Tours through radical times and places

East End Walks specialises in organising walks of London’s radical social history, especially in the East End – an area in which successive waves of immigrants have helped make London what it is today. These walks bring to life the people and places of the area especially from the 1880s, when Jews arrived in large numbers from Eastern Europe, to the 1930s when they united with non-Jewish East Enders to drive out Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists at the Battle of Cable Street. And then into the 1970s when newer immigrant groups became key targets of racists and xenophobes.

Additional walks highlight the people and movements beyond the East End who played such an important part in campaigning for radical change north and south of the River Thames

“Your walk was interesting, instructive, moving and funny! Every lover of London and every lover of freedom should take it.” Prof. Carlotta Fontana – Milan, Italy

Who? Your  East End walks guide is David Rosenberg. Find out about David’s experience and expertise here.

What do the tours cover? They are about ordinary people doing extraordinary things in the fight for better lives for all. Find out about the tours here.

When? To find out when the next walk is taking place, click here.

Are the walks accessible? All the walks are accessible for people using wheelchairs/mobility scooters

IMG_7822David is the author of Battle for The East End: Jewish Responses to Fascism in the 1930s, Five Leaves Publications, 2011. To find out about the book or purchase a copy, click here.

He is also the author of Rebel Footprints: a a guide to uncovering London’s Radical history which has just published a second edition (with a foreword by Ash Sarkar, Pluto Press, 2019). To find out about the book or purchase a copy, click here

Newest Walk

1. From Yiddish to Bangla: street life and culture from Whitechapel to Brick Lane 1880s-1980s: A 2-hour guided walk exploring the immigrant East End from the 1880s-1980s to the 1980s, taking in people and places with a special focus on the challenges, lived experiences and cultural creativity of the Jewish and Bangladeshi communities that have populated  these streets and enhanced the life of this area.

2. Bakers and bankers: early Jewish life in  London from 1650s-1870s

Jews were allowed to live in England again from 1656: which countries did they come from and why did they come? What challenges did they meet adapting to life here? What kind of work did they do, how did their culture express itself? How did different Jewish communities relate to each other? – how did they start to change London and how did london change them?

 

 

Booking here

East End Walks is part of the “History From Below” international network of historian-activists, artists and agitators: https://www.facebook.com/history.from.below.net/

“Many thanks for the wonderful walk experience last Sunday. It was so informative, engaging and inspirational.”  Burçe C (north London)

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Thanks to the People’s History Museum for the website banner photo from the Battle of Cable Street on October 4th 1936.