Brick Lane

• Location of Brick Lane

  It is a street in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It runs from Swanfield Street in the northern part of Bethnal Green, passes through Spitalfields and is linked to Whitechapel High street to the south by the short stretch of Osborn Street.
• Brick Lane - Original name

  • Originally called Whitechapel Lane but was renamed because local earth was used by brick and tile companies
  • By the seventeenth century, the street had also become a popular location for breweries
• Brick Lane - Flows of People

  • In the 17th century, there was an influx of French Huguenots and in the 19th and 20th centuries, it was best known for its Irish and Jewish population. In the 1990s it became a popular place for immigrants from Bangladesh particularly the Sylheti region. 
  • In the 1990s Jewish Kosher shops left and Bangladeshi, Indian dress shops took over. = Represents how the population's makeup has changed.
  • By the 1990s, the area became known as Banglatown as it was a popular place for immigrants from Bangladesh
  • There is a Huguenot church, a methodist chapel and Muslim mosques. 
  • 1976 Jewish Synagogue converted into a mosque 
• Brick Lane - Racism

  • 1978 series of race riots at Brick Lane
  • Racism is less now and the place is more accepting 
  • Immigrants were deprived and discriminated against but they are less deprived now
• Brick Lane - Truman Brewery

  • Truman Brewery - Got shut down in 1980  -> caused high levels of unemployment and deprivation in the area = people leave the area
  • Is now a hub 'cereal killer Cafe’ - shops, cafes pubs - brining in income from tourists  
  • Deprivation has also decreased since 2010 as it used to be a deprived area
• Demography of Brick Lane

  • Spitalfields and Banglatown ward has a notably high proportion of its population in the 20-24 year old bracket. (20-39 =55%) Access to a high range of jobs in London attracts economically active people including immigrants. 
  • Low old dependant population 80+ at 5.8%
  • In 2011 residents of Bangladeshi origin accounted for 41% of the population of Spitalfields and Banglatown which is higher than the borough average. 
  • In terms of religion Muslims make up the highest proportion of the population at 41.5% .
• Deprivation in Brick Lane

  There are some areas of significant deprivation in Tower Hamlets, but this has improved over recent years.

  In 2010 many areas of Tower Hamlets were in the most deprived 10% in England but in 2019 the majority of the most deprived areas were outside of London. Only 2 of the 20 wards in the borough of Tower Hamlets are not in the 50% less deprived wards in London.
• Gentrification of Brick Lane - social and economic change

  Gently causing young people to move out of the area - impact on culture - might force specific businesses to close
• Brick Lane - Sally Floods' Poem

  The Brick Lane I See' - A poem by Sally Flood. Flood worked in a factory in Brick Lane as an embroidery machinist (INSIDER). She expresses a mix of cultures but also describes the area as being poor, polluted, and having lots of crime. Part of 'Window on Brick Lane' a collection of poems by Sally Flood released in 1979 about London and classes.

  +personal view of Brick Lane, use of adjectives to describe sense of place (The grey slums of Spitalfields)

  -Subjective, single snapshot, small scale (time and space)
• Brick Lane - Adam Dent’s Map

  + use of images to summarise area, picture tells a thousand words, can visualise the spatial scale, subjective in selection of images

  -snapshot which could change over time, whole area rather than just Brick lane 
• Brick Lane by Monica Ali Poem

  • Moves to Brick Lane as a Bangladeshi migrant
  • High South and SouthEast Asia populations in Tower Hamlets
• Essay on cultural context of Brick Lane - by Nousha Hansen


  References some of the attempts at rebranding the area
• Gateways to Brick Lane

  Created as landmarks it shows features in the area. Used on adverts