Go East London is the selection of Go London Tours which profile London east of the City and makes it easy for you to choose a tour to discover the stories of this exciting, ever changing area which is now home to many of the most vibrant artistic and business districts of London. It is a treasure trove of surprises waiting to be explored and below is the range of walks and tours to introduce you to the history, personalities and buildings, past and present.
The history of the East End has been shaped over the centuries by the River Thames, the industry and the generations of immigrants who made London their home and each separate areas has a distinct personality of its own.
Whatever your interest there will be something in east London for you - Docklands, Riverside Walks, Jewish East End, Street Markets, Cultural Philanthropy and Radical Campaigning to name but a few.
Following the Olympic Games of 2012 east London has become even more of a magnet for London explorers.
VINTAGE GLAMOUR in London’s East End by Michael Greisman
Capturing the career of Boris Bennett, the Cecil Beaton of Whitechapel, this book of classic glamorous wedding photos and portraits also includes essays by a member of Boris’s family, the fashion curator of the V&A and Rachel (yes the Rachel of Go London Tours!). The official launch is at the Bishopsgate Institute followed by a panel discussion at the Jewish Museum. PLUS the book was featured at Jewish Book Week where Rachel was part of a panel at the Jewish Museum discussing the East End that Boris and his clients knew.
JEWISH LONDON by Rachel Kolsky
East London is featured in ‘Jewish London’.
Spitalfields, Whitechapel, Mile End and Stepney are all profiled together with the personalities associated with the area.
CLICK ON THE JEWISH LONDON BOOK COVER FOR REVIEWS AND DETAILS
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SPITALFIELDS: THE STORY
Discover the streets where fact has often merged with fiction. From 'The Children of the Ghetto' to 'The People of the Abyss' and 'Chicken Soup', the streets of Spitalfields and Whitechapel have inspired writers throughout the centuries to the present day. Included are short passages from writing by, amongst others, Israel Zangwill, Jack London, Arnold Wesker and Rachel Lichtenstein.
Note: This tour can be adapted to concentrate on Jewish writers. See Go Jewish London
AN EAST END VILLAGE
Walking from Mile End, Stepney Green always comes as a revelation to visitors with its attractive terraced houses and green spaces. Memories of the Jewish community remain with the old age home, Stepney Jewish School, Rothschild Dwellings, the Jewish Anarchist Club and so much more.
BATTLING BELLES OF BOW
Follow in the footsteps of Sylvia Pankhurst who chose east London as the starting point for her campaign for women's suffrage and seeing the plight of the working women and mothers also established a creche, restaurant and model toy factory in the area. East End women were key to the success of the Suffragette movement and the route highlights their supporters and their workplaces including the famous Bryant & May Match Factory, site of the Match girls' strike of 1888.
COSMOPOLITAN LONDON - BRICK LANE
The East End has always been known for its diversity. With its proximity to the River Thames the district has attracted numerous immigrant groups.On this tour we will discover how each group has contributed to the area French street names , Huguenot weavers houses and chapels left by the French Huguenots: old synagogues, a soup kitchen and an exotic indoor market building built by Jews from eastern Europe; Mosques, textile businesses and restaurants run by the current Bangladeshi Community.
CREATIVE SHOREDITCH
Once the furniture making centre of the world, Shoreditch has once again become a creative hub for London. Trace the history of this fascinating area discovering the first local housing estate in London, the site of the famous Club Row animal market and the surviving furniture warehouses and workshops, now home to contemporary designers, art galleries and night life.
DOCKERS TO WHARFERS
From the modern towers of Canary Wharf, a dramatic contrast comes into view as you approach the original sugar warehouses of West India Dock. The backbreaking and dangerous working conditions of the dockers have been transformed into a vibrant financial and residential centre for London.Compare the worlds of the dockers of yesteryear with the wharfers of today.
EAST END RADICALS
East London still evokes memories of the radicals and revolutionaries who worked tirelessly to improve the working and living conditions of the predominately Jewish community. The Sidney Street Siege, Rudolph Rocker and the doss-house that was home temporarily to Stalin and Jack London all feature on this tour.
