Sunday is the day to go, with other 150 stalls and a great atmosphere of milling shoppers
Once a fringe player
Spitalfields is a covered market in East London. A market has existed on the site for over 350 years since King Charles gave a license for flesh, fowl and roots to be sold here. At the time it was a rural area on the outskirts of London. Since then, London has grown relentlessly, and Spitalfields is now finds itself nestled in the heart of the city, in the shadow of Christ Church.
The ancient market retains its charm. The Horner Square and Horner Buildings which house part of it are both Grade II listed buildings that date from the late 19th century, and the original Victorian buildings, market hall and roof have been restored, making Spitalfields one of London’s major markets once more.
Bargain Hunter
In terms of wares, there is a bit of everything here. There are fashion stalls where you can keep your eyes peeled for a bargain silk shirt or a charmingly worn flannel one. Teetering piles of antiques reward a thorough perusal — looking for an underpriced treasure can become really quite addictive. You can try a little haggling too.
Melting Pot
True to its roots, Spitalfields market remains an excellent place for food shopping. The dazzling array of fresh food market stalls make it a gastronomic paradise. Enjoy deli-style dishes, artisan breads and fairtrade products, or head to one of the glass fronted restaurants to enjoy a sit down meal and a respite from the mercantile madness. You can find food from anywhere: Italy, Mexico, Chinese, Indonesian, to name but a few.
Explore the highlights and hidden gems of London’s East End, once an impoverished working-class district of Victorian London, today a trendy digital hub and a melting pot of different cultures, street art, music, and food.
On your private tour you will:
Once a working-class Victorian slum, London’s East End has transformed into the thriving epicentre of London’s art, fashion, and entrepreneurship.
From the startup hubs leading the digital economy to the art galleries, pubs, and restaurants of a vibrant social world, this truly is a remarkable part of the world’s most international city.
Explore the hidden alleys, famous markets, antique shops, boutique florists, and fashion stalls, and sample the delicious cuisine in the many food markets.
London is famously an international city, and the East End is truly a melting pot of diversity - famed for waves of Huguenot, Irish, and Jewish immigration - we now see the influence of Bangladeshi migrants, whose cuisine defines and enlivens the world-renowned Brick Lane.
Delve into the macabre history of Jack the Ripper and the underbelly of London’s notorious East End on this unique driving and walking tour with a professional guide and passionate ‘Ripperologist’!
On your private tour, you will:
The urban legend of Jack the Ripper - his barbaric crimes and the mystery of his identity have exercised a morbid fascination over the police and public alike, ever since his horrific crimes were discovered in 1888. On this unique tour, you will be able to listen to one of the foremost experts in Ripperology who is also a licensed London Cabbie, as he takes you around the locations associated with the Ripper and his victims— all young women working in London's East End.
After meeting your driver-guide, you’ll begin your tour in Whitechapel, the infamous district of East London that made headlines in the year 1888 with the brutal murders of five working girls by an unknown assassin, known for over a century as Jack the Ripper.
You’ll visit the notorious pubs, like the Ten Bells, where the women were last seen and walk down the very streets where their bodies were first seen and caused such widespread shock, fear and horror.
You’ll see Buck’s Row, where Mary Ann Nichols was discovered; Hanbury Street, the site of Annie Chapman’s body; Berners Row where Elizabeth Stride was found; Mitre Square scene of Catherine Eddowe’s murder, and Miller’s Court where Mary Jane Kelly was brutally attacked.
Your guide will tell you their tragic stories and the clues found by the police, the police arrests and the many hundreds of theories put forward over the intervening years. The tour also covers many other notorious areas of the East End and sites of historic crimes and punishments from the traitors of the Middle Ages at the Tower of London to the more recent gangland criminals, the legendary Kray Twins.
You’ll visit the underbelly of the East End: The Blind Beggar Public House, the scene of a notorious gangland murder; The Highway – famous for the Ratcliffe Highway murderer, and Wapping’s Execution Dock!
You’ll also pass by some iconic London landmarks and monuments – including the Whitehall Bell Foundry at Spitalfields where Big Ben was made, Tower Bridge and the Tower of London, St Paul’s Cathedral, London Bridge and The Royal Hospital – former residence of the unfortunate ‘Elephant Man’ - made famous in the Hollywood blockbuster and Oscar-winning movie, which starred John Hurt and Anthony Hopkins.
And finally, you’ll head toward central London and Fleet Street, known for the infamous Demon Barber of Fleet Street Sweeney Todd, the Knights Templar, and now for West End pubs and theatres! Your fascinating tour of the lesser-known underbelly of London ends here or at a location of your choice.
The East End of London is a lively part of the Big Smoke with a rich and complex history. Traditionally referring to the areas immediately east of the medieval City of London and north of the River Thames, it became known as a place for activities unwelcome in the wealthy City and much of its past was shaped by poverty, crime, disease, and infamous events that have left a lasting mark on its identity. From the Bubonic Plague to the Whitechapel murders attributed to Jack the Ripper, to the notorious gangsters the Kray Twins, our private tour in an iconic London taxi uncovers the secrets and scandals of the East End with a Black Cab driver guide well-versed in the macabre tales of this ever-evolving corner of London.
On your private half-day tour, you will:
Step into the shadows of Victorian London on this private half-day journey through the East End, a district where cobbled streets and gaslit alleys still whisper of mystery, madness and murder. Travelling in the comfort of an iconic London cab, you’ll be collected directly from your hotel by your own personal cabbie, a licensed tour guide and local storyteller who knows every corner, scandal and secret of the East End across the centuries.
Your adventure begins at Royal Mint Court, built on the site of a medieval plague pit, a grim reminder of the Black Death that once decimated the city. From there, your route winds through the old docklands and narrow lanes of Whitechapel and Wapping, where ghosts of the past linger among the surviving Victorian warehouses. Along The Highway, you’ll hear tales of the brothels, opium dens and brutal murders that made this stretch one of London’s most feared thoroughfares.
Outside the Royal London Hospital, you will learn learn the moving story of Joseph Merrick, known as the Elephant Man, who lived out his final years here, watched over by the curious and the compassionate alike. You will also stop by one of London’s most infamous pubs, The Blind Beggar, a regular haunt of notorious gangsters the Kray Twins and the site of brutal gangland murder in 1966, proof that East End crime stories didn’t stop with the Victorians.
No exploration of the East End’s darker side would be complete without tracing the footsteps of Jack the Ripper. Your guide will lead you to the key sites related to the shocking Whitechapel murders, piecing together the real history behind one of London’s most enduring mysteries. You’ll learn about the “canonical five” victims attributed to the Ripper, other suspicious deaths that took place around the same time, and experience the haunting atmosphere of The Ten Bells, a pub frequented by several of the unfortunate women who crossed his path.
As you continue to explore the streets around the famous Spitalfields market, your guide can give you a feel for what life was like for ordinary Londoners who lived in the East End and the different communities that made their mark over the years. You’ll gain an understanding of the extreme poverty that afflicted the area, but also of the strength and resilience of the people that made their homes there, from the Huguenot silk weavers who escaped persecution in France in the 17th Century to the Jewish refugees who came from Eastern Europe in the late 19th Century and played a major role in the local garment industry, tailoring, and trade.
After a memorable circuit through London’s dark heart, your driver-guide will return you to your hotel or another central location of your choice. Equal parts chilling and captivating, this intimate exploration of “the sad, the mad and the bad” offers a rare chance to see the East End as few visitors ever do, through the eyes of a true Londoner.
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