Shops and businesses from around east London have come together to form an exciting new alliance. The first meeting of the East End Trades Guild took place this week at Christ Church, Spitalfields. The organisation is going to support small and medium-sized traders, independent retailers and family businesses.

Support and partial funding for the project has come from Near Neighbours. The huge diversity of the businesses involved and the range of different cultural backgrounds they come from is astonishing. The whole world is doing business in east London!

 

The East End has undergone huge changes in recent years with many boutique shops and creative businesses moving in. But there are still many traditional traders and businesses run by the communities who’ve made the area home over hundreds of years.

The 200 businesses describe themselves as “The Beating Heart of the East End.” Read more about their exciting vision in this story from the Guardian.