Visit Bethnal Green Places

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The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Bethnal Green

  

Bethnal Green Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Bethnal Green

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Bethnal Green history

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Origins and administration

Bethnal Green originally referred to a small common in the Manor and Ancient Parish of Stepney. By the seventeenth century the area had become a Hamlet with a degree of independence. Continued housebuilding and population growth in the 18th century led to the Hamlet area becoming a fully independent daughter parish in 1743. The parish had a church, a benefice and vestry (for its people) and a vestry in 1745. In 1855 the incorporated vestry was divided into four wards (electing vestrymen)

Early History

A Tudor ballad tells the story of an ostensibly poor man who gave a surprisingly generous dowry for his daughter’s wedding. The tale furnishes the parish of Bethnal Green’s coat of arms. The Blind Beggar public house in Whitechapel is reputed to be the site of his begging.

Growth

The Green and Poor’s Land is the area of open land now occupied by Bethnal Green Library, the V&A Museum of Childhood and St John’s Church. In Stow’s Survey of London (1598) the hamlet was called Blethenal Green. In 1678 the owners of houses surrounding the Green purchased the land to save it from being built on and in 1690 the land was conveyed to a trust under which it was to be kept open and rent from it used for the benefit of poor people living in the vicinity.

Victorian era

Bethnal Green was characterised by its market gardens and by weaving. By the end of the century it was one of the poorest slums in London. In 1900, the Old Nichol Street rookery was replaced with the Boundary Estate (near the limits of Shoreditch)

Early 20th century

St Casimir’s was founded in 1901 with a church on the corner of Christian Street and Cable Street. The present church dates from ten years later, during the rectorate of Fr Casimir G. Matulaitis. It was opened by Cardinal Bourne on 10 March 1912. Bethnal Green Town Hall was completed in 1910 and the internationally renowned York Hall opened in 1929.

Second World War

During the Second World War the Luftwaffe began The Blitz on 7 September 1940. Bethnal Green was in “Target Area A” along with the rest of the East End of London. The library was bombed on the very first night of the Blitz.

Rebuilding

Bethnal Green tube station opened on 4 December 1946 on the Central Line. It is between Liverpool Street and Mile End on the London Underground. It has long been a hotbed of organised crime. Its most famous criminals were the Kray twins, known as Ronald “Ronnie” Kray and Reggie Kray.

Contemporary

The former Bethnal Green Infirmary, later the London County Council Bethnal Green Hospital, stood opposite Cambridge Heath railway station. The hospital closed as a public hospital in the 1970s and was a geriatric hospital under the NHS until the 1980s. Much of the site was developed for housing in the 1990s but the hospital entrance and administration block remains as a listed building. The 26 bus route was introduced in 1992 to replace the withdrawn section of route 6 between Hackney Wick and Aldwych and included a new night counterpart to Chingford from Hackney Wick, the N26. On 25 September 1993, route 309 started running between Bethnal Green and Poplar. It was intended to start from the London Chest Hospital but this was delayed due to speed hump problems and it therefore started and ended at Three Colts Lane instead. It was finally extended from Bethnal Green Station to Chest Hospital in 1995. Chris Gollon gained a major commission from the Church of England for fourteen Stations of the Cross paintings for the St John church. Gollon was a controversial choice, since he is not a practising Christian. In order to carry out the commission, and for consultation on theological matters, he collaborated with Fr Alan Green, Rector of the church. In 2005, Bethnal Green had become a hub of the East London art scene, centred around Vyner Street. During this period the 26 bus route was targeted during the 21 July 2005 London bombings by would-be bomber Muktar Said Ibrahim who attempted to explode a device while the bus was on Hackney Road from Waterloo which caused a small explosion but not as intended and there was no significant damage and no loss of life. Between 2005 and 2008, the EEL (East End Life) established the Vyner Street Festival with the local Victory Pub as a family festival with local bands, artists and market traders, this has a different theme every year, with the Red Arrows performing flyover in 2008. By 2012, however, many artists had moved out due to the effects of the Great Recession as well as the 2012 Olympics. A documentary film was released in the same year titled Vyner Street: this was a short observational piece about two different worlds living inconspicuously and side by side in the same place. As part of “TUBE” Art Installation in November 2013, sound artist Kim Zip created an installation commemorating the Bethnal Green Tube Disaster. The work was backed by the Whitechapel Gallery and promoted as part of the organisation’s “First Thursdays” initiative for popular art. “TUBE” exhibited over a period of four weeks in the belfry of Sir John Soane’s St John on Bethnal Green Church. The Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium was the first cat café in London, which was opened in 2013. In 2015 three children Amira Abase, Shamima Begum, and Kadiza Sultana appeared in the press, referred to as the Bethnal Green trio. All three had attended the Bethnal Green Academy before leaving home to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). In April 2016 the London Borough of Tower Hamlets approved and designated the Spitalfields Neighbourhood Planning Forum to monitor and enhance local planning policies, this included apart of Brick Lane Market into the forum. Bethnal Green has also been part of the Night Tube service since 2016. A plaque was placed at the entrance to the tube station in the 1970s and commemorates it as the site of the worst civilian disaster of the Second World War; and a larger memorial, “Stairway to Heaven”, stands in nearby Bethnal Green Gardens. This memorial was unveiled in December 2017 at a ceremony attended by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and Bethnal Green and Bow MP Rushanara Ali. Bethnal Green hosted London’s first catfest in the Oval Space in 2018, with guests having the chance to take photos with felines as well as sample street food and meet shelter kittens. In the same year, 2018, Cambridge Heath station was chosen for a trial with a pay-by-face system that may end the need for station barriers, due to its low passenger volumes and having no gates. Early in 2018 Frank Wang, who had sold coffee to commuters from his van at the northern exit of Bethnal Green underground station lost his business when the electricity supply from the station was cut off as a result of the nearby site of a disused public lavatory behind his stall being converted into a beach bar called Chiringuito. Tower Hamlets Mayor John Biggs, one of Frank’s long-standing customers came out in support along with the local community, the Chinese community and commuters who protested. Formerly part of the estate of Truman’s Brewery, now a free house, The Hare was cited as the epitome of a ‘good, honest pub’ by the Evening Standard and was listed as one of the 50 best pubs in London in 2019. During the May bank holiday, the redeveloped railway arches off Cambridge Heath Road into an eating and drinking quarter opened. Tower Hamlets Council had turned down plans for the Cambridge Heath Road development because of concerns over its affordable housing mix and design quality. The Better Streets for Tower Hamlets had turned the car park spot in Bethnal Green Road into a mini park for a day to draw people’s attention to the need for more healthier public spaces. A mural of David Attenborough had appeared on a side of a tropical fish store on St Matthew’s Row. Sainsbury’s in the same year opened what it claims was the country’s first meat-free butchers, in the form of a traditional style butchers which was open for three days from Friday 21 June to mark World Meat Free Week, where it offered customers an array of cuts and joints derived from plant-based alternatives, such as mushroom, jackfruit and pea protein. Bethnal Green is also since 2019 Sustrans new London headquarters. During the move from Farringdon, they used electric cargo bikes rather than hiring a haulage lorry. During the 2019 redecorating of the Carpenters Arms on Cheshire Street, an old safe was found in the cellar when a wall was torn down. It is thought it was boarded up before the immediately previous owners has acquired the pub.

