Property

Stepping off the tube at Stepney Green’s elegant District Line station and walking out onto the expansive Mile End Road, what strikes you is the buzzy but unintimidating vibe. Once a thriving medieval village, Stepney is steeped in history and home to pockets of beautiful period houses mixed in with the obligatory council estates and neat blocks of new developments. Unlike more edgier East End locales like Homerton and Hackney Central, Stepney feels just that little bit more laid back. It’s also deceptively close to the Thames (a ten minute walk, tops) and the City (a 20-minute bus ride) and is less than three miles from the centre of town.
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Wander around the streets off the Mile End Road and you’ll find some of the best historical architecture in east London: Rectory Square homes and old synagogue has lovely converted flats as does the ex-church in Cephas Street with an impressive 37 units. Where Cambridge Heath Road meets Mile End Road are the Grade I-listed 1696 Trinity Almshouses. Albert Gardens and Arbour Square, both conservation areas, are pretty, green spots lined with elegant townhouses. To the east, the streets between Globe Road and Mile End Road including Carlton Square, Holton Street and Tollet Street, have pretty two-storey Victorian terraces that are a good option for first time buyers. The icing on the cake here is ultra-pretty Stepney Green with elegant early eighteenth-century Queen Anne houses set back from the only blue cobbled street in south-east England.

It’s the new…
Bethnal Green.

Best for…
Social singletons (as it’s so close to Hoxton, Spitalfields and Brick Lane) and City workers on the hunt for a bargain.

What else?
Stepney is within easy walking distance of many East End’s best haunts including Spitalfields, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge and St Katharine Docks. Kids love the sweet Stepping Stones Farm (Stepney Way/020 7790 8204) and grown-ups appreciate the attractive and historically important medieval St Dunstan’s church just down the road.

There’s a friendly organic shop called, wait for it, Don’t Panic, Go Organic (49 Cavell Street/020 7780 9319) that stocks a small but good selection of nicely presented items. The Orange Room Café (63 Burdett Road/020 8980 7336) dishes out yummy Lebanese food while Soma (230 Mile End Road/020 7790 3412) serves basic but very cheap cocktails (about £4) and is the area’s only DJ bar. The Mad George Tavern on Commercial Road is a popular watering hole for well-established locals and newcomers alike.

Local stereotype
Bicycle riding, organic food-loving lefty who frowns on the commercialism and continual gentrification of the rest of the East End.

Your neighbours
Stepney has produced a funny old mix of celebrities from Des O’Connor to actor Steven Berkoff. Pete Doherty has a flat on Rectory Square (but try not to let that put you off). The rest? Plenty of friendly young Asian families, a smattering of students, elderly East Enders and immigrants from all over, plus a small scattering of thirtysomething middle class.

What to tell your friends who don’t live thereGlorious views of 30 St Mary’s Axe (nicknamed the ‘Gherkin’) looking towards the city end of the Mile End Road, easy access to the Thames, rich history, central location and easy access to the City and centre of town.

What to keep quiet about if you’re selling
The rather deprived and dilapidated Ocean Estate (though it is currently undergoing big redevelopment) to the east of Stepney Green. Also, you are twice as likely to get a car stolen in Stepney than many other places in the country. Stepney does have its, shall we say, edgy side. The day we visited, the headline on the Tower Hamlets Recorder read: ‘Cocaine Smuggler Granny is Jailed’.

What the estate agents say
‘Stark, crumbling council blocks and modern high-tech apartments sit side-by-side in a location that offers the two extremes of East End and City life. Less popular than Bow and Bethnal Green, yet a good hunting ground for conversions,’ says www.property-go.co.uk. ‘A mixture of ex-local authority flats, converted schools and Victorian terraces within easy access of the City,’ states the Bow branch of Keatons estate agent.

Did you know?
The Copperfield Road is home to a 1930s building where the Queen’s wedding dress was made (the building has now been converted into 40 waterside flats).

Historical claim to fame
Until the Blitz, when much of Stepney was demolished and numerous council blocks were subsequently built, Stepney was one of the most historically interesting points in east London. In 1381, the teenage Richard II met peasants during the revolt on Stepney Green, promising to act on their demands – but he never did. King Henry VIII came to watch a company of bowmen practise here and in 1870, Doctor Barnardo set up a refuge for homeless boys in Stepney Causeway.

You know you’re a local when…
You know Commercial Road from Commercial Street (the Road is in Stepney, the Street is in Spitalfields) and your next-door neighbour says hello in Zeal Superstore on Mile End Road.

Average property prices
One-bed flat from £160,000
Two-bed flat in ex-local authority from £220,000
Two-bed house £300,000
Three-bed house £500,000
One-bed flat to rent from £800 pcm