Banglatown: why Brick Lane cannot fall victim to the gentrification of East London

‘Bangla noise on Brick Lane, that’s the sound of my dwelling’.

The first line of British-Bangladeshi singer Joy Crookes’ tune ‘London Mine’ completely captures the significance of Brick Lane as a pocket of Bangladeshi tradition in London’s East End. With its quite a few world-famous, Bangladeshi-owned curry homes, this iconic location in London attracts tens of millions of vacationers yearly and is a logo of the cultural richness that a long time of Bangladeshi immigration have introduced to the space.

In existence beneath its present identify since the 1550s, Brick Lane has represented the various and multicultural nature of London for a whole lot of years. It was first a secure haven for French Protestants fleeing non secular persecution and later noticed giant quantities of Jewish immigration. It was in the Fifties and 60s that Bangladeshi males first got here to the greatest cities in England in search of employment and this reached an all-time excessive in the Seventies due to ongoing battle with West Pakistan. The majority of these immigrants got here from the Sylhet area in the North-East of the nation and plenty of settled in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, particularly the Spitalfields and Brick Lane space.

So, how did Brick Lane turn into so essential for the Bangladeshi immigrant group? Many of the single, immigrant males that arrived in London and particularly the Tower Hamlets space discovered work in business however due to austerity in England in the latter half of the Seventies and the privatisation of corporations, many of these males had been made powerless victims of mass redundancy. This rise in unemployment led many Bangladeshis to open their very own eating places and consequently one of the poorest areas of London, which had seen a pointy decline in enterprise, noticed an enormous interval of financial flourishing. These eating places turned generally known as ‘Indian’ curry homes and at the moment greater than 80% of all Indian eating places in the UK are Bangladeshi owned. Due to this phenomenon, many immigrants had been in a position to carry their members of the family from Bangladesh to settle with them in the Brick Lane and Spitalfields space. This allowed an actual tight-knit group to set up itself. Asian clothes outlets and factories had been opened and in 1976, the synagogue on the nook of Brick Lane turned a mosque. This constructing is now a logo of the migratory historical past of the space due to the proven fact that earlier than the synagogue, it was additionally a Protestant chapel for the French refugees. This sense of group is probably the place Brick Lane’s best significance lies. Many of these immigrants suffered from relentless racism while some discovered issue in speaking in English. A spot corresponding to Brick Lane would have subsequently supplied a secure area the place they had been free to actively take part of their tradition and have fun their id with different individuals who had been going via the identical issues.

For London’s present Bangladeshi group, Brick Lane is a illustration of the vibrancy that their enterprise and tradition introduced to the space. It is, in impact, a residing reminder of the historical past of immigration and the manner through which it allowed the space to blossom. The Bangladeshi id is so synonymous with this half of London that in 2001, the borough modified the identify of the electoral ward of ‘Spitalfields’ to ‘Spitalfields and Banglatown’. Lamp posts have additionally been painted in the colors of the Bangladeshi flag in celebration.

Despite this, plainly Brick Lane and its significance to the Bangladeshi group are being threatened by an endemic that has taken many victims in London in recent times. It is totally unsurprising that the space has modified immensely since the first Bangladeshi immigrants settled there. It has turn into a common hub for tradition with cafés, golf equipment, bars and even avenue artwork by Banksy. Although all these items must be welcomed as they permit communities to stay and thrive collectively via the celebration of artwork , what shouldn’t be allowed to destroy such culturally vital locations is the course of of gentrification.

In 2020, plans for the redevelopment of the iconic Truman Brewery on Brick Lane had been introduced. These plans would come with the development of multi-storey workplace areas in addition to outlets, eating places and a health club. Many consider that if allowed, this redevelopment would utterly compromise the cultural authenticity of the space. It would additionally carry with it the standard damaging impacts of gentrification. For a growth like this to be financially possible, funding from giant business corporations and types is required. This commercialisation of the space and large investments would lead to housing costs and the common value of residing to skyrocket, forcing residents to transfer out in favour of extra reasonably priced areas in the suburbs. As the Borough of Tower Hamlets is one of the most economically disadvantaged (it had the highest unemployment charges in London in 2020) but additionally ethnically various areas of London, one consequence of this sort of growth and gentrification can be that the ethnic communities which make these areas what they’re can be bodily unable to persevering with residing in a spot that represents their id and tradition as British immigrants.

For this very cause, the Truman growth shouldn’t go forward at any value. Brick Lane is one of the many areas that make London such a various, vibrant and welcoming metropolis. We cannot as a group or a rustic permit business revenue and achieve to take priority over years of historical past that kind half of a collective id. Campaigns had been initially launched to oppose the plans however with the rising severity of the pandemic they had been short-lived.  An exhibition was placed on by the Spitalfield’s Trust to showcase Brick Lane’s wealthy historical past via black and white photographs however once more due to lockdown this was not open to the public for lengthy sufficient to have had a widespread impression.

Rather a lot of the opposition has now moved on-line with the launch of the #SaveBrickLane marketing campaign which inspires letters and emails to be written to individuals of energy corresponding to native MPs and the Mayor of London. It is hoped that uniting with the Bangladeshi voices of Brick Lane will protect a cultural jewel in the coronary heart of London’s East End.

 Linked under are just a few websites the place you could find out extra about how you should use your voice in solidarity with the Bangladeshi and wider East London group to save Brick Lane.

https://battleforbricklane.com/

https://www.fb.com/battleforbricklane

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