu, Sikh, Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities).

This mixing is very much a tradition started by speculative developers in Victorian times (building grand estates in poorer areas commanded higher prices, thus rich and poor housing are mixed as are newcomer immigrants, established money, and pioneering yuppies). This was prolonged and exacerbated by neverending speculation, and house prices so high to this day noone affords the luxury of who they live with, only what space/ connections theyre getting. I think Chelsea herself is a great example, she's definitely not living out in exclusive enclaves all the time eh.

[jcchii]

wow. very nice

[jeremai]

Your photos are always bursting with activity! The couch one is hilarious.