Tower Hamlets	Visitor attractions Markets and shopping Parks Tower Hamlets Area Guide      Bow      Spitalfields      Bethnal Green      Poplar      Stepney and Wapping      Canary Wharf/ Isle of Dogs		Hackney	City

Pubs with stunning river views, historic East End markets, and some of the most interesting shopping in London, are all part of what makes up Tower Hamlets.

In addition to this, the borough has an incredible cultural diversity, which influences everything from restaurant food to festivals and fashion.

............................................................................................................................................ top ....

The borough is rich in history and presents a vibrant mix of old and new, a bustling community unique in culture and character. Tower Hamlets takes its name from the historical association between the Tower of London and the hamlets that surround it.

The instantly recognisable ‘U’ bend in the River Thames describes the southern boundary of a diverse and vibrant community. This is an area of spectacular regeneration with the pyramid topped Canary Wharf Tower marking out the internationally renowned Docklands.

Once populated by colourful characters from Dick Turpin to Captain Cook, this is the part of London where Roman legions marched, Jack the Ripper stalked and which Queen Victoria loved.

Visitors to Tower Hamlets today are assured of a wealth of history, a richness of culture and some truly fascinating ancient and modern places to explore and enjoy.

............................................................................................................................................ top ....

Markets and shopping

Tower Hamlets is famous for its markets. At the weekends particularly the streets around Spitalfields, Brick Lane and Columbia Road throng with people vying for bargains.

In the last few years, with the developments at Canary Wharf have come some of the biggest brand names in high street fashion shopping.

While those looking for more quirky and unusual items are well catered for in the borough with contemporary furniture stores and art galleries, tattoo parlours, clothes designers and wig makers.

............................................................................................................................................ top ....


Parks

Mudchute Park and Farm
For the children, there is a wonderful day out to be experienced at the 40 acre Mudchute Park and Farm – the largest urban farm in Europe. There is a full range of farm animals, as well as an approved riding school, regular summer play schemes, festivals and agricultural shows.

Pier Street, E14.
Tel: 020 7515 5901
Nearest DLR station: Mudchute/ Crossharbour

Victoria Park
This huge and beautifully planted open space hosts manyfestivals, fetes,rallies and meetings.It has two lakes, ornamentalgardens, tennis courts and a bowling green. It is famous for its open air concerts beside the Chinese summerhouse, the Pagoda. There are a number of play areas for children, a paddling pool, and enclosures with deer. The park was created in 1884 in response to demands by the local people for a recreational area.

Grove Road, Bow E3.
Nearest underground station: Mile End
Nearest rail stations: Cambridge Heath/Hackney Wick Station

Mile End
Mile End Park is both an excellent leisure facility and a fine sporting venue, with its international standard athletics stadium. The park, established after 1945, stretches from Limehouse to Victoria Park, along the Regents Canal. Mile End Park is currently undergoing refurbishment. When it reopens in 2003, it will feature many separate parks encompassing the arts, ecology, adventure, sports and performance.

Rhodeswell Road, E14.
Tel: 020 7364 4147
Nearest underground station: Mile End

Island Gardens
This charming riverside park holds the modern day view of Greenwich featured in Canaletto's famous 18th century painting 'A View of Greenwich from the River'. There are three acres of waterfront parkland and easy access to Greenwich via the foot tunnel under the River Thames.

Saunders Ness Road, E14.
Nearest DLR station: Island Gardens

............................................................................................................................................ top ....

Tower Hamlets Area Guide

Bow

The hamlet of Bow dates back almost a thousand years. The name Bow is believed to come from its arched bridge founded in 1110 by Queen Matilda, the wife of Henry I.

Queen Matilda is said to have fallen into the River Lea, while crossing the dangerous ford, and was nearly swept away by flood waters. It was then that she ordered the bridge to be built, coincidentally improving access to the tide mills on the east bank of the River Lea that borders Bow.

