Brick Lane is the Best Gallery

I was in London last week. And the highlight – apart from being with family of course – was a day mooching round Spitalfields with fellow blogger Sarah of Travel with Me fame. We’d planned to meet, and I’d appointed Sarah as Tour Guide. Good plan. She knows Brick Lane and the area well.

We started in Spitalfields Market, and immediately spotted Morph, well known to all British children and their parents of a certain age (1970s) through the TV series Take Hart. He and his acolytes are making guest appearances throughout central London this summer for the charity Whizz-Kidz.

Coffee next. You’ll never be short of a refreshment stop round here, though the one shown here wasn’t ours. We chose somewhere cosier.

Spitalfields was once the heart of the Huguenot community in London – Protestant refugees from persecution in 17th and 18th century Catholic France. They brought their skills as weavers with them, and formed a community here, which still has the houses from that era at its heart. For many, these houses have now become a desirable address.

We chanced upon the Town House Gallery here, and rather wished we’d stopped here for our coffee and cake. Another time.

Spitalfields has gone on being an area welcoming those seeking a fresh life away from persecution and poverty, more recently Bangaldeshi citizens who’ve now made their own mark on the area.

All the same, it was street art we’d come for, and that meant Brick Lane, and the streets round and about. Sarah’s already posted about our walk, and as so many of you already read her (and if you don’t already, you should – link above) I’ve tried to choose different images from those she shows: click on any one to enlarge.

You don’t even need a spare bit of wall:

We didn’t just have street art to keep us amused. There was filming going on. A documentary? A drama? We don’t know. Maybe we’ll find out one day.

Then under a railway bridge …

… a promising back street – a couple of street artists preparing the ground for a new work. I’m just going to show you the preparations in action. We popped back a couple of hours later to inspect progress, but were underwhelmed.

A lunch stop, then we retraced our steps. Don’t forget to look up! We were intrigued by the lines of broccoli we kept on coming across, above eye level, but they remained a mystery.

Should we instead have stopped here for lunch? We’d both have settled for Italian food. Or Korean. But that particular fusion?

Just a couple more images, of passers by oblivious to their surroundings. Which we certainly weren’t. A day full of interest. A day well spent. Thanks Sarah!

Oh, hang on. This bit’s for Jo. We found the all-important cake shop, but it wasn’t a coffee-stop too. We contented ourselves with gazing through the window, and I got an oddly surreal image of us both, with Sarah having another woman’s head superimposed on her own.

For Jo’s Monday Walk, and Natalie’s Photographing Public Art Challenge

Author: margaret21

I'm retired and live in North Yorkshire, where I walk , write, volunteer and travel as often as I can.

54 thoughts on “Brick Lane is the Best Gallery”

  1. Great pics! Spitalfields looks to have come up in the world since I was last there probably 15+ years ago. I love street art and this looks like a veritable outdoor gallery!

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    1. Spitalfields has certainly been busy changing its identity over the last few years. It’s an eclectic and multi-ethnic mix of the wealthy, the poor and all stops in between. And a tourist mecca too. One day wasn’t half enough to discover all the street art crammed into its streets.

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  2. A different view of the city, certainly. I’m not sure about your comment ‘passers-by oblivious to their surroundings’ – if they live there, they’ve probably noted each artwork when it first appeared, but soon take it as ‘part of the furniture’, and if they aren’t interested, why wouldn’t they be oblivious? I say this having been ‘accused’ of not appreciating some rather loud birdsong – I was walking along a lane and didn’t need to stop to listen. The other person was surprised when I named all the birds they were listening to and more.

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    1. I do see what you mean. And it wasn’t meant as a criticism, because they might indeed not really need to actively notice something they see every day. I suppose it was the ones with their heads buried in their phones I was thinking about more negatively!

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  4. Oh, I do love you, Margaret! You always entertain. I love that exotic lady reflected in the shop window in the second gallery and the bum and high heels near the end, but most definitely you and Sarah. Such a good likeness! I’m chuckling. Thanks a lot, darlin! See you on Monday, even if I’m not ‘there’.

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  5. Making a note to visit this part of the city on my next visit. I’ve been to the market once but it was only a fleeting visit en route to somewhere else. Clearly this is a neighbourhood that is best browsed at a leisurely place.

    Curious about those little broccoli sculptures! I wonder what they are a symbol of…

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  6. Brilliant post! Spitalfields is unrecognisable from the last time I visited it. I remember taking a fascinating walking tour which explored the history of the area and also visiting Dennis Severs’ House in Folgate Street, a sort of time capsule of Huguenot life.

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  7. Interesting. Love the street art photos. I was walking around in a downtown last week and I don’t remember seeing such richness and diversity that your photos capture. I saw graffiti, but not art. Love the idea of blogger meet ups, it does make the world a little smaller. Maybe someday I’ll make it to England! Ha.

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    2. Great detective work Peter, and an interesting read for several reasons, not least the background to the Dark Sugars shop which we saw and would have been tempted by had the queue not been so long!

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      1. I knew I had read of the broccoli art before. It was a lucky find though! If I was looking for a school for my daughter, and could afford the fees, that school would be a very strong contender!

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  10. Thanks for sharing…love this and hope to visit! London has some remarkable neighborhoods. When I stay in the city on my own, I prefer the South Bank near the Tate Modern and always try to visit the Borough Market at least once.

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  13. I enjoyed this virtual walk that offers so much to see. The murals are awesome. I particularly like the murals in your second photo and the woman with blue and yellow beanie. Thank you for your PPAC contribution.

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  19. Great photos, it really is a fun and colourful area. I used to work close to Spitalfields Market and often picked up lunch there. Sadly, I haven’t been there for a while.

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  20. Thank you for taking me back to that lovely day last week! You’ve done a great job of detailing what we saw (lots of useful external links) and finding images different to my own – although why you had to include me in some of them isn’t clear! Let’s do it again some time 😀

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    1. I should of course have asked you if you were OK about being included – sorry. However, I liked the images, and decided that only those who knew you already would have had any hope of recognising you, as I hadn’t captioned you. Yep, I’d love to do it again!

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  21. A colourful place, not a part of London I’ve ventured to as yet. Actually really like that last image, accidental as it was. And best of all, cake!

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  23. Pingback: Jo’s Monday walk : the wide, blue yonder | Still Restlessjo

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