Beyond Banglatown
This project explored the changing fortunes of Banglatown’s restaurants, and the implications of this change for the Bangladeshi community in East London and for Brick Lane itself. Through visual mapping, face-to-face surveys, a qualitative survey, and in-depth interviews with Bangladeshi restaurant owners, and key stakeholders, the project aimed to capture some of the complexity of Brick Lane and Banglatown at a moment of transformation and uncertainty.
Themes: Research
Project team: Julia King (at LSE), Suzi Hall, Claire Alexander, Sean Carey, Joya Chatterji, Sundeep Lidher; and funded by the AHRC
Brick Lane has been described by many as the ‘heartland’ of the Bangladeshi community in Britain, representing five decades of the struggle to belong and be recognised as part of the global city of London and the wider multicultural nation. Perhaps the most visible testament to this presence is ‘Banglatown’ – the short stretch of Bangladeshi-owned curry restaurants, cafés and other retail spaces that crowd the southern end of Brick Lane. The story of Bengali Brick Lane is a lens onto a vibrant but little-known history of the East End, of London, of Britain and its former empire – which is one strand in the tapestry of modern multicultural, post-imperial Britain. It is a story, too, of the street itself, and its iconic place within London and Britain’s history of migration.
The 'Beyond Banglatown' project grew out of a larger piece of research on the Bengal diaspora (2006–09, see Bangla Stories), which explored Muslim migration from the north-eastern Indian state of Bengal in the period after partition. As part of this work, the project team became interested in the iconic status of Brick Lane as the centre of the Bangladeshi community in Britain and in the significance of Banglatown and the curry restaurants to the area.
Research for ‘Beyond Banglatown’, which took place from July 2018 to June 2020, explored the changing fortunes of Banglatown’s restaurants, and the implications of this change for the Bangladeshi community in East London and for Brick Lane itself. Through visual mapping, face-to-face surveys with shop proprietors and employees, a qualitative survey, and in-depth interviews with Bangladeshi restaurant owners, former restaurant owners and key stakeholders, the project aimed to capture some of the complexity of Brick Lane and Banglatown at a moment of transformation and uncertainty. By the close of the project, the southern section of Brick Lane hosted only 23 restaurants and cafés focused on curry – a decrease of 62% in 15 years.
A follow up assessment was carried out in November 2020 and April 2021, where the research team returned to the street to learn how the businesses, and the people who work in them, had been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Brick Lane is like a mother –
she takes you in and gives you protection and then when you
are grown up, she lets you go to discover your own world."
Bengali Restaurant Owner
I used to have a good relationship with my landlord. We would meet and have a chat. Now his wife owns the property and we have never met. So, I have to pay electronically. And the rent has gone up from £30,000 to £53,000. I used to pay council rates of £14,000 and now that’s gone up to nearly £25,000. So, my profit margin has almost completely gone. I don’t know how long I can keep going – maybe one or two years before I’m forced to sell the lease. And I can’t go anywhere else because everywhere the rent is high now. Same like here – Whitechapel Road, Commercial Road, everywhere. I’m 52 now and I haven’t got the stamina I used to have. I can’t do another business.
Bengali Restaurant Owner
Our outputs
Beyond Banglatown: Interactive Mapping / Website
2018-2020
Explore the pages of this site to uncover the changing fortunes of the Bangladeshi-owned restaurant trade in Brick Lane's ‘Banglatown’. It is a story of empire and migration, of settlement, of urban change, of place-making and the struggle to belong.
Video: A short film on the research project
June 2020
A short film on Brick lane and the Beyond Banglatown research report. Click here for the Youtube link.
Report: Beyond Banglatown: Continuity, change and new urban economies in Brick Lane
July 2020
This report summarises some of the research findings from the project.
Article: Revisiting Brick Lane: The Impact of COVID-19 on an Ethnically Diverse High Street
October 2021
Follow up paper on the impact of COVID-19 on Brick Lane / Banglatown