Actress and Shoreditch resident, Annabelle Wallis, tells us why she loves her area, where to shop and why you never know what’s going to happen next
Shoreditch has changed so much. It’s a real mixture of the old and the new. I live just by Spitalfields Market. You’ve got St John’s Bread and Wine, a restaurant where you get things like calf brain! Just down the road is The Owl and Pussycat, an old East End pub that does amazing Sunday roasts. There are some great shops around there.
I love the area. It’s creative and young, with lots of live bands and folk music. You get sent the Shoreditch Map which lists all the bars, clubs and events – every month a different artist does the map. There’s so many people into different things. The other day our neighbour invited us to come round and watch an artist break the world record for eating the most boiled eggs, dressed as a chicken! It’s cool, you never know what’s going to happen next. The council give you recycling bags, which get picked up on a Tuesday. It’s quite good, but you do have to ask, it’s not advertised.
There’s a new development in Spitalfields Market with restaurants and stalls running throughout the week. If you look you can find lovely one-off dresses and bags. The best days to go are probably Friday, and Thursdays for antiques, vintage clothes and bags, art-deco jewellery. And there’s a really nice coffee chop called the Market Place, jut across from Spitalfields, and there’s a deli and sweet shop – all very ‘olde worlde’. There’s also the Hookah Lounge on Brick Lane, which is very elegant and a nice place to chill out. And there’s always things happening at the Truman Brewery, like art installations and sample sales. You can also find a secret store on Wilks Street, tucked down a passageway, it doesn’t have a name! They make their own lace dresses, handmade candles, jewellery and furniture.
Brick Lane has a lot of new designers setting up shops there. The designers are actually working in their studios and you can go in and discuss having pieces made up in your size. There’s also an amazing vintage shop on Cheshire Street called Absolute Retro. It’s huge, with so much stuff – from ball dresses and 1950s cocktail dresses to 1920s dresses, jackets and tops. Sometimes you’ll find an absolute gem!
Brick Lane is changing a lot. There’s a lot of money being poured into it. New art and books shops are opening. You can explore the side streets for lots of amazing little stores. Lots people don’t speak English and you’ve got street signs in Hindi and Arabic which just adds to the atmosphere.
At the top end of Brick Lane, you’ve got more high-end vintage, more expensive and better quality, more for the collector, designers like Yves Saint Laurent and Chanel. There is one shop which does very expensive Balenciaga. But I’ve bought amazing dresses for £40.
There’s a great shop called Hurwundeki on Commerical Street, which mixes vintage and modern. The owner brings back bags, dresses and jackets from Korea, and really good prices. Tailored jackets for £60, little dresses for £45. They also design their own bags, which are really good quality and finish. They do their own shoes as well as vintage. Kate Moss is one of their biggest clients. HWDK is their hairdressers just around the corner, on Puma Street, where I get my hair done. It’s a very beautiful little salon. They’ll do a full head of colour for £60 which is really good. And cuts for £45.
Shoreditch Highstreet has great boutiques, upmarket but affordable. Lots of little dresses and coats. And on Kingsland Road is a fashion boutique called Relax Garden. Amazing Japanese designers, but they’ll only have four of each piece so it’s a real fight. And the prices are so low! It’s had a lot of press recently because Sienna Miller shops there. But only because I wore a T-shirt I had bought there and was approached by a Vogue stylist who asked me where I got it. The following week a dress I had bought there was being worn by Sienna Miller in Grazia!
For food, there’s Spitalfields Organic Foodshop, all Fairtrade and organic food, household products and beauty products plus a notice board with all the yoga, pilates, shiatsu and alternative therapy classes. And go to Bagala City and Taj Stores for an amazing selection of exotic foods and spices – cardamom seeds, lime leaves, green mangoes from India. So much cheaper than the supermarkets!
