ELSC are excited to announce our Shoreditch Strip Mile walking tour, running from April - October.
0.9 miles - Hoxton Station to Crown & Shuttle
Walking through the history of East London’ underbelly, these tours are a living archive built from desk research, including google & facebook reviews from old punters, and 💦ORAL HISTORIES💦—shared by veteran dancers and industry icons, who will be your fabulous hosts. These women are living, breathing repositories of East London’s underground history, and we’re here to bring their stories to life. Not all of what you’ll hear is verifiable in the traditional sense—and that’s the point. We’re less interested in cold, hard facts and more in mythmaking, memory, and the lived experiences that shape a richer history than the official record ever could.
Over the course of an hour, we’ll visit 5 legendary haunts of what used to be the Shoreditch Strip Mile a stretch of clubs that defined the area for decades; Ye Olde Axe, Browns, Rainbow Sports Bar and The White Horse, before finishing up at the home of our flagship life drawing class The Crown & Shuttle. At the end of the tour, you’ll have an opportunity to grab a drink at the bar before heading upstairs to Filthy Fannies, where you can experience traditional ‘pound in the pot’ style shows from our hosts along with an ‘Ask me Anything’ session. Please bring cash to tip your hosts before their shows (at least £5) and go ahead and ask your burning questions, just be prepared to be heckled back!
These tours are an answer to the gentrification of the area, highlighting the forgotten histories & contemporary realities of East London. Income inequality & gentrification have rapidly changed the culture of East London; Tower Hamlets is home to both London’s financial centre (the City & Canary Wharf) & some of the UK’s highest levels of poverty. This socio-political-economic reality is the backdrop to all of ELSC’s work. We hope that by taking you back to a time in recent memory that we might offer new ways of finding community, solidarity & joy in our present and future.
We’re also framing these as an ‘anti Jack the Ripper’ tour, by celebrating strippers & SWers, re-telling their stories and celebrating those who are still alive, booked and busy, instead of sensationalizing the violence we often face, purely for titillation and turning a profit. Sex workers are more than tragic historical figures, remembered only through acts of male violence. ELSC are giving voice & agency back to women who were instrumental in building the culture as we know it.