The East End: Brick Lane & Leyton

I absolutely love the East End. The atmosphere once you are on the streets is completely different than Chelsea and even Central London. Chelsea is full of the posh and rather self-absorbed people, well at least in my opinion. Central London contains all of the businessmen focusing on the hustle and bustle of life; and you can't forget the wonderful tourists in the area, as well. In the East End, the people seem more realistic; more like the typical, everyday kind of people that I'm used to. They seem to be the working class or middle class people that seem, to me, more personable and friendly.

The buildings and streets are different in the East End, as well. The homes are much older and seem to be the types of homes that have been kept in families for many generations. I feel that the streets in the East End are complete polar opposites to the West End. On and around Brick Lane, for example, the walls are full of graffiti art which really bring character to the area. The types of graffiti art here all seem to tell a type of story or simply serve to beautify the area. It is not looked at as defacing property or making the area seem like nothing more than a dirty, gang-infested area. This is a huge difference that I find from American beliefs. I feel that in America people really hate graffiti and always relate it to gangs or ruining an area. On Brick Lane, it is a lot different. The locals take pride in the art and certainly support their local artists. I came across a local that knew one of the artists who had done a few paintings on Brick Lane. He really supported him and thought he was the greatest artist in the area.

Photo by Lori Herrin 

My internship is in Leyton, an area even further east than Brick Lane. On my first day in the area I was really overwhelmed because that was actually my first day anywhere in the East End. It was so different than the Center and West End; I loved it. There are a lot more people around that are my age and seem to dress a lot more like I do. There are also a lot more families and mom & pop shops. One of the first things that I noticed was that the community is full of Middle Eastern people. The stores and eateries even cater to their culture. For example, there are curry shops everywhere! Something I found funny was that the KFC chicken even tasted like it had a hint of Indian spices in it! Upon arriving to my internship I learned that even some of the workers were of some Middle Eastern decent and that the organization I was interning for specifically catered to that area. Leyton is an amazing area and I am so glad I got to have an internship in that area. I learned so much about the East End culture by being there so often. It really enabled me to see that there are so many different sides of London. London is an amazing, diverse city. I love it!

Photo by Lori Herrin

Being able to intern in Leyton and visit Brick Lane twice really allowed me to see the East End and all it has to offer. Brick Lane is full of curry shops and thrift shops which certainly cater to hipsters. It is an area of ultimate cultural fusion. Leyton is full of families and caters to their local residents. Brick Lane and Leyton both ompare to the West End drastically. Class is an obvious comparison that stands out to me. Chelsea is populated by the upper class, posh people while Leyton and Brick Lane is full of the working, lower class. It is amazing to know that London, one city, has so many different identities and communities of people.