Tower Hamlets
Taking in Spitalfields, Bow and, to the south, the Isle of Dogs, Tower Hamlets’ story dates back to Roman times.
The imprint of the many migrant communities who’ve made the area their home is everywhere – perhaps most notably in Brick Lane Jamme Masjid. Now a mosque, it was built in 1743 as a French Protestant church, before becoming a synagogue in 1898.
Tower Hamlets’ diverse influences are part of the draw for numerous creative people. Artists Gilbert & George and Tracey Emin are among those to have lived in the borough.
Tourists flock to bustling markets on Columbia Road and Petticoat Lane – and to explore the streets once roamed by Jack the Ripper.
But it’s also where bankers go to work among the sleek glass towers of Canary Wharf. And where Victoria Park opened in 1845 for the benefit of the East End working class – one of the first public parks in London.
The Roman Road market in 1968
Blogs-And-Stories
The Huguenots in London
These French refugees worked silk in Spitalfields and silver in Soho, weaving a lasting legacy
London’s whaling trade: Blubber & baleen
Whether sporting a corset or reading by lamplight, Londoners once relied on the products of whaling
Photographing an east London rent strike, 1939
Cyril Arapoff captures life in a dangerously dilapidated apartment block
Michaela Coel: A vital modern storyteller
The superstar behind Chewing Gum and I May Destroy You has spun unique tales from London life
Photographing hidden worlds on the banks of the Thames
Portraits of the barren underbelly of London’s bridges, wharfs and piers
Thomas Barnardo’s crusade against child poverty
The suffering children of London’s East End motivated Barnardo’s tireless social work
John Galt's photos of the East End and its poverty
Photographing in the 1900s, this Christian missionary hoped to draw attention to his local community
London’s pie & mash shops
In the 1990s, Chris Clunn photographed a unique yet fading London food tradition
A thousand years of Billingsgate Market
The prize catch of London’s fish trade, home to a unique culture and generations of working history
Roman Road Market: Shopping for East London history
Where else could you find pie and mash, biriani, Suffragette history and a grime music landmark?
Colourful prints of lost East End shops
Look again at the greengrocers, delis and butchers that have disappeared from our streets
Finding beauty in 1930s working-class London
Humphrey Spender’s photos were born from an appreciation of ordinary life
Spitalfields Market: 400 years of feeding London
A former fruit and veg trading hub in the heart of the East End
Jellied eels might be the ultimate London delicacy
Caught in the Thames or shipped from abroad, eels have a long history of sustaining Londoners
