LONDON'S JEWISH EAST END

• Private Bookings Only
• Any time to suit the group.
• Outside Whitechapel Art Gallery

WITH BLUE BADGE GUIDE ISABELLE SEDDON

Blue Badge Guide and City of London Guide Isabelle Seddon is an expert on the Jewish East End and, on this walk, she will take you on a journey of discovery through the streets of Spitalfields and Whitechapel to explore their Jewish Heritage.

One of London’s Most Diverse Area’s

It is an area where both the Sephardim and the Ashkenazim once jostled for trade. An area where refugees, fleeing the pograms in Eastern Europe in the latter quarter of the 19th century, settled and brought with them a culture and heritage that was both rich and diverse.

An Amazing Cast of Characters

There can be few districts of London that have yielded such a rich array of luminaries as this small quarter of the East End. Yet, the narrow streets that you will explore on this fascinating walk have nurtured the likes of poets, playwrights and authors, such Isaac Rosenberg and Israel Zangwill and Arnold Wesker; sportsmen such as Abe Saperstein, the founder of the Harlem Globetrotters; musicians, such as Joe Loss, the great band leader; and actors and entertainers such as Bud Flanagan and Jacob Adler.

You will learn their stories – some of them tragic, many of them uplifting and inspiring – and hear how they helped shaped this neighbourhood whilst leaving an indelible print on the very fabric of the streets, alleyways and buildings that Isabelle will introduce you to on this magical tour.

Highlights of the Jewish East End Tour

• The former Public Library where the likes of Selig Brodetsky, Jacob Bronowsky, Isaac Rosenberg and Israel Zangwill would meet in the Reading Room to debate all day.
• The remarkable 18th century building that, in its time has been a Chapel, a Synagogue and is now a Mosque.
• The Princelet Street Synagogue, founded in 1870.
• The former Soup Kitchen for the Jewish Poor.
• The streets and byways of the Jewish East End, several of which have hardly changed since the 19th century
• The Petticoat Lane Market where the poetic spiel of the Jewish stallholders was once as much of a tourist attraction as the Crown Jewels at the nearby Tower of London!

A True Feel For the Jewish East End

And, betwixt and between all these remarkable places, Isabelle will regale you with a sparkling narrative that will mingle fact, history, anecdote and gossip, all set against a background of colour and change, that will give you a real feel for the Jewish East End.

So join Isabelle for a journey through a neighbourhood that few visitors venture into but to which those who do always return.