This walk explores areas just outside the City of London boundary which, in their character and history, are worlds apart from their upmarket neighbour.
Being beyond the reach of the City’s rules, the area became fertile territory for new businesses to grow, for non-conformism and creativity. We will head straight from the City’s administrative centre past remains of the old Roman City Wall to the north, through the extraordinary 1960s futuristic vision which is the Barbican, into vibrant areas where the streets, despite creeping City expansion and gentrification, still bear witness to a past when they teemed with light industrial activity – furniture manufacturing in Shoreditch and silk-weaving in Spitalfields among others – and were home to theatres where Shakespeare’s early plays premiered.
Start: Outside the City Art Gallery, Guildhall Yard, EC2V 5AE
End: Liverpool Street Station
Andrew Parnell Guide
