Oranges and lemons,
     say the bells of St. Clement’s.

     You owe me five farthings,
     Say the bells of St. Martin’s.

     When will you pay me?
     Say the bells of Old Bailey.

     When I grow rich,
     Say the bells of Shoreditch.

                     – Old English nursery rhyme

As it happens, this eclectically gentrified and recently trendy bit of London’s East End has in fact managed to grow pretty rich of late. But even starting from humble beginnings, Shoreditch always had a personality all its own, dating back to Shakespeare’s day when it was home to a number of theatres. In the 19th century it became industrialised, then in the 20th it was bombed during World War II and in the postwar period became home to a large Asian immigrant community. Then in the 1990s, creatives started trickiling in... keep reading