Budget · 3-hour walk · London
Spitalfields and Shoreditch in three hours
A Victorian market hall, Hawksmoor's church, the silk weavers' houses, Brick Lane's bagels and the street art of Shoreditch.
The East End begins where the City's wall used to stop, and for three centuries it was where newcomers to London settled first: Huguenot silk weavers, then Irish, Jewish and Bangladeshi families, each of whom left something on Brick Lane. This route goes from the market at Spitalfields through the weavers' streets to the street art of Shoreditch. Sunday is the best day, when the markets on Brick Lane and Columbia Road are on.
The route, stop by stop
-
Old Spitalfields Market
A covered market hall of 1887 with stalls every day and most of them at the weekend: vintage clothes, records and street food.
30 min here Walk here → -
Christ Church Spitalfields
Nicholas Hawksmoor's church, finished in 1729 and built to impress the Huguenot weavers who had settled around it.
15 min here Walk here → -
Fournier Street
Some of the best-kept early Georgian houses in London, built for the silk weavers. The tall attic windows let in light for the looms.
10 min here Walk here → -
Brick Lane
The centre of London's Bangladeshi community, with its curry houses at the south end. At the north end, Beigel Bake is open around the clock.
35 min here Walk here → -
Redchurch Street
Shoreditch's shop street, and the lanes off it, whose walls carry murals that change from one season to the next.
20 min here Walk here → -
Columbia Road Flower Market
A Victorian street that becomes a flower market every Sunday morning until early afternoon. On other days its small shops are worth the detour.
25 min here Walk here →
More walks in London
British Museum · Russell Square · Charles Dickens Museum · St Pancras International · Granary Square
Cutty Sark · Painted Hall · Greenwich Market · Royal Observatory · General Wolfe statue
London Eye · Southbank Centre · Shakespeare's Globe · Borough Market · Tower Bridge
Buckingham Palace · St James's Park · Fortnum & Mason · Burlington Arcade · Royal Academy of Arts · Savile Row · New Bond Street · Claridge's
Tower of London · St Dunstan-in-the-East · Sky Garden · Leadenhall Market · Royal Exchange · Guildhall · Postman's Park
Westminster Abbey · Houses of Parliament and Big Ben · Trafalgar Square · Covent Garden · St Paul's Cathedral · Millennium Bridge and Tate Modern
British Museum · Chinatown · Victoria and Albert Museum · Natural History Museum · Royal Albert Hall · Serpentine · Primrose Hill · Camden Market
Tower of London · Tower Bridge · Borough Market · Tate Modern · St Paul's Cathedral · Covent Garden · National Gallery · Houses of Parliament and Big Ben · London Eye
More in London
Every walking route in London, the full London guide for where to stay and what a day costs, or walks in other cities.