Go back 20 years and who would've thought the East End would become the hottest property hotspot of hotness in London? It just goes to prove that creativity and culture are a lot more enticing – and way more exciting – than twinsets and pearls.
Once London's pulsing heart of industry, manufacturing and commerce, the decline of London's East End and Docklands was the loft lover's gain with a vast legacy of disused printing works, breweries, warehouses and factories just waiting for a new life. When it came, it took the entire city by storm, transforming the way in which we live and setting the template for urban lifestyle businesses across the world.
Shoreditch and Clerkenwell did it first, in the years after the early 90s recession. A a wave of Young British Artists took up cavernous spaces in which to create, followed by entrepreneurs opening bars, shops, restaurants and cafes, creating the beginnings of today's enormous creative and startup scene. Word got out and suddenly everyone wanted a piece of it, and still does. The storm swept north and east, unearthing disused buildings in Hackney, Dalston, Clapton, Bow and, more recently, Whitechapel, enshrining this part of London as the ultimate destination for committed loft dwellers.
Once London's pulsing heart of industry, manufacturing and commerce, the decline of London's East End and Docklands was the loft lover's gain with a vast legacy of disused printing works, breweries, warehouses and factories just waiting for a new life. When it came, it took the entire city by storm, transforming the way in which we live and setting the template for urban lifestyle businesses across the world.
Shoreditch and Clerkenwell did it first, in the years after the early 90s recession. A a wave of Young British Artists took up cavernous spaces in which to create, followed by entrepreneurs opening bars, shops, restaurants and cafes, creating the beginnings of today's enormous creative and startup scene. Word got out and suddenly everyone wanted a piece of it, and still does. The storm swept north and east, unearthing disused buildings in Hackney, Dalston, Clapton, Bow and, more recently, Whitechapel, enshrining this part of London as the ultimate destination for committed loft dwellers.