The March Travel Book
London City Guide - Lonely Planet
This area of northeast London is the city's ground zero of cool, and its success at the expense of other nightlife areas such as Soho continues to astound pretty much everyone. It's made up of Clerkenwell, just north of the City; Shoreditch and its northern extension Hoxton, an area (roughly) between Old St tube station and just east of Shoreditch High St; and Spitalfields, centred around the market of that name and Brick Lane, anglatown's main thoroughfare.
The Shoreditch/Hoxton phenomenon began in the late 1990s, when creative types chased out of the West End by prohibitive rents began buying warehouses in this then urban wasteland, abandoned after the collapse of the fabrics industry. Within a few years the area was seriously cool, boasting superslick bars, cutting-edge clubs, galleries and restaurants that catered to the new media-creative freelance squad. The fact that it was in walking distance of the City and its high-spending, heavy-drinking denizens didn't hurt.
Yet despite the bursting of the dotcom bubble, and the general expectation that the Shoreditch scene would collapse under the weight of its own trucker hats, the regenerated area is flourishing stronger than ever. The entire neighbourhood remains rough enough around the edges to feel a bit of an adventure, but even the partial redevelopment of Spitalfields Market hasn't stopped it in it tracks, and it remains one of London's best nightlife scenes.
Historic Clerkenwell lies in the valley of the River Fleet (from where the ‘clerks' well' the neighbourhood is named after sprang), although the river itself has long been bricked over (see p129). Like Shoreditch, Clerkenwell has profited enormously from redevelopment since the late 1980s, and many once-empty warehouses have been converted into expensive flats and work spaces. Clerkenwell is still a great place to see historic landmarks from throughout London's history, including magnificent Smithfield Market, St John's Gate and St Bartholomew's Church.
CLERKENWELL
CHARTERHOUSE
Phone; 7251 5002; Charterhouse Sq EC1; admission £10;
Guided tours 2.15pm Wed Apr-Sep; Tube; Barbican or Farringdon
You need to book nearly a year in advance to see inside this former Carthusian monastery, whose centrepiece is a Tudor hall with a restored hammer-beam roof. Its incredibly popular two-hour guided tours held six months a year begin at the 14th-century gatehouse on Charterhouse Sq, before going through to the Preachers' Court (with three original monks' cells in the western wall), the Master's Court, the Great Hall and the Great Chamber, where Queen Elizabeth I stayed on numerous occasions.
The monastery was founded in 1371 by the Carthusians, the strictest of all Roman Catholic monastic orders, who refrained from eating meat and took vows of silence, broken only for three hours on Sunday. During the Reformation, the monastery was oppressed, with at least three priors hanged at Tyburn and a dozen monks sent to Newgate, where they were chained upright and died of starvation. King Henry VIII confiscated the monastery in 1537, and it was purchased in 1611 by Thomas Sutton, known at the time as the ‘richest commoner in England'. Sutton – of Sutton House (p158) fame – opened an almshouse for destitute gentlemen; some three dozen pensioners (known as ‘brothers') live here today and lead the tours. To obtain tickets, send a stamped self-addressed envelope, a covering letter giving at least three dates when you would like to visit and a cheque made payable to ‘Charterhouse' to Tour Bookings, Charterhouse, Charterhouse Sq, London EC1M 6AN.
SHOREDITCH & HOXTON
WHITE CUBE GALLERY
Phone; 7930 5373; www.whitecube.com; 48 Hoxton Sq N1; admission free; Hours; 10am-6pm Tue-Sat; Tube; Old St
Alongside Charles Saatchi, owner of the erstwhile Saatchi Gallery, the White Cube's Jay Jopling was the man responsible for bringing Britart to the public's attention in the 1990s. He worked with a young Damien Hirst before Saatchi came on the scene, showcased the works of sculptor Antony Gormley (responsible for Gateshead's huge Angel of the North sculpture and Event Horizon, in which 31 metal casts of the sculptor's naked body were perched on the edge of buildings surrounding the South Bank) and married artist Sam Taylor-Wood. White Cube is now firmly part of Britain's ‘new establishment' but shows by Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and other less well-known artists mean it's always worth coming just to have a look. There's another White Cube in St James's (see p71).
SPITALFIELDS
Across Commercial St from the church is the late-Victorian Spitalfields Market (p233). Until 1991 this was London's main fruit and vegetable market. Its proximity to Hoxton and Shoreditch means the Sunday market here is still the market of the moment, but with young clothes designers and producers of trendy furniture and ornaments selling their wares.
London City Guide by Lonely Planet is published by Lonely Planet (paperback; £12.99). It is also available through www.lonelyplanet.com and all good booksellers. Reproduced with permission from London, ed. 6, Masters et al © 2008 © Lonely Planet Publications
