Sunday 15 May 2011

Brick Lane - HOT SPOT

Entrepreneurial spirit alive and kicking in the brick Lane area -
Hanbury street vintage shop

entrance to a vintage indoor market on Hanbury Street
The vintage market - divided into different seller zones


inside the vintage market

clean streets were a plus

Brick Lane vintage boutique

Bicycles are everywhere in this area due to the fact they are cool but also there is nowhere to park!

A modest shop !

Find everything for that cool look in this area - a shop in Brick Lane


Just round the corner from Spittlefields in Hanbury St I found Poppie's Fish and Chip shop - must be checked out - good food, brilliant designed interior and friendly staff
Architectural class found in this Sir Christopher Wren church!

Bespoke and new designed collections average price for dress £45.00 - competing with vintage shops
Eclectic hair Salon in Spittlefields - molto expensive liked their humor though!




My £10.00 Silk vintage scalve - found in Rokit - Brick lane
The hot spot!


 Yesterday I went into Moorgate on the tube to take a look at Spittlefields and investigate the vibe I had heard about Brick Lane becoming a seriously happening place. I was not disappointed! All the cool, young entrepreneurs that have been forced out of Spittlefields Market due to the hike in rents have taken up residence in the small roads leading up to and in Brick Lane. The streets in and around Brick Lane have become far more interesting than expensive and gentrified Spittlefields Market and are brimming with cool young people wearing vintage and looking for more in the multitude of vintage shops that have sprung up with everything from original Yves Saint Laurent suits to home made 1960 dresses, (everyone sewed then and the quality was excellent remember) There are still the classic Curry restaurants that are synonymous with the old Brick Lane - however multicultural food halls also open up at peak times selling delicious food from around the world reflecting the multicultural scene that make London so interesting.
There are more up market shops such and Wills and Aubin ( owned by the Jack Wills preppy brand) on Redchurch Street - if you turn left at the end of Brick Lane onto Bethnal Green road you will find this area - here there are also other expensive designer boutiques and a few antique shops of Portobello road / Notting hill standard as well as some unpretentious but swanky places to eat al fresco and a few good gastro pubs. The area is brimming with Art Galleries - Fashion photographer Robert Wyatt has an exhibition in the Redchurch Street Gallery- http://www.robertwyatt.net/  If you turn left and walk back down Commercial Street you will come to the marvellous Sir Christopher Wren church a landmark of old London.  On Sunday this area is alive with activity and meant to be even better than Saturday. Spittlefield market proper is closed on Saturday, due to the fact it's peak time for sales is during the week from well heeled city workers. Enjoy investigating! My 'cool' searching day ended with seeing 'The School for Scandal' at the Barbican, a political satire written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Sheridan like Oscar Wilde who followed him a century later was of Irish decent. The play was based on his own extraordinary life experiences reflecting the duplicitous goings on and intriguing skulduggery of 1770s politics and the society of the time, Sheridan looks at public image, media manipulation and the vagaries of reputation. Nothing much has changed with the way politicians, society  and the press behave today apart from the fact that some of the sculduggery takes place on twitter!  Jeremy Clarkson and Gemima Khan - no way!
Sheridon's England didn't try and use gagging orders  - that was what duels were for !
The costumes designed by Vivienne Westwood were brilliant -  there was a jacket on stage that I particularly liked, I began wondering what happens to the clothes when the production run is finished! !