Bethnal Green culture & places

Pete Doherty and Carl Barât of the Libertines lived in Bethnal Green in a flat they called The Albion Rooms. Leslie Fuller, nationally famous film star, once lived at 14, Pollard Row.

Bethnal Green toponymy

Bethnal Green may have been a corruption of Bathon Hall. The name could be a derivation of the Anglo-Saxon Blithehale or Blythenhale.

You can visit Bethnal Green places with Walkfo Bethnal Green to hear history at Bethnal Green’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Bethnal Green has 1622 places to visit in our interactive Bethnal Green map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Bethnal Green, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Bethnal Green places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Bethnal Green & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 1622 audio facts unique to Bethnal Green places in an interactive Bethnal Green map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Bethnal Green Places Map
1622 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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Bethnal Green historic spots	Bethnal Green tourist destinations	Bethnal Green plaques	Bethnal Green geographic features
Walkfo Bethnal Green tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Bethnal Green

  

Best Bethnal Green places to visit

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Bethnal Green has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Bethnal Green’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Bethnal Green’s information audio spots:

Miloco Studios Miloco Studios are a group of recording studios based in London, England . Miloco studios are based in the city of London and London .

Bermondsey Square Bermondsey Square is on Tower Bridge Road in south London . It was the site of the 11th century Bermondsey Abbey . The earliest medieval remains found are a Norman church from around 1080 .

St John Horsleydown St John Horsleydown was built for the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches to the designs of Nicholas Hawksmoor and John James in 1726–1733 . It was noted for its distinctive spire in the form of a tapering column .

Southwark Park Southwark Park is located in Rotherhithe, in central South East London . It first opened in 1869 by the Metropolitan Board of Works as one of its first parks . It takes its name from being in what was the old Parliamentary constituency of Southwark .

Potters Fields Park Potters Fields Park is a small public park situated in the London Borough of Southwark . The park is located south-west of Tower Bridge and south-east of City Hall, London .

King’s Stairs Gardens King’s Stairs Gardens is a riverside park in Bermondsey, London . It is bordered to the north by the River Thames and to the south by Jamaica Road (A200)

More London More London is a development on the south bank of the River Thames, immediately south-west of Tower Bridge . It is owned by the Kuwaiti sovereign wealth fund, which owns More London . The development is part of an area known as London Bridge City .

The View from The Shard The View from The Shard is a tourist attraction based in London’s tallest building . The attraction offers visitors views from the skyscraper with two viewing platforms inside the building .

The Institute of Optometry Institute of Optometry is a centre for optometry in south London . It was established in 1922 as the London Refraction Hospital, London .

St Olave’s Church, Southwark St Olave’s Church, Southwark is believed to be mentioned in the Domesday Book . It is now the location of St Olaf House, which houses part of the London Bridge Hospital .

Visit Bethnal Green plaques