Experiences of the East End

[John Bennett]

Just a new thread for posters to recount recent (or past) experiences whilst roaming the streets. I set this up for those who want to mention such things but don't have photographs to post (so it doesn't hijack the Photographs and Drawings Thread.

I had a good one last Monday. Whilst on a wee pub crawl with my mate Dan, we stopped outside Dennis Severs' House in Folgate Street and as I was explaining it to him, some people came out. When I asked if it was still open, the guy at the door said it was closing, but let us have a look in the front room for nothing. It was amazing and we were both pretty awestruck. Must visit it properly soon.

Fifteen minutes later, we pass Don Rumbelow winding up a Ripper tour in Dorset Street. Cue me buying a spanking new copy of The Complete JTR off him (my one is 27 years old), having a quick chat about the Whitechapel Society and getting the book signed.

All that as well as visiting the Water Poet pub for the first time and realising it's like a TARDIS - that place goes on forever.

[kensei]

I went on Donald Rumbelow's walking tour in Sept. 2004 which set out at dusk, and I remember him warning the crowd that one never knows what might happen along the way. He said, "We've had extremely inebriated people come staggering up to us saying THAT'S NOT HOW IT HAPPENED-- LET ME TELL IT!" Be prepared to see nude people in windows, he said. But it was a pretty quiet night, except for Spitalfields Market being a haven for young skateboarders late at night, and some of them off to the side as Donald was speaking whispering wickedly to each other, "Ooooh, Jack the Ripper!" (I wonder what it must be like to live in that area which- let's face it- is world famous for only one thing.) There wasn't even much traffic, but it was either a Monday or a Tuesday night. The tour visited St. Botolph's Church, Mitre Square, the grafitto site on Goulston Street, the market, and the former site of Miller's Court. Basically, the crowd of fifty people and my sense of "just follow along and you won't get lost" were distractions from really feeling the ambiance of the place, but as the shadows fell it was still a somewhat eerie experience. I'm going back for a solo tour about six months from now and am really looking forward to it now that I've had an introduction to it and have done a lot more research on the case.

[Mike Covell]

I was in the area in January and from about 2 in the afternoon began walking the sites alone, and let me tell you I was pretty scared.
Now I used to lift weights, have trained in boxing, and karate but at certain points I thought I was going to get mugged!!

The strangest part was walking the areas just off Whitechapel High Street which was like a dark twisting maze, the closer I got to Mitre Square, the taller the buildings seemed to get, and i was enveloped in the darkness, not from nightfall but from the shadows these beasts create.

I was also wet from the rain and windswept but carried on, I got so lost I popped into a library and asked for help, and managed to pass the White Hart Pub twice.

I am hoping to visit again this year, and again next but with more people, there is nothing worse than trying to take a photo whilst people are watching you.

The market on Whitechapel High Street was in full swing and made me think of how busy it must have been back then, there was also a heavy police presence on Bucks Row because the School was chucking out, and I cheekily asked the Officers were they were 120 years ago!

I also spent some time at the London Hospital, Islington, and under the floor, packed like a sardine on a tube train!

Great day out.

Funnily enough, on the way home I got chatting to a lady who was sat on the seat opposite and her family were all bon and raised in Whitechapel, she had several stories and recollections.

[kensei]

Say all,

I have the map of all the sites from page 9 of "Uncovering Jack the Ripper's London" by Richard Jones and Sean East. It is not one of the ancient street maps but a modern one that shows how the streets are now. Armed with that map, am I still likely to get hopelessly lost?

Kensei

[Mike Covell]

I was armed with two maps and Jack the Rippers London, Now and Then, and still got lost!!

The problem with maps is that you stand out as a tourist and attract undesirables, just as I did down Gunthorpe Street.

It was still a little adventure though, especially when I realised how far I had walked and needed to get back to catch my train home!