HEART OF HACKNEY
Memories still remain of the old village of Hackney with its ancient church tower, 16th century Sutton House, 18th century church, the Victorian Round Chapel and the recently restored Hackney Empire music hall. Once an area for watercress and the largest plant nurseries in London, Hackney became an inner London suburb with industry and immigrants but which has now undergone a recent renaissance.
ISLAND EXPLORATION - THE ISLE OF DOGS
Discover how this unusual name came about on the walk which has one of the best views in London, historic Greenwich as pained by Canaletto. Starting at Millwall Gardens, previously one of London's largest ropewalks, you continue down to the river joining the Thames path where you see the slipway from where Brunels Great Eastern steamship was launched and views across the river to Deptford. Continuing through the Millwall Docks the history of shipbuilding, 'toe rags', jam and granaries take centre stage before focussing on the recent regeneration of the area
JEWISH WHITECHAPEL
In and around Commercial Road you can still find reminders of the vibrant Jewish community which lived and worked there. The streets and buildings evoke memories of local synagogues, street markets, medical missions and the Yiddish theatre. You will also visit Cable Street, the site of the battle against the fascists and home to Dr. Hannah Billig, the Angel of Cable Street.
LIMEHOUSE - LONDON'S ORIGINAL CHINATOWN
Now the ‘Belgravia of the Docklands’, Limehouse was the original Chinatown and evidence of its seafaring past remains with the restored warehouses and ropewalk. Literary associations abound with Fu Man Chu and Narrow Street where Dickens set scenes for Our Mutual Friend. The tour ends with a riverside stroll to the old sugar warehouses, now the Museum of Docklands.
MEDICINE AND MISSIONARIES - IN AND AROUND THE MILE END ROAD
As we weave in and out of the streets of Whitechapel and Mile End we discover 17th century almshouses, old brewery buildings, tenements and the historic bell foundry which made the famous Liberty Bell and recast Big Ben. "Meet" some of the best known 19th century philanthropists including William Booth, Dr Barnardo and Samuel Barnett and hear stories of the Elephant Man, the "David and Goliath" of retailing and one of the bravest nurses of World War I.
MERCY, MISSIONS AND MEDICINE
For centuries, women have been involved with improving the health of the overworked poor in east London. Discover the sites associated with those who came to the East End to make a difference, including Alice Model at the Jewish Maternity Hospital, the Sisters of Mercy at Providence Row and home grown angels too such as Hannah Billig. Covering present day initiatives we also go further back to the original St Mary Spital and the Huguenots who pioneered improvements to medical and opthalmic instruments in the 17th century.
MILE END TO VICTORIA PARK
Not one, not two but three parks feature on this walking tour which takes you on the fascinating journey from Mile End, over the canal into Victoria Park, since the mid 19th century host to social activism, rock concerts and boating and leisure pursuits. With its lake, bridges and ornate drinking fountain it is still very much at the heart of the local community.
OLD JEWISH EAST END
The Jewish community may no longer live in Spitalfields but the streets and buildings still evoke memories of the synagogues, schools and soup kitchens. Not forgetting Yiddish theatre and the street markets in and around Petticoat Lane. Stories of other immigrant communities of the area, such as the Huguenots and Bengalis are also woven into the tour.
PIRATES, PEPPER AND PENTHOUSES - WAPPING
Discover the aromatic and sinister past of Wapping. Walking through the restored St Katherine’s Dock to the cobbled riverside High Street there are still the historic pubs and memories of spice warehouses and Execution Dock where pirates met their watery end. The Thames River Police, is based here, the oldest uniformed police force in the world.
PEARLY QUEENS TO KINGSLEY HALL - BROMLEY BY BOW
For those of you prepared to go a bit off the beaten track this under-visited area of Bromley-by-Bow offers a wonderful variety of history and stories - suffragettes, almshouses and royal hunting lodges. The walk ends with a visit and tour of Kingsley Hall hearing of its associations with Doris and Muriel Lester and Mahatma Ghandi, who lodged here during his visit to London in the 1930s.
