Paris Again: London, Day 2

Brick Lane in Spitalfields

Today we set out to visit Spitalfields in the East End. The area straddles Commercial Street and is home to many markets, including the historic Old Spitalfields Market, founded in the 17th century, Sunday UpMarket, and the various other Brick Lane Markets on Brick Lane and Cheshire Street.

View over a Spitalfields Alley

Spitalfields has an historic association with the silk industry. From about 1685 onward Huguenots settled here to ply their trade. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the master weavers built terrace houses. During the reign of Queen Anne, the elegant Christ Church was erected.

Christ Church

By the Victorian era, with the decline in the silk industry, many of the dwellings became slums with rooms housing 20 to 30 people with totally inadequate sanitation and no running water. the silk industry had entered a long decline and the old merchant dwellings had degenerated into multi-occupied slums. New trades such as furniture and boot making came to the area; and the large windowed Huguenot houses were found suitable for tailoring, attracting a new population of poor Jewish refugees, escaping from the shtetls of Eastern Europe were drawn to live and work in the textile industry.

Nearing the end of the 19th century, Spitalfields had become one of the worst areas in the Metropolis. Criminals and prostitutes were to be found at every corner of the overcrowded streets.

Today there are two Spitalfields. One is the crowded centre for Bangledeshi life, alive with the street markets and the wonderful smells of the restaurants. The other is that of the upmarket, refurbished buildings that are gradually bringing a new middle-class population to the area.

A Spitalfields Street

A walk down Brick Lane quickly takes you back in time to the nineteenth century. The crowded streets, the hustle and bustle, the "Beigal" shop considered by many to be the best Jewish restaurant and delicatessen in London are all there. It is an exciting and vibrant area and one not to be missed.

From Spitalfields we caught a bus to the legal district where we planned to have lunch at the George pub. This is one of the "institutions" of the area. Just across the street from the Royal Courtts of Justice,courts, solicitors and barristers used to wait in the upstairs area looking across the street to the courts where, when a verdict was handed down, someone would signal across so the lawyers could return. Today such traditions have probably gone by the boards with the pernicious influence of the mobile phone.

The Courts from upstairs at The George

Another institution of the area which whilst not gone would hardly be recognisable except for its frontage is the old Wig and Pen Club. Closed in 2003, it was the last lawyers' and journalists' drinking den. Here, it is rumoured the headless ghost of Oliver Cromwell wandered around the pub in its better days. It is said that the building was the only structure in the Strand to survive the great fire of London in 1666. Today it is a Thai restaurant. Oh how the mighty have fallen! Well, not all of the mighty. Starting out as Tom's Coffee House, and purchased by Thomas Twining in 1706, the Twining's Tea Shop remains.

The stained glass window at the Wig and Pen

The area is on the border between "The City" of London and Westminster. The boundaries of the City are marked by black bollards bearing the City's emblem, and at major entrances, such as at Temple Bar on Fleet Street, a grander monument, with a dragon facing outwards, marks the boundary. From the Royal Courts of Justice we walked through the quiet and very lovely area of Middle Temple.

Boundry Marker for the City of London

Middle Temple is one of the four Inns of Court which has the exclusive right to Call men and women to the Bar. The Inn is comprised of Student, Barrister and Bench Members and is governed by the Masters of the Bench.

Buildings in Middle Temple

A walk through Middle Temple takes one to the Embankment and after a gentle stroll and a look across the Thames we moved on to the statue of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the greatest of the nineteenth century engineers.