High Street 2012 6) WHITECHAPEL Tube station to Cambridge Heath Road
Nothing much changes immediately beyond the tube station. The busy market continues, its green and white flapping stalls obscuring the adjacent bus stop from view. The cheap shops continue, which is perfect if you want a brightly coloured plastic bin, an unlocked mobile or a hookah. And on the opposite side of the road the hospital continues, until halted at a tiger-striped bar which was once the London Hospital Tavern.
And then, suddenly, startlingly, a five-storey glass box interrupts the street [photo]. Catch the right light and the green and blue rectangular panes shine out with a simple brilliance [photo]. This is the new Whitechapel Library, and its striking modern architecture was nominated for the StirlingPrize in 2006. Except it's not called a library, oh no. Round here in Tower Hamlets we call it an "Idea Store". You may mock, but this state-of-the-art learning facility (with dance studio, complementary therapy room, cafe and baby changing facilities) has already boosted library attendance threefold. Maybe free internet access is a contributory factor - certainly the Surfing Space on Level 1 is always packed. Maybe it's down to the welcoming entrance - one minute you're walking along the pavement and the next you've been swept beneath the sheer glass canopy of the main facade and escalatored inside. Maybe it's the extensive children's library with integral playgroup, or the top-floor TV set near the coffee and the free newspapers. Maybe it's the allure of the double-sealed stairwells which smell of wheelchair accessible toilet. Or maybe people still come here for the books. One can always hope.
Possibly the most famous, or indeed infamous, location in Whitechapel Road is the Blind Beggar pub [photo]. It's notoriety was sealed one dark Wednesday evening courtesy of local gangster Ronnie Kray. He and his brother Reggie ruled the underworld north of the river, while a gang called the Richardsons lorded over the south. On 7th March 1966 a gun battle broke out in a club in Catford, a shootout in which one of the Kray's cousins was fatally wounded. One of the protagonists was a burly sadistic meathead called George Cornell, formerly a Kray acolyte but lately defected across the river. Two days later Ronnie heard that George had dared to go drinking in his territory, at the Blind Beggar in Whitechapel, so he dashed round from a nearby pub to exact his revenge. George greeted Ronnie with a sarcastic comment querying his sexuality, so Ronnie whipped out a pistol and shot him three times in the head. Like you do. To the police's dismay not one of the regulars drinking in the pub that night was willing to testify against Ronnie, and so his fearsome gangland career stuttered on unchallenged for another year.
The Blind Beggar today is just an ordinary East End pub with bar food, conservatory and satellite TV. It still gets its fair share of curious visitors, popping in for a half of shandy as an excuse to hunt for evidence of bulletholes in the walls, bloodstains on the carpet or stuck records on the jukebox. And there are still just enough Whitechapel residents to keep the business ticking over, although not as many as before because most of the locals these days don't touch alcohol. But you won't see any gangland villains hanging out on the comfy sofas today, nor downing a pint of Courage Best by the Koi Pond in the exhaust-fumed beer garden. Still too risky, can't be too careful, know what I mean guv'nor?
four local sights » Whitechapel Market: Six days a week the pavement along the Whitechapel Road is thick with stalls selling everything from cleaning fluid to quality cloth [photo]. Burkhaed mothers with pushchairs and slow hobbling grandfathers crowd the remainder of the space - this is no place to try to walk fast. Meanwhile a surprisingly high number of Chinese peddlars hover near shop doorways touting the very latest movie releases on pirated DVD, with police intervention seemingly either ineffective or invisible. » Lord Rodney's Head: It's just a few doors down from the Grave Maurice, but this old pub's not been so fortunate [photo]. Reader Andy Gray remembers "a true real ale pub run by a small brewery who were even thoughtful enough to provide a Bar Billiards table." And I remember it too, having been dragged there by a real ale mate in the mid 90s - how characterful it was. And now it's a shoe shop. Remember Lord Rodney next time you stay in for the evening with a 12-pack of beer bought from the local supermarket, because his decapitation is your fault. » Whitechapel sorting office: Once upon a time, before the invention of email, the Royal Mail thought it necessary to build a ginormous "Eastern Sorting Office" on the south side of the Whitechapel Road - a towering featureless brick cuboid from which the East End's post was promptly distributed. It looks rather threatened these days, but soldiers on. In the basement was the eastern terminus of the Post Office miniundergroundrailway, capable of whisking an envelope from here to Paddingtom far quicker than is possible today. Now stamped out. » Albion Brewery: Founded in 1808 by the landlord of the Blind Beggar, a series of takeovers created the name now arched in gold across the front of the building - Mann, Crossman & Paulin and Company[photo]. Below the clock can be seen St George and the Dragon, a logo stamped onto every bottle of Mann's Brown Ale. Once one of the top ten brewers in the UK, the company was taken over once too often and was closed by Grand Met in 1979. The entrance is now flats, and a huge Sainsbury's has gobbled up the brewery site at the rear.
High Street 2012
And then, suddenly, startlingly, a five-storey glass box interrupts the street [photo]. Catch the right light and the green and blue rectangular panes shine out with a simple brilliance [photo]. This is the new Whitechapel Library, and its striking modern architecture was nominated for the Stirling Prize in 2006. Except it's not called a library, oh no. Round here in Tower Hamlets we call it an "Idea Store". You may mock, but this state-of-the-art learning facility (with dance studio, complementary therapy room, cafe and baby changing facilities) has already boosted library attendance threefold. Maybe free internet access is a contributory factor - certainly the Surfing Space on Level 1 is always packed. Maybe it's down to the welcoming entrance - one minute you're walking along the pavement and the next you've been swept beneath the sheer glass canopy of the main facade and escalatored inside. Maybe it's the extensive children's library with integral playgroup, or the top-floor TV set near the coffee and the free newspapers. Maybe it's the allure of the double-sealed stairwells which smell of wheelchair accessible toilet. Or maybe people still come here for the books. One can always hope.
Possibly the most famous, or indeed infamous, location in Whitechapel Road is the Blind Beggar pub [photo]. It's notoriety was sealed one dark Wednesday evening courtesy of local gangster Ronnie Kray. He and his brother Reggie ruled the underworld north of the river, while a gang called the Richardsons lorded over the south. On 7th March 1966 a gun battle broke out in a club in Catford, a shootout in which one of the Kray's cousins was fatally wounded. One of the protagonists was a burly sadistic meathead called George Cornell, formerly a Kray acolyte but lately defected across the river. Two days later Ronnie heard that George had dared to go drinking in his territory, at the Blind Beggar in Whitechapel, so he dashed round from a nearby pub to exact his revenge. George greeted Ronnie with a sarcastic comment querying his sexuality, so Ronnie whipped out a pistol and shot him three times in the head. Like you do. To the police's dismay not one of the regulars drinking in the pub that night was willing to testify against Ronnie, and so his fearsome gangland career stuttered on unchallenged for another year.
four local sights