One of these magnificent complexes still stands today – Three Mills. A trading site for over 900 years, Three Mills was the country’s largest tidal mill complex and an important industrial centre.

It has been restored as a working museum and contains much of its original machinery including four large waterwheels, millstones and grain chutes. There is a licensed waterside cafe in the adjacent Victorian distillery buildings.

Up to the 1800s, the small hamlet of Bow was surrounded by cornfields, pastures and meadows. Samuel Pepys noted in his diary that he often strolled through Bow on his way to a cream tea shop. And Charles Dickens’ novel Nicholas Nickelby features a little cottage set in the area.

Although the meadows have long since disappeared, one firm link with the past remains – Roman Road Market. The market started in about 1843 and has always thrived on its reputation for a huge variety of goods at keen prices.

The market is particularly well known for its ‘cabbages’ – not the vegetable, but a massive range of new clothes, seconds and discontinued lines. Within the market there is a traditional East End eatery – The Pie and Mash Shop. On Saturday lunchtimes, scores of shoppers queue for this tasty and filling fayre.

The north edge of Bow borders the magnificent Victoria Park. This huge and beautifully planted open space hosts many festivals, fetes, rallies and meetings. It is famous for its open air concerts beside the Chinese summerhouse, the Pagoda. There are a number of play areas for children, a paddling pool, and enclosures with deer and birds.

Further south, Mile End Park is both an excellent leisure facility and a fine sporting venue, with its international standard athletics stadium. The park, established after 1945, stretches from Limehouse to Victoria Park, along the Regents Canal.

............................................................................................................................................ top ....

Spitalfields

Spitalfields lies at the heart of the East End of London and is famous for its bustling street markets. At weekends crowds pack the area to buy an interesting mix of fashions and household items, toys and games, fruit and vegetables.

Many people are drawn to Spitalfields for the wide variety of eateries found around the markets. Brick Lane is known for its curry restaurants, and with its predominant Bangladeshi community.

The area is historically famous for providing refuge to those fleeing persecution. In the 18ths century, the area was occupied by the silk weavers largely descended from the Huguenot refugees (French Protestants escaping from Catholic persecution in France). A hundred years later, jews fleeing the pogroms in Eastern Europe, founded a thriving community.

Nowhere is the unique history of the area better depicted than in the history of the local mosque. The mosque in Brick Lane has been a place of worship for different faiths for hundreds of years. It was first built as church by the Huguenots but changed use to become a synagogue when a jewish community replaced the protestant population.

By the middle of the 20th century the jewish community had mostly moved on and the building was converted again, this time into a mosque to serve the Bangladeshi community. With its culture and cuisine the Bangladeshi influence gives a cosmopolitan feel to Spitalfields. The influence is so striking that the area has been dubbed Bangla Town.

Architecturally, the narrow lanes and alleyways of Spitalfields typify the bustling street life of Charles Dickens’ London. Spitalfields covered market was built in 1682 and is a fine example of the hamlet’s architecture. It now houses a lively crafts and antique market with an international and organic food hall.

The nearby Brick Lane Market developed during the 18th century for farmers selling their livestock and produce outside the cityboundary. Today the market offers wide array of fruit and vegetables, clothes and household goods.

Petticoat Lane Market is renowned for its clothing and leather goods. It holds over 1000 stalls on Sunday and is always packed with bargain hunters.

Then there’s Columbia Road Market, to the north of Spitalfields, which is famous for its huge selection of house and garden plants, and trees. On Sunday the street is a blaze of colour, with people searching for their favourite blooms or enjoying the many eating options of English breakfasts, Spanish tapas and sea food.

To the south of Spitalfields is Whitechapel Road, which is world famous as the only East End street on the Monopoly board.More locally the road is famous for the East London Mosque, The Royal London Hospital and museum and the Whitechapel Bell Foundry.

