London - East End

The east end is situated to the east of the City and begins with the areas of Whitechapel and Spitalfields. Even today it is still synomonous with social deprivation. The world described by Dickens in "Oliver Twist" of poverty, terrible living conditions and prostitution has its origins in the alleys and dives of the East End. It inspired William Hogarth to draw his sequence of pictures "Gin Lane" and "Beer Street" and Henry Fielding's social critique the novel "Tom Jones". William Booth founded the Salvation Army here in 1865 and Jack the Ripper committed his terrible crimes here. Immigrants have lived in the East End since the 17th century, first the French Huguenots, and then impoverished farmers from Scotland, Wales and chiefly Ireland, and around the turn of the century East European Jews hoping to find work in the textile factories or in the nearby docks. Today immigrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa live and work here.

However, some of the areas on the East Side are undergoing urban regeneration projects, tearing down some of the highrise buildings built in the 1960s and new housing developments have been added.