RAIL LANDS TO REGENERATION - Discover Stratford East
In 2012 this area of East London will take centre stage for the Olympics. Discover Stratford East before the crowds start flocking. Hear the plans for regeneration and also the history of Stratford which was once London's bakery and perfumery. An impressive town hall, two Victorian theatres, an area which was once a trainspotter's paradise and a new cultural quarter all feature on this tour and personalities you will 'meet' include the first Labour MP, a maverick theatre director, a poet and the gentleman who campaigned against slavery.
SHADWELL
This is the area to which sailors arriving at the Docks were lured in search of wine, women and song. In the shade of a magnificent Hawksmoor church we find Londons oldest surviving Victorian music hall which is still used for performances today, the Georgian Tobacco Dock with its old ships and tranquil canalside walkway, 19th century wool warehouses and a fascinating mural telling of a famous battle in recent East End history.
STOKE NEWINGTON - 'A MISTY VILLAGE'
For centuries this hidden London village was home to dissenters and radical writers such as Daniel Defoe and 'gothic' Edgar Allen Poe. This varied and fascinating tour follows this history, via a 'castle', hidden reservoir and an historic cemetery, through to present day 'Stokie', a vibrant and creative hub of north London.
SUFFERING TO SALVATION
Walking tours of East London often focus on the horrific sites of crime and murder, and overlook the other spaces and places in which women lived, worked and campaigned. From Victorian prostitution to and charitable missions to the daily life for women, this walk takes in a range of women's experiences in the East End and offers an alternative perspective on the area.
SUNDAY MORNING MARKETS
Starting in Hoxton this tour takes you to one of the most colourful markets in London, Columbia Road flower market. After time to browse the blooms and the new shops and cafes you discover the backstreets and hear the story of the 19th century charity housijng estate, now a favourite filming location. Crossing Bethnal Green Road you reach Cheshire Street and Brick Land, both historic and currently regenerated markets and the tour ends at Spitalfields, the 17th century fruit and flower market now transformed into a vibrant venue for shopping, restaurants and fashion.
VIEW THE SPORTING VISION
This walking tour leads you along the tow path that skirts the Olympic site area and also along the Greenway which goes through what will be the Olympic Park and from where you get a marvellous view of the Olympic Stadium currently under construction. The area has a rich history and en route you will hear about the area's fascinating industrial past and, of course, the plans for the 2012 Olympic Games themselves, the massive construction and remediation project and also the the legacy that the Games will leave behind.
WALTHAMSTOW
Explore the development of Walthamstow from its village beginnings in the twelfth century to the growth of suburbia. This tour takes in historic features from the sixteenth-century Monoux almshouses and the eighteenth-century Squires almshouses to the Vestry House Museum, originally used as a workhouse and ends at the home of William Morris, now a museum open to the public.
WHITECHAPEL AT WAR
Discover what the home front was like in Whitechapel during the First and Second World Wars. East London was a key enemy target during both World Wars with enormous effects on the local community. This walk recalls everyday life on the home front, the evacuation of women and children, the disaster at Hughes Mansions and the German wartime residents of the Whitechapel area.
WOMEN OF WORTH
Discover Jewish and non-Jewish women alike who made an impact on the Jewish community of the East End. Ending at the Kinderstransport memorial at Liverpool Street Station you will have visited en route sites of Whitechapel and Spitalfields including those associated with Alice Model and her maternity hospital, Miriam Moses and her youth work, the philanthropy of the Rothschild ladies and the actresses of the Yiddish theatre.
WONDERFUL WOMEN OF WHITECHAPEL
This popular tour visits sites associated with women who have defined Whitechapel and Spitalfields. Hear the stories of such significant figures as Eva Luckes and Edith Cavell at the London Hospital; radical campaigner Annie Besant; and philanthropists Mary Hughes and Miriam Moses. The walk also explores locations related to influential characters in the contemporary cultural scene such as artist Tracey Emin and author Monica Ali.