Around Town

This is serisouly lazy reporting. Its the kind of list my Mum might have come up with (or perhaps some of the venues featured have made a small financial contribution...)!
As for all the comments lamenting the death of east, you should read ian sinclair

Come on people, are we really saying that journalists shouldn't do their job and stop reviewing good places?? It’s very selfish, naïf and hypocrite to say "East End coolness should only be for Eastenders", because unless you never travel, I would like to know how many of you do not get a guide or search the internet for the coolest places to visit on your next holiday. We all don't like tourists and yet, we have all been tourists. We live in a fast changing society, areas change, for the best or for the worse, its evolution.

Still miss east London can't get it out of my brain, I agree no one can mess this up it lays at such a particular point of the city that it virtually regulates itself no matter what anyone does, history has proved this over & over again. Celebrate its ever changing face but the heart throbs on and anyone who has the sensitivity to pick this up will enjoy what it has to offer. People are transcendental however the East stays East....

As a born and bred Eastender, I welcome all and sundry to the East. Bring on the trendy bars and improve the area as much as possible. After all, it helps increase the value of my house at the end of the day - he he!

Nicola you sound awesome, although I am a little confused about your comments - care to meet me for a trendy coffee and explain more? :)

Wetherspoons to open on Brick Lane. Well why its full of chains anyway. Deado. I actually went back into Soho for the first time in 10 years. Better crowd that Shoreditch on a weekend. Keep the good stuff hidden and we all live well.

I got fake tan, go to Mahiki, shop in Harrods, read Maths and Philosophy, am a domestic violence worker in North London, live in Shoreditch and have done for fifteen years. Get over yourselves, you didn't discover this area only for it to be swamped by bridge and tunnellers. It's a city. Belongs to all. Stick to your narrow minded tribes and don't bother anyone else. We don't care.

the effect of the bridge and tunnelers weekend onslaught is theyve put off the locals going to their favourite palces so weekdays shoreditch and dalston's pubs and bars are emptier than ever, music and art scenes that thrived move on....Sad.

The East End is just what it is as seen on the surface and has a feel about it I have not heard anyone try to describe that yet its a hard one to capture. Its been a long time since I have been there or even the UK but spent 20 years around the E of London. I think you have to look way back to get the gist of why it is what it is like which is hard to describe here but if you have lived there the taste stays in your mouth forever and its not a bad taste and not a good taste its the taste of an area which reflects its past. I think no matter what people try and do to it you just can't destroy it as it has a geographical position to the city which regulates its status. I kind of like North London too but not just quiet like the East that will never leave me, my Mother grew up there and my Grandmother so its sort of embedded in my soul sweet dreams

Lola- There is always Essex.

I'm amused by the comments made by folk who've lived in east London for a few years but are annoyed that it is now being 'ruined' by trendy newcomers. As a born and bred East Ender (who has left Bethnal Green to attend university and to live abroad, but who still lives less than five minutes from the primary schooI I attended) I'd like to point out that whether you've lived in East London for two months or ten years, locals like me are equally fed up with you. The gentrification of the East End is not looked upon kindly by those of us who haven't moved here for cheap inner-city thrills. The restaurants, bars and shops on Time Out's list are evidence of the colonisation that's taken place - middle class professionals / trendies / fashionistas have moved in, taken over and recreated East London in their own image without any interest in who or what was here before. I'm less than impressed that Bethnal Green tube is now so rammed every morning that I can't get on a train, that property prices are a joke, that at the weekend the streets are full of drunk idiots. Having trendy places to consume on my doorstep doesn't feel like any compensation.

James - yes do us the great favour of staying in North London. Ta.

Mmmm..... Me thinks I'll stay in north London. Can't be bothered with all the hype. I went to cafe oto after it was mentioned in Italian vogue (secret? I don't think so) and it was as trendy as the average youth club. I've been to a few of the other places - are you still bigging up song que? - and none of them have changed my life. What's cockney for ennui?

Lots of good places on the list, but I'd also recommend:
Mess Cafe, Amhurst Rd, Hackney - amazing cheap breakfasts.
Cirrik, Amhurst Rd, Hackney - good chicken shish and bread.
Somine - Kingland Rd, Dalston - quick canteen Turkish food, yum.
More reviews on www.cheriecity.co.uk if ur interested!

Anyone tried Bar 23 in Dalston? Had a brilliant night there last night - it was open mic. Time Out missed it though!