Built in 1720, the bell foundry has a history dating back to 1420. It has produced bells for countries all over the world but is most well known for casting London’s Big Ben and the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. Visits to the foundry can be made by appointment and visitors can witness many of the ancient casting processes still in use.

The area is also the home of one of London’s leading contemporary art establishments – the Whitechapel Art Gallery. This is a stylish and spacious gallery showing contemporary and 20th century works.

............................................................................................................................................ top ....

Bethnal Green

Bethnal Green is an eclectic neighbourhood, with a lively mix of cultural diversity, markets, eating places, museums and parks.

The hamlet borders the magnificent Victoria Park. This huge and beautifully planted open space hosts many festivals, fetes, rallies and meetings. It is famous for its open-air concert beside the Chinese summerhouse, the Pagoda and open air film shows.

Neighbouring Shoreditch was once famous for its boot and furniture makers. Today many of the imposing buildings have been transformed into New York loft-style living and working spaces occupied by artists, musicians, designers and media workers.

Bethnal Green is also well known for its Museum of Childhood. It houses one of the largest and most fascinating collections of children’s toys in the country. The ground floor is full of delightful playthings, ranging from dolls' houses, dolls and games to teddy bears, toy soldiers and trains, dating from the 17th century to the present day.

The upper childhood gallery explores the process of growing up from birth to the teenage years, through baby equipment, nursery furniture as well as children's clothes. The museum also arranges activities and workshops during school holidays.

Another major attraction is the colourful Columbia Road Market, in the heart of Bethnal Green. It is known for its huge selection of house and garden plants, and trees. On Sunday the street is a blaze of colour, with amateur horticulturists searching for their favourite blooms or enjoying English breakfasts, Spanish tapas and sea food at one of the many eateries.

Bethnal Green is both famous and infamous – for being the birthplace and early home of Carry On film star Barbara Windsor, but also for being the stamping ground of East End gangland bosses Ronnie and Reggie Kray – dubbed the Kray Twins.

............................................................................................................................................ top ....
Poplar

The hamlet of Poplar lies to the north of the Isle of Dogs. It is the site of the oldest surviving building in London Docklands, the 347-year-old St Matthias Old Church, built in 1654 as the chapel for the East India Company. The church, which sits in Poplar Recreation Ground was closed in 1976 and is now used as a community centre.

To the front of the park is a monument to 18 primary schoolchildren from a nearby school who died in a First World War air raid. The attack was the first time a fixed wing aircraft was used in daytime bombing of a civilian target.

Poplar takes its name from the number of Poplar trees that once grew in the district. Nearby Limehouse is also named for its historical connections. It comes from the lime oasts or kilns established there in the 14th century and used to produce quick lime for building mortar.

In 1660, Samuel Pepys visited a porcelain factory in Duke's Shore, Narrow Street, while the Limehouse Pottery, on the site of today's Limekiln Wharf, was established in the 1740s as England's first soft paste porcelain factory.

One of Poplar’s most famous attractions is the Ragged School Museum. It houses photographs, documents and many other artefacts connected with the lives of the children who attended Dr Barnado's free ragged day schools in the late 1800s.

You can experience a Victorian school lesson in a recreated classroom and discover how Victorian children were taught. There are also fascinating displays recreating life in the East End.

In the 19th century the canal system originating in Tower Hamlets was the entrance to the busy arterial route serving Britain's commercial life. The Limehouse Basin and Cut were the main links from the Thames to the River Lea and onwards to the industrial north, linking the trade routes of the world to cities across England.

Now the canals are busy once again, not with coal and copper but with anglers, ramblers and tourist barges. The Limehouse Basin itself has been redeveloped as an attractive waterside residential complex.

Charles Dickens spent much time in the Limehouse pub, The Grapes. It is described in his book Our Mutual Friend. This is a beautiful old pub with stunning views up and down the river. The Grapes has an upstairs restaurant specialising in fresh fish including oysters and lobsters when in season.

