Bethnal Green's community newspaper

Bethnal Green LDN is a local magazine for Bethnal Green in East London. We bring you the best kept secrets about your neighbourhood from what's on to places to visit. Discover the best shops, restaurants, bars, coffee places and local attractions in Bethnal Green, Cambridge Heath Road, Columbia Flower Market, Brick Lane and Hackney Road. Be the first to know about things to do locally, from events and exhibitions to courses and workshops. And discover the rich culture and heritage of our local neighbourhood.

Local democracy

Leila's shop on Calvert Avenue on a sunny day, with customers sitting at pavement tables.
LocalLocal democracyNews

Council to decide fate of Leila’s Shop after 300% rent hike

Angel Sun

The fate of Leila’s Shop in Shoreditch is set to be decided at a Tower Hamlets Council meeting on 16

Image taken from the townscape and visual impact assessment shows the view down Fashion Street from Brick Lane, with a green dotted outline of the proposed tower
LocalLocal democracyNews

Plans for tower block above Liverpool Street Station will disrupt skyline, says council

Nick Clark, BBC Local Democracy Report
Bansky's 'Flower Painter' on the wall of the Bethnal Green Men's Working Club.
LocalLocal democracyNews

Banksy artwork illegally taken and put on sale in America, says Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club trustees

Sophie Howarth
The Scarlett Letters radical bookshop with the owner Marin standing and smiling outside.
LocalLocal economyNews

The Scarlett Letters radical bookshop to close following Instagram blowout and staff balloting for strikes

Agatha Scaggiante
Image of the outside of the Virginia Primary School building, which is large and built with a mixture of brown and red bricks. There are black gates outside the building, with the words 'Virginia School' written on them in gold.
LocalLocal democracyNews

Virginia Primary School in Bethnal Green set to become an academy

Ruby Gregory, Local Democracy Reporter
A black and white cat stares directly at the camera, with Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium cafe behind it. The room is full of chairs and tables, the walls are covered with framed portraits and another cat wanders between the chairs.
LocalLocal economyNews

Clawing to stay: The fight to keep London’s first cat cafe in Bethnal Green open

Sophie Howarth

Local culture

The Gentle Author looks at a stone bust, Spitalfields Life, east London.
CultureHeritageLife & livingLife and livingLocal

Who is The Gentle Author? A peek behind the curtain at Spitalfields’ famous anonymous blogger

Agatha Scaggiante

The East End’s enigmatic Wizard of Oz has been documenting the neighbourhood since 2009, but who is the writer behind

A brick building with pale stone front along a main road, a staircase leads to the door with a blue sign above reading 'Providence Row Housing Association'.
CultureHeritageLocal

Down and Out in Bethnal Green: George Orwell’s arrest on Mile End road confirmed in 1931 court reports

Eleanor Thomson
Vagina museum in Bethnal Green.
CultureLocalLocal democracyNewsThe arts

Vagina Museum saved from closure after crowdfunding reached a staggering £70k in four days

Sophie Howarth
Ronnie and Reggie, aka the Kray twins, standing together in suits with a newspaper background.
CultureLife & livingLife and livingLocalQueer London

An anti-hero of gay liberation: Ronnie Kray’s violent life outside the closet

Agatha Scaggiante
Vagina Museum team.
CultureThe arts

Vagina Musuem launches crowdfunder to secure its future following ‘insurmountable’ rent increase

Ray Bonsall
Female weightlifters standing in the Bethnal Green Weightlifting club.
CultureLife & livingLife and livingLocal

Meet the strongwomen of the Bethnal Green Weightlifting Club

Ruby Gregory, Local Democracy Reporter

Out & About

Outside the Carpenters Arms on Cheshire Street, Bethnal Green
LocalOut & AboutPlaces to visit

Best things to do in Bethnal Green

Sophie Howarth

A centuries old bagel shop, an outrageous queer venue, and the Kray twin’s old haunts are just some of the

An image of York Hall building, which is large and white with red writing reading: YORK HALL. It has a sign hung at the front reading: Welcome to York Hall Leisure Centre
ActivitiesLocalOut & About

Best spas and saunas in London’s East End, home of the capital’s first ever public baths

Sophie Howarth
Street scene on Cambridge Heath Road in early May 2025, Bethnal Green, East London.
Eating & drinkingLocalOut & About

Is Cambridge Heath Road shaping up to be the new Hackney?

Agatha Scaggiante
A scene from Valkyries during Regent Opera's production of Wagner's Ring Cycle, at York Hall in Bethnal Green.
Going outLocalOut & About

Ringside tickets: Wagner’s Ring Cycle, a series of four epic operas, to be shown at York Hall boxing venue

Tabitha Stapely
Shopfront of Satan’s Whiskers bar after dark, with its orange neon sign above and graffitti covered shutters pulled down, on Cambridge Heath Road, Bethnal Green, East London
Eating & drinkingLocalOut & About

Satan’s Whiskers: Your neighbourhood cocktail bar is as devilishly good as ever

David Bard
Two tourists taking a photo of the Three Monkeys street art by Banksy, on the railway bridge across Brick Lane.
LocalOut & AboutPlaces to visit

The last remaining Banksy murals in the streets of Tower Hamlets

Imogen Garfinkel