- Street Art in Shoreditch
This was a family trip. We visited our millennials in their own habitat. The Baby Boomers explored Shoreditch & Angel, the new trendy neighborhoods of London and loved it. We ate at neighborhood restaurants, saw the impressive street art, walked part of The Regent Canal pathway, ate at a Michelin starred restaurant, visited The Barbican, and had high tea at The Wallace Collection. A taste of London in all its’ diversity.
Shoreditch & angel – haven for emerging artists & entrepreneurs
Next to M&S, Waitrose & Boots you will find at every turn co-op supermarkets and independent stores There is a sense that these neighborhoods want to promote young, emerging entrepreneurs. A move away from the huge chains, from the big brand names.
The Boxpark just off Shoreditch High Street exemplifies this. This is a “mall” made up of old shipping containers. No chains or brand names here – just independent, trendy and some quirky stores!
shoreditch & Angel – mix of old & new
Shoreditch & Angel are a conglomeration of old and new buildings. There are Victorian buildings next to stunning new glass skyscrapers. There are upscale buildings and street markets. And in between lots of street art.
Brick Lane is a reminder of the old East End and still has the famous Beigel Bakery which is open 24/7. If you like thick, very thick, pieces of salted hot beef on a beigel with tuck-shop kind mustard, this is the place for you!
Walking down Brick Lane we stumbled across the London Tea Exchange – a beautiful upscale tearoom where ordering and drinking tea (with their delicious pastries or cake) is an experience not to be missed!
The iconic Old Street roundabout, bordering Angel and Shoreditch, is surrounded by high rise modern glass skyscrapers serving the high tech industry and is thus nicknamed “The Silicon Roundabout”.
Every Sunday there is a Farmers Market at Chapel Street Market in Angel. The market itself is a pop up market with stores put up on Sundays only. The rest of the week it is a regular street.
street art
Street Art in both Shoreditch and Angel has been taken to a different level. This isn’t old school graffiti. This is ‘Banksy’ at its’ best.
Rooftops
A lot of the rooftops in Shoreditch & Angel have undergone face-lifts – they are the new event venues, pubs & restaurants!
street food
Middle Eastern and Asian food are the trend. At lunchtime you see all the high tech millennials carrying their ‘food to go’ from the pop up food stalls. Streets that are otherwise used for cars become at lunchtime venues for eclectic food stalls.
regent canal walk
The Regent Canal Pathway (aka Towpath) is a gem. A quiet pretty haven, in the middle of London, for walkers and cyclists. It is lined with benches, is an easy walk and accessible from many points along the way.
The canal we saw, in the middle of the summer, was covered by what looks like, a green carpet of pea soup. This is duck weed, a sort of algae, which kind of explodes in the extreme heat conditions that London had recently experienced. We were there just after their heat wave in July.
The Regent Canal Pathway extends for about 15 km and is accessible at several places. We walked only 2 small sections of it:- The Islington part and the part around Granary Square.
You have to circumnavigate The Islington Tunnel which is just under a kilometer long.
If you thought, as I did, that the houseboats, don’t have parking issues, think again. Those that are moored on public spots do so on a temporary basis and have to move every 7 to 14 days depends on where they are moored. Those that have permanent mooring have to lease the spot for a considerable amount of money.
the wallace collection & L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon
We ventured out of Angel & Shoreditch and with very little time left did a few things more related to Baby Boomers. For example, we met family and spent a great afternoon at The Wallace Collection
The Wallace Collection is a very impressive private art collection open to the public free of charge and allows you to enjoy the many amazing pieces of art without the usual ropes and restraints that one normally finds in other museums. In the courtyard there is an English Tea Room – naturally we had high tea there!
We were invited to the Michelin starred restaurant L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon for lunch. The restaurant is situated in Covent Garden. They have a special lunch deal. If you book and pay online for a three course exceptional meal you will pay 39 Pounds otherwise it is 49 Pounds. The food was excellent. I highly recommend the experience – https://joelrobuchon.co.uk/
We stayed at the Ace Hotel on Shoreditch High Street. The location was perfect, the hotel clean and minimalist, with not much cupboard space, and we definitely contributed to increasing the average age. Didn’t particularly like that the room, with loads of liquor displayed in it, is actually an unsolicited invite to drink and drink a lot. In the lobby there is a cafe serving light meals where we enjoyed coffee and pastries. The lobby of the hotel also serves as a ‘workplace’ for the millennials most of whom are not hotel guests. A sort of free WeWork area. There is a long desk with multiple electric plugs – they plug themselves in, put their earphones on, drink coffee and water and spend hours looking at their laptops!
All the photos are mine taken with my iPhone.
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