Shoreditch Area Guide

Shoreditch is a hotbed of activity, bustling with artists, fashionistas, creatives and more recently lawyers, financiers and tecchies. The vast array of quirky coffee shops and boutiques, galleries and street art, eateries and clubs combine to create an area parodied as ‘hipster central’. It is undoubtedly the creative and tech capital of London, home to numerous new media and high-tech companies clustered around Old Street (aka East London Tech City).

After more than three decades of regeneration, the area offers an exciting mix of converted industrial buildings, Georgian and Victorian terraces and new apartments, and the Shoreditch Triangle boasts some of the capital’s best warehouse conversions. The many new prime high rise towers offer an impressive range of amenities such as a gym, spa, and concierge service.

A diverse range of independent and artisan shops are scattered throughout, including high end boutiques and lifestyle stores. The Sunday markets at Columbia Road and Brick Lane, and the Box Park container shopping mall attract a lot of visitors, as does the vibrant nightlife. Although busy day and night, the neighbourhood has many quiet pedestrian and cycle friendly back streets and charming small city parks such as Hoxton Square and Boundary Gardens. It is short on large open spaces, and therefore not particularly child friendly, apart from the well preserved Victorian terraces around Jesus Green.

There are Overground and tube links at Shoreditch High Street (East London Line) and Old Street (Northern Line) respectively, but with the City on the doorstep many residents prefer to walk or cycle to work.