Save Brick Lane Campaign
As the point of arrival for waves of immigration, Brick Lane is the nearest we have to an ‘Ellis Island’ in this country. It represents centuries of struggle by generations of migrants seeking to build a life and belong, creating the multicultural Britain of today.
Post-war, Bengali men came to work in the garment trade and they opened curry houses on Brick Lane to feed themselves. In 1971, during Bangladesh’s War of Independence, many brought their families to join them.
The owners of the Old Truman Brewery want to build a shopping mall with four floors of corporate offices on top in generic architecture that is too tall and bulky, and inappropriate in the Brick Lane Conservation Area. Where it meets the terraces of nineteenth century housing in Brick Lane and Woodseer St, it is out of scale and causes up to 60% loss of light.
It offers nothing to the resident community in Spitalfields whose needs are for genuinely affordable housing and workspaces. We ask that the owners the Old Truman Brewery recognise the social responsibility which comes with ownership of such a large property.
