London Shoreditch Tourist Map

Shoreditch is the old industrial East End just north of the City, where warehouses and Victorian workshops became studios, bars and music venues. It is a district of streets rather than monuments: the pleasure is in walking between them, reading the walls and stopping to eat. Hoxton Square is the centre of the nightlife; Redchurch Street holds independent shops; Brick Lane runs along the eastern edge.

For walls, start on Rivington Street, where the street art changes constantly, then walk to Village Underground on Holywell Lane, a gig and arts venue with old Tube carriages on its roof. Nearby, The Old Blue Last is a pub with a small, loud music room upstairs. At the top of Brick Lane, Beigel Bake sells salt beef bagels around the clock.

Arnold Circus is a bandstand on a raised garden at the heart of the Boundary Estate, one of the world's first council estates, built in the 1890s. On Kingsland Road, the free Museum of the Home walks through 400 years of living rooms in 18th-century almshouses. On Hoxton Street, Hoxton Street Monster Supplies sells tinned fear and other goods for monsters to fund a children's writing centre.

When to go: Sunday morning for Columbia Road Flower Market, which runs from about 8am to 3pm and is busiest around 11am; pair it with Brick Lane and the street art. Evenings, especially Thursday to Saturday, belong to the bars and venues. The Museum of the Home is closed on Mondays. Stations: Shoreditch High Street and Hoxton (Overground, Windrush line), Old Street (Northern line) and Liverpool Street for the south end.