East London – Architecture, Streetlife and Survival

One of the city's most rapidly changing districts, East London has for centuries been the engine room, shop floor and clearing house of the capital with its streets and buildings bearing witness to the shocks, pains and struggles of massive change. Before the coffee and the hipsters it was merchants, labourers, refugees, reformers and the desperate who shaped its life and each have left their mark on its tumultuous landscape. From lost markets and model dwellings, to railways, warehouses and world firsts, this walk explores the streets and spaces of Hoxton, Shoreditch and Spitalfields revealing the landmarks in the making of the first East London.

An OnStreet walk by The London Ambler - Mike Althorpe