Famous people from the area include Sir Walter Raleigh, who is believed to have lived in Blackwall in the 16th century and the actress Angela Lansbury, who comes from Poplar.

............................................................................................................................................ top ....

Stepney and Wapping

The world famous Tower of London stands on the River Thames on the western boundary of the borough. It dates from the reign of William the Conqueror in the 11th century and in the past 900 years it has been as a fortress, royal palace, zoo and state prison.

The Tower now houses the Crown Jewels, as well as the Imperial State Crown made for Queen Victoria’s coronation and worn by the current Queen at her coronation.

Visitors can see the site of the scaffold where Anne Boleyn and Lady Jane Grey were executed, have their photo taken with the Yeomen of the Guard who wear the distinctive red and black costumes and are known as Beefeaters. Then there are the black ravens that have always lived at the tower – there is a legend that if they ever leave, the kingdom will fall.

Nearby is the spectacular Tower Bridge. From outside on the walkway, magnificent views stretch eastwards to Canary Wharf, and to the west Big Ben and the dome of St Paul's Cathedral can be clearly seen. Inside the bridge, exciting animatronics and interactive displays bring to life 100 years of the bridge's history.

Just beyond the Tower, a short walk will take you to St Katharine’s Dock. One of the first of London's docks to be restored, its latest additions include pubs, shops, restaurants and an attractive marina. Historically, it was established at the end of the 18th century with warehouses importing tea, rubber, marble, ivory and sugar.

Travelling east along the river, Wapping was the landing point for generations of watermen and the setting for Dickens' novels. Today it is noted for its centuries old riverside pubs and new luxury flats in former warehouses.

The pubs of Wapping all have their own stories to tell. The Prospect of Whitby is said to have been a regular drinking place for Charles Dickens, Samuel Pepys and James Whistler. It was known as the haunt of thieves and smugglers.

Another pub, the Town of Ramsgate, originates from the Wars of The Roses in the 15th century. The Captain Kidd pub was named after a naval officer who was executed at gallows nearby for murder and piracy.

............................................................................................................................................ top ....

Canary Wharf/ Isle of Dogs

The famous ‘U’ bend in the River Thames borders the Isle of Dogs with the tallest building in Britain, Canary Wharf, marking out this thriving community.

Much of the London docklands area is concentrated around the Isle of Dogs. In the last 10 years it has undergone a massive, landscape-changing redevelopment.

The area comprises a blend of restored warehouses and historic buildings, contemporary housing complexes and office developments, many with award-winning glass and steel designs.

Many international celebrities have taken penthouse apartments on the Isle including Cher and Robert de Niro.

The high rise towers have an impressive, futuristic feel with the beacon of Canary Wharf visible for miles across London. This 244 metre, pyramid-topped building stands on the site of a former dock for exotic goods from the Canary Islands.

The history of West India Docks is typical of many of the developed docks on the Isle. They were opened in 1802 by Prime Minister Sir Henry Addington and made a strong contribution to the economic life of London. What remains today are among the most elegant and historically important of docklands warehouses.

Constantly expanding and developing, Canary Wharf is becoming one of the busiest and most important areas of commerce, and with it a desire for goods and services. The area is well served by the fast and efficient Docklands Light Railway (DLR).

For those who live and work on the Isle of Dogs, there is a seemingly endless choice of eating places from modern wine bars, traditional pubs, and pizza parlours, to health foods, soups shops and sushi bars.

Water lovers are well catered for at the Docklands Sailing and Watersports Centre, for those who wishto dinghy sail, windsurf or canoe. There are also opportunities for rowing, dragon boat racing and fishing.

For the children, there is a wonderful day out to be experienced at the 40 acre Mudchute Park and Farm, one of three urban farms in the borough and the largest one in Europe. The farm boasts many farm animals, as well as an approved riding school, regular summer play schemes, festivals and agricultural shows.

............................................................................................................................................ top ....

For suggestions, additions or comments please email: contact@lookproperty.co.uk