What is currently happening in Brick Lane is interesting. There is a battle going on between the existing local community, much of it Bangladeshi, and the forces of redevelopment, led by the Zeloofs, the family which bought the Truman, Hanbury and Buxton brewery site over twenty years ago.
One would have expected Tower Hamlets, a traditionally Labour council, to have sided with the local community. But it became over-enamoured of new development under its previous Mayor, John Biggs, as was evident in the debate over the Whitechapel Bell Foundry and decisions are frequently made by the planning committee, often with tiny majorities.
Hettie O’Brien wrote the best informed article on the Bell Foundry and has now written about Brick Lane, as below. I’m glad to see the Spitalfields Trust is involved:-
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 