Whitechapel Road

So, following on from the Old Kent Road yesterday, here I am in Whitechapel. Whitechapel Road is actually quite short, so I started on Whitechapel High Street and took in a block or two of the Mile End Road. Cost of a house on Whitechapel Road in Monopoly - £50, current average house price in Whitechapel now- £832, 475. 

 Anyway, Whitechapel High Street is very bustling, with lots of old and independant wee shops. It also used to have a heavy concentration of Jewish tailors. The following shop is one of the last remnants of this.

The lovely Whitechapel Art Gallery

And onto Whitechapel Road proper.

A very fine example of peeling white paint.

The Blind Beggar pub, famous for being the pub where Ronnie Kray shot George Cornell. It was also here that William Booth delivered his first sermon, that led to his formation of the Salvation Army.

There's a lot of very fine Victorian architecture around this part of London.

Almshouses for retired sailors.

Fine detailed decoration on them.

A statue of Sgt. Pepper.

It's actually William Booth, who founded the Salvation Army here, celebrated in this mural.

The new London Royal Hospital on Whitechapel Road. It opened yesterday. I don't know if I like it. It looks a lot like a big version of those new libraries, where they cover the windows in strips of yellow and green cellophane, sell off all the books, get in a few PCs, and call it a "learning centre".

To be fair, though, a lot of the older hospital buildings are looking particularly knackered.

Around the way, though, was this really nice deco block.

And a quick visit to the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, where not only Big Ben was cast, but also the Liberty Bell. In the first photo, the bell curve shape around the door is a 1:1 representation of the size of Big Ben.