Natalie’s Brick Lane home is fantastically located only a few blocks from Brick Lane and Bethnal Green, an epicenter of vintage shops and legitimate street art unlike anywhere else in London. The scale of vintage shopping is unreal; I’m convinced there is nothing comparable in the UK, maybe the world, and certainly so on the weekends when the pulse goes up considerably. Throngs of Londoners and tourists alike converge on Brick Lane every weekend, and Natalie’s place allows you to be close to the action but far enough away to have some respite and peace.
The home is a 3-story row house that’s somewhat typical for the area. It’s very much a family neighborhood— we felt like we were the only tourists around for miles, especially in the mornings and nights when the daytime visitors weren’t around. That said, it’s not the quietest or the tidiest area. Over the weekend, there were locals who hung out late at night on nearby streets to talk, drink, and smoke, and the nearby units are densely packed so you hear the family gatherings, meals, discussions, arguments, and you can smell the cooking. There is litter peppered about the neighborhood, a lack of greenery with instead brown weeds poking through planters and walkways, and an abundance of dog poop.
This makes this home more of an immersive experience in local urban living than a typical tourist visit, so you’ll be rewarded as long as that’s what you’re expecting. We even had a chorus of local foxes wailing/shrieking at 1 am. Talk about local color! Despite all this, the neighborhood felt very safe; we ventured out walking at night with no hesitation. There is some great food within a short walking distance, including Dishoom Shoreditch, Smoking Goat, BRAT, Lahpet, Rochelle Canteen, and Burro e Salvia. In the mornings there’s Joleen Redchurch and of course, the famous Beigel Bake Brick Lane, the 24-hour bakery with the best bagels in London. Box Park, with its rows of shipping container hip shops and street food, is just on the far side of the nearby Shoreditch High Street station (TfL Overground line, a very comfortable train) where there is also convenient bus line access.
The unit itself has some nice updates, particularly the updated kitchen. The bedrooms are generously sized, the beds are comfortable, and the living area is bright. The central wooden staircase is wide, though a bit creaky— you’ll hear it whenever anyone moves from floor to floor. There are two bathrooms: both are a bit dated but work well after a learning curve. There is a pump switch shower setup upstairs, a pull-cord shower startup on the first floor, and a timer on the water heater. Once you get it, it’s fine but a bit quirky. Even flushing the toilet can take some practice. The huge windows have been updated— they are large and pivot both horizontally and vertically, providing much needed breezes since there is no AC.
The unit’s cleanliness was pretty average: fine at first glance but it could use a deeper clean. The patio is nice, though not very private; it was too warm to take advantage of that space while we were there. The cleaners (or prior renters?) had left about ten trash bags in the driveway, something that seemed not so unusual for the area, but it bothered us so we moved them to the large trash bins in the coil-de-sac. Again, not so tidy but not a problem. The nice kitchen sink worked well but lacked dish soap or paper towels; the relatively small refrigerator was cold but only had one small ice tray; the clothes washer worked well but we used the little soap that was there; the dish washer worked well; the electric water kettle was too calcified to use; there’s no microwave oven. We didn’t cook there, but the kitchen lacked the tools and basic cooking sundries to be a cook’s kitchen.
This is a long review but since Natalie’s place has very little written about it I think it’s appropriate. We moved there after another stay in West London so the change in vibe was notable, but after getting used to the area and the unit’s quirks, we loved being there. It’s neither luxurious nor pristine, but it’s comfortable, spacious for a family, super convenient, safe, and very local, and there’s a lot to be said for that. Finally, Natalie is a very nice host who responds quickly and is very helpful.