Brick Lane’s Sunday Upmarket is, without doubt, the ultimate melting pot of cultures and nationalities. All of London is already ethnically diverse, but on Brick Lane it almost feels as though the whole world is well-represented in this one street.
Walking (and dodging!) my way through the gushing sea of people, I soon became immersed in the old and new buildings, in the people scrambling to get to different sections of the Lane, and the sounds of the bustling crowd. What I always think of when I hear Brick Lane, is the English and Bengali language street signs that boldly and proudly hang on the corners of each new street leading off it, from Hopetown Street to Fournier Street (named after a French refugee of Huguenot descent, George Fournier).
The signs are reminders of the Lane’s history and they tell the stories of the different ethnic groups who have passed along this road they once called home. From the French Huguenots in the 1700s, through to Eastern European Jewish immigrants of the first half of the twentieth century and the Bangladeshi incomers of the 1970s onwards, Brick Lane has seen successive communities holding on to their own traditions while at the same time coming to new arrangements with British customs and identities.
Sometimes the same buildings are connected to more than one of these communities, such as the Brick Lane Mosque, which was “was originally built in 1743 as a Huguenot Church”, according to spitalfieldslife.com, and the Sandy Rows Synagogue, which was “originally built by the Huguenots as L’Eglise de l’Artillerie in 1766”.
Each community has left its mark, and the modern day East End, which now includes trendy Spitalfields and upwardly mobile Brick Lane, has arisen out of the continuous struggle to find new ways of co-existing.
As I walked through the commotion of Brick Lane, I noticed the food stalls which were dotted around each other, near the Old Truman Brewery. I felt a sense of ease because I didn’t feel like I stuck out like a sore thumb. All around me a vast array of people was almost awed by a sublime selection of cuisines, from Korean to Argentinian and Italian street food.
On entering the food hall, I was immediately welcomed by the beautifully exotic unity of the various aromas coming from dozens of stalls. There were sweet and sour Chinese chicken, spicy masala curries, fresh Ethiopian herbs, buttery, chocolate crepes and earthy green Vegan dishes. Street food from countries around the world including Thailand, Morocco and Poland was well represented among the dozens of stalls happily serving to ravenous customers.
Steaming hot stir fried veggie noodles with a side order of Kung Pao chicken cost only £6, while fresh crepes laden with Nutella were sold at £4. Prices generally ranged from £4-£8, and pop-up stall holders often offer free samples so you could ‘try before you buy’.
The Upmarket is truly worth a visit, whether alone or with friends, either to try something different or for a just a spot of lunch. The Old Truman Brewery warehouse has several seating areas and welcomes all visitors. It captures the essence of East London under one roof.
