Cobbled streets, historical old wharves, Victorian warehouses, luxury apartment blocks overhanging the river, splendid restaurants and a plethora of history-packed, olde worlde pubs, Wapping has something for everyone. The only surprising thing is that, for so many years, the secret that is Wapping has been so well-kept.
Wapping starts in the shadow of Tower Bridge with the nautical playground of St Katharine Docks. It stretches all the way to Shadwell Basin and is cordoned off, to the North, by one of London’s busier arteries, The Highway. The properties in this now exceptionally popular and gentrified area vary from million pound plus penthouses in St Katharine Docks, and, dotted along the riverside off Wapping High Street, stunning new build apartment blocks such as the glass-roofed pyramids of President’s Quay, converted warehouses in the mould of Oliver’s Wharf, and the really quite picturesque Georgiana of Wapping Pierhead. Again, not cheap. Away from the river can be found cheaper new build flats and two to three bedroom houses – some council – while near the attractive Shadwell Basin some five bedroom property are up for grabs.
"...historical old wharves, Victorian warehouses, luxury apartment blocks overhanging the river, splendid restaurants and a plethora of history-packed, olde worlde pubs, Wapping has something for everyone"
Giles Atkinson, Director
North of The Highway, and to the East of Leman Street, lies Whitechapel, one time haunt of Jack the Ripper but which, in many areas, is now being ripped down itself and reconstructed stylishly by the major property developers. Like many areas on the City’s fringes, it’s becoming increasingly popular with young professionals, attracted by the short commute and the growing scene, symbolized, in particular, by the colourful street markets and superlative art venue, The Whitechapel Gallery. The area has a substantial Bengali Muslim population, particularly around the currytastic Brick Lane, and the East London Hospital (home of the London air ambulance) on Whitechapel Road.
It’s near the hospital that some of the best properties are found: 3- and 4-storey Victorian terraced houses sell for around £500,000 in Sidney and Ford Squares, just south east of the hospital and you’re never too far away from a gorgeous run of Georgiana. Interspersed among such period properties are many new developments of luxury flats along with myriad (loft) conversions, more dramatically of churches, breweries and schools. Predictably, properties tend to get pricier the closer you get to the City.
Slightly north west of Whitechapel lies Shoreditch, now one of THE areas in London. In the late eighties, it was pretty faceless and a little shabby, a place of light industrial firms with no real identity, and which, by the early nineties, had moved on anyway. Then, in the mid to late nineties, arrived a new wave of aspiring new media and dotcom companies, attracted by the cheap rents relative to Soho and other areas of the West End. Now, on the back of this influx of media types, it’s overflowing with art galleries, very designer bars, and no end of very well-reviewed restaurants. Such was and is the buzz surrounding the area that many now live there too. There’s certainly a wide range of properties to choose from, ranging from 1830s terraces on Shepherdess Walk and tidy period homes on Charlotte Road through to the new and converted flats of the extremely fashionable Hoxton Square. Also worth a mention is the Kingsland Road, regarded by many locals as East London’s answer to the King’s Road.
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