Brick Lane’s Finest

 A few weeks back, I visited Brick Lane in the vain hope that I would be able to find a few decent Christmas presents. It was only then that I was struck by the mere shabbiness of the area. The previous times that I had visited Brick Lane seemed like complete fantasy, like I had been struck down by the glaring eyes of delusion.

 

It is extremely rare that you can find any decent bits of bric-a-brac in the market, let alone the shops themselves. To my despair, even the food seemed to have gone to the dogs…

Before my most recent visit, I hadn’t been to the East End in a fair while. But I began to question whether my high expectations had become, dare I say, even higher?

Unfortunately, there are barely three shops which I actually bother to go into nowadays. These include the main chain stores; Rokit and Beyond Retro, as well as unfamiliar shops such as the East End Thrift Store (doesn’t look like they’re moving any time soon). Alas, prices of vintage items in such chain stores have just risen far too high.

Now, I’m not one to preach about the economy, but a lot of their flimsy items are certainly not worthy of their sturdy price tags! Beyond Retro, for instance, (obviously my favourite shop) tend to sell a lot of items—clearly imported from American thrift stores—which were bought for a third of the price originally.

Yes, they need a profit.
Yes, we need clothes.
NO—they don’t need to leave us penniless!

What shocks me most is the difference between the developed and the developing. Evidently, as Brick Lane becomes more popular then prices will rise. Just because shops like Beyond Retro are becoming more and more “trendy”, does it really make it ok for prices to shoot up?! When comparing these chain stores with lower-lying vintage shops such as those in Hackney, you can really see the difference. You could probably buy five better quality and more “original” items in those shops than in the chain shops where those five items would become one

The East End Thrift Store is literally cheapo heaven (compared to other shops). But even now they’re jacking up their prices! Talk about disheartening…They once had their entire ground floor filled with baskets of random bits of clothing no less than a pound—it was very much charity shop style—but now it’s filled with racks of moderately price—you could say more tasteful—items. On my last visit they were having a three for £10 dress sales, which sounds glorious. Of course, after rooting around for a good twenty minutes, I found nothing.

Have I strayed from my original topic for this article? Or are the shops the focal point of Brick Lane itself? So what will happen to old EC1??? Will it thrive with the trendy Japanese tourists willing to spend their life savings in one go? Or will it gradually disintegrate into the quiet street it is more often than not. The simplest solution is to bomb all the pretentious and over-priced vintage shops…but since when did my opinion matter.