[Stephen Thomas]

All that as well as visiting the Water Poet pub for the first time and realising it's like a TARDIS - that place goes on forever.

Where's that, John?

[John Bennett]

Stephen

The Water Poet is on the corner of Folgate Street and Blossom Street. It was a mixed clientele on Monday night, but the inside is done up with the usual collection of mismatched artefacts and furniture - did have a heated outdoor area so having a fag is no problem. In fact that's its best point!

JB

[John Bennett]

The problem with maps is that you stand out as a tourist and attract undesirables, just as I did down Gunthorpe Street.

That's probably true. Personally, I've not needed a map for almost 20 years and I must say, I have been very fortunate. The only time anything odd has happened to me is when I've hung around in one place too long.

Friends who go round the East End with me are pretty much taken round at a brisk pace. They get to see a lot, but we only tend to stop for 'light refreshment' as they say.

Which reminds me, the Golden Heart was perfect on monday - plenty of seating and devoid of too many Shoreditch Trendies.

[Monty]

John,

The Water Poet is opposite the Severs house isnt it? Dark external decore if I remember correctly.

Remember our London Job:- The search for the Old Montague Street Morgue?

The MK and Graffito?

The Ailiffe sighting and the 'who the fcuk is he?' question that followed.

Berkoffs school.

And, above all else, The Mad Man of Leman Street.

I hear that theres a DVD somewhere ? I thought they were all destroyed.

Monty

[Stephen Thomas]

having a fag is no problem. In fact that's its best point!

Our American friends might misconstrue you there

Thanks for the info.

[John Bennett]

Yes Monty, there was a DVD and I still have my copy!

About a year after the London Job, I happened upon the 'Leman Street Nutter' (as we dubbed him) in Whitechapel High Street. I had delivered to a 2nd floor flat next to the White Hart and as I was packing away a familiar figure came flying down the street approaching all and sundry with his plastic cup. He looked just as mad then as he did the year before.

I just managed to get back in the van before he caught me.

P.S. Stephen - oops.

[ellen]

Beware Muggers Sign

I get to London several times a year and always "troll" the Whitechapel/Spitalfields area. In February 2006, on a dark, rainy evening, I was walking up and down some quite, dark spaces when I came upon a yellow warning sign across the street from the Princess Alice Pub which said "Beware of Muggers in this area"!!!

As a woman, and obviously a tourist, I have really got to stop walking these streets alone. The scary time is after the shops and some of the pubs and cafes close around 5:30PM, but before the restaurants and pubs open for the dinner/evening crowd around 7PM. The streets are VERY quite and the lone footsteps of someone walking up behind you are unnerving. I have been terrible scared by the lone young man or group of young men walking the same street as me. I am sure they are the sweetest, kindest people, but in "Jack's" neighborhod, they almost made me pass out in abject fear.

[Stephen Thomas]

Hi Ellen

Are you the lady I gave the Victorian penny to at the last WS meeting?

Or should that be 'the lady to whom I gave the Victorian penny'?

Either way, lets not frighten off the tourists. I've lived in London for 40 odd years and I can say that Spitalfields is one of the safer areas in London.

Best to go in the day, though.

[George Hutchinson]

I am sure they are the sweetest, kindest people

Around Wentworth Street? Ooh dear, you need to be taught of the peril of the Tower Hamlets Teen!

PHILIP

[kensei]

Hi all,

I'm planning to take my solo Ripper walk this September starting at around eight or nine on a Tuesday morning, from east to west and visiting as many sites as possible. How much threat of mugging is there at that hour?

I guess I'll be sure and carry only a small bit of money on me. I'm worried about losing my cameras though. My first time in London in 2004 I was the most afraid of mugging in Soho- one very insistent young begger stayed with me for a couple of blocks, and there was a fatal stabbing on a tube platform in the headlines the day I arrived.

By the way, we get the show "Eastenders" in America so some of us do know that a fag is a cigarette.

Kensei