East End warmth

Recently I took a decision to take a day out of each month this year to get to know London again. Each month I pick a tiny corner of the city and spend a day exploring it. It has to be a small area because the idea is not to turn tourist and shoot frenetically from one attraction to the next. In fact, it is not about attractions at all. It's about stopping to take the time to get to know an area. And today, it was the Womens' Library and Brick Lane. I used to know parts of the East End really well. My parents owned a pharmacy in Bethnal Green and I used to work there every school holiday, commuting either from my school in the City or from our home in Essex so I knew the area like the back of my hand - Mile End, Stepney, Commercial Road, Aldgate, Hackney, Old Street, Liverpool Street and Bethnal Green districts, are all integral to my childhood. But it has been years since my parents sold their business, I left school, and never really visited again. In those years the area has seen huge investment, quite a bit of gentrification as commuters have been looking for more affordable property, and my first impression as I resurfaced at Aldgate East, was that I had set foot in a different world.  The Womens' Library, by the way, is soon to move to LSE, so no point in advising you to check it out in its current home at London Metropolitan University. Once it is established there though, it is worth a look. The archive of materials dating back to the late nineteenth century is an amazing documentation of how the fight for rights of women has evolved over the last 120 years or so. Boy did I feel guilty when I left. Belated New Year Resolution: become an activist again. No post-feminism for me. But there is something else about the location of the Womens Library, which sadly will be lost when it moves, and that is that its current premises sit close to the hub of a centre for  immigration to the UK over the last 100 years. And that is what I went in search of as I moseyed down Brick Lane. Very important to do this if you want history rather than vintage clothing markets. Brick Lane is heaving at the gills from Friday to Sunday. But on weekdays, the streets are clearer, and life hums with the most incredible array of Asian and Middle Eastern cafes and food shops, set into Huguenot buildings.  A mosque half way down Brick Lane used to be a synagogue. Before that, a Methodist church. Before that, a Huguenot church. I wander into a jewellery shop and browse fantastic, original pieces curated from local designers. As I browse I chat to the woman at the till. I tell her about my plan to rediscover London. What a great idea, she says. Why am I doing it? As a way of coming to terms with the death of my sister, I tell her. She does not miss a beat as she replies, I can absolutely see how seeking out novelty, particularly through history, or art, or beautiful scenery, or even just different scenery, can help put things into perspective, she says. So don't forget to do the side streets. Try Cheshire St. I do, and i find a hairdresser that gives free cuts on Mondays and Tuesdays. I pop in, get a haircut, tell them about my plan. Wow, the stylist says. What a cool thing to do. Well don't stop at Brick Lane, she says, and recommends an area South of Spitalfields. Hours later I have popped into multiple outlets and pop ups, acted on their recommendations and ended up in the achingly hip back streets of Hoxton, footsore and revelated. It is a great area - gritty, with layers upon layers of migration stamping its presence on daily commerce - and though the area may have changed in appearance radically, East End curiosity and warmth remains the same. No doubt it has its rough edges, but I took a similar walk through Chelsea and Kensington last month and not a single person asked what I was doing there.  That has to tell you something.