I hate to be the one to point out trivial flaws in this article, as I was quite excited to see that my neighbourhood had been written about on Salon.com. The article locates Christ Church as looking out over Commercial Road, when in actual fact it looks out over Commercial Street. The only reason I point to this seemingly little error is because there is a Commercial Road in the area, and if one decides to visit (and please do!) and looks at a map or a London A-Z they may find themselves confused.

As an aside, I am currently writing a Masters Dissertation centred around Brick Lane, and in my research found a link to an extremely interesting self-guided walking tour that highlights the history of the area as it relates to immigrant populations. If you are interested you can find a guide to the walk here:

http://www.visiteastlondon.co.uk/downloads/Leaflets/Bengali%20History%20Walk.pdf

Thank you "londonscalling" for pointing out the Commercial Road/Street confusion, we will make the change.

What about literary folks operating a place in Spitalfields? An upscale deli named VERDE & CO [40 Brushfield Street E1],right in the midst of much upscaling going on, but itself part of a very old building that Jeanette Winterson bought. Tiny & charming interior, with creative sandwiches made & in cold weather, the heat of a wood-burning stove. TIME OUT NEW YORK had an article about this place in 04 or 05. Winterson's literary sweep of UK & London history makes this choice of hers seem very fitting, as if the very named "Spitalfields" was a location of some of her characters' broiling journeys.