helenwyler
09-Jun-08, 12:34
I had a brilliant day, full of contrasts, in the East End of London yesterday.
We were going to a wedding in Limehouse (near Wapping and London Bridge) in the Borough of Tower Hamlets (George Galloway territory). It's an area heavily bombed during World War II, quite run down, but still retaining the occasional beautiful church and grand building.
It was to be our first Bangladeshi wedding, and the time on the invitation was 1.00 pm. We arrived punctually, only to be told by the caterers, “Yes, it says 1.00, but nobody will be here till 2.00-2.30 pm.” :D
So we had at least an hour to kill. We walked along Commercial Street, a long busy road associated with Jack the Ripper, Spitalfields Market, and, in the past, much noisy industry and commerce. It was historically an area known for its immigrant ship crews and port workers, and attendant cheap lodgings, brothels, drinking inns and opium dens. It was also one of the first Chinatowns, before relocation to Soho.
Off Commercial Street is Cable Street, where the anti-fascist (Mosley) Cable Street Riots of 1936 took place. A plaque commemorates them, ending with 'They Shall Not Pass'. Cable Street is apparently exactly a mile long, and gets its name from the hemp ropes which were made into ships’ cables there (and needed to be a mile long) for the nearby ports and wharves.
It’s a poor area, lively but poor.
But then you turn down a short road into Narrow Street, which follows the backs of the old warehouses on the wharves, and quite suddenly you are in a different world. The old warehouses are now fashionable apartments for London’s wealthy, twinkling with well-polished brass door features, potted and climbing plants, and looking out over the Thames (near Canary Wharf) and Limehouse Marina.
Apart from the low-tide smell of the sea, there were tempting food smells wafting towards us, and we found ourselves outside Gordon Ramsay’s gastropub ‘The Narrow’. Well, with still forty minutes to kill, it just made sense to try it out. With a Bangladeshi sit-down meal awaiting us, we just had a bowl of cockles, a bowl of whelks, and a pint for OH (hot day!). I ordered a tomato juice with Worcester sauce and tobasco, and of course it arrived with a stick of celery in it, and two straws. What finesse! It came to £9.50…not too bad.
Back to Commercial Road. The wedding (well part of a 3 day ceremony) was in an old Picture House called the Throxy – fabulous! Still very much intact, it had all of its Art Decco features down to the last detail….the only thing missing was a Wurlitzer. From a Picture House it became a Bingo Hall, and is now a Banqueting Hall.
There were about 400 people, all seated at flower-bedecked tables. It was a stunning sight….hundreds of ‘best’ saris, deep rich colours, shimmering and sparkling with jewels and sequins. The bride and groom sat at opposite ends of the hall on sumptuously ornate gold sofas, against a background of huge swathes of gold and brightly coloured materials. Sheer Bollywood! No dancing though, as it was a Muslim wedding.
Back home via the refurbished St Pancras Station….what a stunning example of Victorian architecture that is. And it's the only wedding I've been to that I haven't returned home from a bit squiffy!;)
If you’ve read this far…well done, and thank you for your time!
We were going to a wedding in Limehouse (near Wapping and London Bridge) in the Borough of Tower Hamlets (George Galloway territory). It's an area heavily bombed during World War II, quite run down, but still retaining the occasional beautiful church and grand building.
It was to be our first Bangladeshi wedding, and the time on the invitation was 1.00 pm. We arrived punctually, only to be told by the caterers, “Yes, it says 1.00, but nobody will be here till 2.00-2.30 pm.” :D
So we had at least an hour to kill. We walked along Commercial Street, a long busy road associated with Jack the Ripper, Spitalfields Market, and, in the past, much noisy industry and commerce. It was historically an area known for its immigrant ship crews and port workers, and attendant cheap lodgings, brothels, drinking inns and opium dens. It was also one of the first Chinatowns, before relocation to Soho.
Off Commercial Street is Cable Street, where the anti-fascist (Mosley) Cable Street Riots of 1936 took place. A plaque commemorates them, ending with 'They Shall Not Pass'. Cable Street is apparently exactly a mile long, and gets its name from the hemp ropes which were made into ships’ cables there (and needed to be a mile long) for the nearby ports and wharves.
It’s a poor area, lively but poor.
But then you turn down a short road into Narrow Street, which follows the backs of the old warehouses on the wharves, and quite suddenly you are in a different world. The old warehouses are now fashionable apartments for London’s wealthy, twinkling with well-polished brass door features, potted and climbing plants, and looking out over the Thames (near Canary Wharf) and Limehouse Marina.
Apart from the low-tide smell of the sea, there were tempting food smells wafting towards us, and we found ourselves outside Gordon Ramsay’s gastropub ‘The Narrow’. Well, with still forty minutes to kill, it just made sense to try it out. With a Bangladeshi sit-down meal awaiting us, we just had a bowl of cockles, a bowl of whelks, and a pint for OH (hot day!). I ordered a tomato juice with Worcester sauce and tobasco, and of course it arrived with a stick of celery in it, and two straws. What finesse! It came to £9.50…not too bad.
Back to Commercial Road. The wedding (well part of a 3 day ceremony) was in an old Picture House called the Throxy – fabulous! Still very much intact, it had all of its Art Decco features down to the last detail….the only thing missing was a Wurlitzer. From a Picture House it became a Bingo Hall, and is now a Banqueting Hall.
There were about 400 people, all seated at flower-bedecked tables. It was a stunning sight….hundreds of ‘best’ saris, deep rich colours, shimmering and sparkling with jewels and sequins. The bride and groom sat at opposite ends of the hall on sumptuously ornate gold sofas, against a background of huge swathes of gold and brightly coloured materials. Sheer Bollywood! No dancing though, as it was a Muslim wedding.
Back home via the refurbished St Pancras Station….what a stunning example of Victorian architecture that is. And it's the only wedding I've been to that I haven't returned home from a bit squiffy!;)
If you’ve read this far…well done, and thank you for your time!