The remarkable story of the lascar brothers Ayub Ali Master and Shamsul Haque
This is the story of how two brothers, Ayub Ali Master and Shamsul Haque, helped establish the Bangladeshi community in
Read More
Culture
Your guide to the people, passions, culture and heritage that have formed Whitechapel’s identity. Discover the communities and cultures of our neighbourhood, its creative industries, social history and personal stories; the heritage that has created our identity; and what we are passionate about, from philanthropic initiatives to campaigns to save our heritage and the environment.
Living the Sweet Life: Tate Britain’s new feminist exhibition features an East End family made of cake
‘An Edible Family in a Mobile Home’ is open at Tate Britain and features a restaged cake installation once held
Read More
This is Home: Michelle Lowe-Holder, a Canadian in Whitechapel
Canadian artist and fashion designer Michelle Lowe-Holder talks about moving to Whitechapel, how the area has influenced her art and
Read More
Wickham’s department store: the architectural oddity once known as the Harrods of the East End
Once the East End’s most upmarket shopping destination, the peculiar-looking building holds a secret history of family feuds and rifts
Read More
The Merchant of Venice 1936 commemorates radical East End history
A new interpretation of Merchant of Venice set during the Battle of Cable Street reveals how this timeless Shakespearean play
Read More
‘This is my little happy place’: Shabana Begum reflects on how sewing helped her talk about mental health
A year and a half ago, Shabana Begum’s anxiety was so bad she couldn’t leave the house. Now she is
Read More
One-Armed Jack: A new book claims to have identified Whitechapel’s Jack the Ripper
Could this most recent theory on the identity of Jack the Ripper end the glorification of male violence? Drawing on
Read More
Beatty Orwell’s fight for equality from Cable Street to Councillor
Standing up to Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts at the age of 19, Beatty Orwell’s century-long fight against injustice took her from
Read More
This is Home: Mehdi Bakkali, a Moroccan in Aldgate
Moroccan student and delivery courier, Mehdi Bakkali, speaks to us about loneliness, missing home, and the wisdom and resilience he
Read More
A home away from home: Bangladesh independence and migration to the East End
How generations of Bangladeshis came to call Tower Hamlets their home, where one in six UK Bangladeshi residents now live.
Read More
Bengali Squatters movement: Can the lessons of the past help ‘Save Brick Lane’ today?
The successes of the 1970’s Bengali Squatters movement showed how direct political action could improve material conditions for tenants, as
Read More
Natasha & John Flint: the artists who confronted death in a small Wapping flat
We speak to the father and daughter duo behind the GET OFF THE BALCONY exhibition about cabin fever, trauma and
Read More