Many of my visitors remark "I did not know they had places like this in London". Typical surprises: vast suburban areas, forests, burkas, fried chicken, children, large dogs, warehouses turned luxury flats. East London is not the London you know. Americans are so rare in east London, I am always mistaken for a Canadian.
So why east London? All the cool people are in east London. Plus, you get to be an exotic foreigner, something which totally disappears around Leicester Square. Energetic outsiders are attracted by the fact that east London welcomes creativity.
East London is simultaneously the most British and the most international part of London. The tea always has milk in it, and there is always a queue at the chippie. Yet, everyone can trace their ancestry to immigrants at some point in the past. Community is important, and even the most recent immigrants live near extended family. People in east London are real, and actually live in their homes.
No international theme park has miniaturised east London, and yet, it is the real London. You will have to discover it for yourself.
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