Brick Lane runs south from Shoreditch High Street through Spitalfields to Whitechapel. It has been, in turn, a centre of the Huguenot silk-weaving trade, a Jewish garment district, and since the 1970s, the heart of London’s Bangladeshi community. Today it is also one of the city’s most vibrant creative neighbourhoods.
The Curry Houses
Brick Lane has over 50 Bangladeshi and Indian restaurants. Touts stand outside each one and negotiation is part of the theatre. The standard varies enormously; the best are genuinely excellent. The street is busiest on Sunday afternoons when the market atmosphere takes over.
The 24-Hour Bagel Shops
Two competing bagel shops have occupied adjacent premises since the 1970s and are open 24 hours. Beigel Bake and Beigel Shop serve salt-beef bagels with mustard and pickles for a few pounds each. They are a London institution — popular with night-shift workers, clubbers, and anyone who knows where to go at 3am.
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