Arrivals and Assimilation

London has always been a city of arrivals. For centuries the East End has been the first home of those seeking safety, opportunity and a fresh start, Huguenot weavers fleeing religious persecution in France, Jewish refugees escaping the pogroms of eastern Europe, Irish families driven here by famine, the Kindertransport children who stepped off trains at Liverpool Street escaping Nazi Europe. Each community arrived with little, built something remarkable, and left their mark indelibly on these streets.

Walk through Spitalfields and Whitechapel today and the layers are still visible everywhere you look. The finest Georgian streets in London, built by French silk weavers who hung songbirds in their windows. A building on a single corner that has been a Huguenot chapel, a Methodist chapel, a synagogue and finally a mosque — perhaps the most eloquent single building in the city. Street signs in English and Bengali. A mural on a corner wall that cuts through everything with just two figures holding hands. This is one of the most human, surprising and quietly moving walks in London.

Meet outside Gail's Bakery Liverpool Street Station Concourse

2 miles — approximately 1.5 hours Starts: Liverpool Street Underground Station

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Host or Publisher Tim Lewis The London Walker