Getting Out Of This Place

En route to Wimbledon, Jess Gray reflects on what little she will miss about living in Bethnal Green, and how much more she is glad to see the back of.

bethnal green
Rents are high for private tenants on this estate.

This time last year, my three best friends and I lived in what you could describe as an undesirable estate in Bethnal Green. Just off Bethnal Green road, minutes from Shoreditch Overground station and in the heart of zone one, many people used to envy our seemingly amazing location… Oh how wrong they were.

Living in the heart of the city was a lovely idea, and I also knew it wouldn’t all be sunshine and roses. We chose the flat because we knew the landlord and previous tenants, and we really needed a central flat accessible to our various, different universities. So that’s why we chose Bethnal green.

After living in that flat for what seemed like the longest and likely the most challenging year of my life, I and my friends have come out the other side unscathed and with a better understanding of London. But mostly, we have learned how to be streetwise – we had to.

When it came to choosing our second flat we have opted for the polar opposite of Bethnal Green: sleepy, quiet and no hassle…Wimbledon. It’s zone three and stress free; and of course it’s nowhere near as exciting and thrilling as our old place.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a complete and utter Wimbledon fan. I would choose Wimbledon over Bethnal Green without thinking twice. But this does not mean that I don’t miss Bethnal Green. The quirky and multi-cultural area came with many perks and is home to some of my fondest (and saddest) memories. After all, people don’t travel from all over Europe to visit Shoreditch/Brick Lane for nothing, right?

So anyway, to allow you to make the comparison between the vibrant borough of Tower Hamlets and the modest, relatively upmarket borough of Merton, I have identified five things I miss about Bethnal Green, and five things I certainly don’t.

Missed

  1. I miss the fact that Bethnal Green was basically twenty four hour. I mean almost everything was open at all hours. The corner shop, the McDonalds, the chicken shop, heck even the Tesco was open later than anything I have found (so far) in my new manor.
  2. I miss the cool people – no, I don’t mean the fashionistas. I miss seeing people who are so cool they wear exactly what they feel like wearing despite the weather or the looks they might attract. In Bethnal Green the unspoken dress code was: louder the better. Although I myself didn’t follow this to the letter, I watched those who did with awe and admiration!
  3. I miss the stuff to do. There was so much on offer, and I now realise that myself and my three best friends took this for granted. (However in the winter months when you’re homesick and broke you are not up for doing much anyway.) I shall miss walking to Victoria park in the summer and sitting on the grass with my favourite people. I already miss walking round Spitalfields market with no intention of spend a penny (not even to go to the loo), just to have a browse. I miss being two stops away from Westfield. I miss being within walking distance of some great museums, e.g. The Museum of Childhood.
  4. I miss Brick Lane. Don’t get me wrong, when you’re late for work Sunday and you need to battle through the Brick Lane market crowd to get to work you can’t think of anything you despise more than these wannabe-trendy tourists. But for the most part, it was pretty cool. Home to the Bagel Shop and the Cereal Café, it’s a lovely street with lots of interesting stuff to see and do.
  5. I miss the shopping. I miss having a Bobbi Brown makeup store in Spitalfields market so close by (not that I could ever afford anything in there, but, you know, a girl can dream!) I also miss having the Urban Outfitters store and American Apparel so close by.

Unmissed

  1. I don’t miss the undesirable neighbours – the drug dealers, the drug addicts and so many people on the street suffering from the effects of alcohol.
  2. I don’t miss the high rent for terrible properties. Due to the location, the landlords could get away with this because people (like me) were willing to pay it. Our ceilings were decorated with mould and one time we actually found a real life cockroach roaming the hallway. Like a scene from I’m a celebrity get me out of here (without the lavish hotel rooms at the end of the ordeal).
  3. I don’t miss the noise. I admit there were a few boozy nights out when I was noisy myself. But not all the time! I don’t miss the noisy neighbours and the street revellers after the clubs close. The measly windows in my flat let in every little sound you could imagine, even down to one person’s VERY annoying, persistent chesty cough – gross.
  4. I don’t miss how little community there was. You might think that its multiculturalism would make Bethnal Green a hotspot for community activities but you couldn’t be more wrong. Because it’s so close to the heart of London, it’s filled with tourists and other temporary residents (like me!), which means that you hardly ever see the same person twice, which in turn means that almost everyone you do see is destined to remain anonymous to you (and you to them). I assure, you can be more alone in this kind of crowd than I ever thought possible in the small town – full of friends and loves ones – where I was raised.
  5. I don’t miss the high prices of Bethnal Green/ Shoreditch. Since the Borough of Tower Hamlets is top of the index of deprivation, you’d think that the price of everyday things would be kept low. But it very much depends where you go. In Shoreditch you’ll pay up to £7 for a cup of tea and a piece of cake. Ludicrous!

So that’s my comparative study! I tried to balance it out by having five of each – for and against Bethnal Green. But to be honest I am glad to be out of there.

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