The Erasure of Wheler Street

Until recently Wheler Street was where you could catch the train from Shoreditch Station. At least the street where the new station now is was always called Wheler Street.

Imagine my confusion when I discovered last week that Wheler Street no longer exists! Part of the Council’s ill founded efforts to ‘upgrade’ the area was to change the street name to ‘Braithwaite Street’. Someone or some PR person thought that the name change was appropriate in order to give the area a ‘prestige’ worthy of the Shoreditch tag. Dreadful. I thought I was seeing things when I saw the twisted cheap new sign that has replaced the cast iron Wheler Street sign which had survived decades.

Its as if the name has been changed as a message to local people letting them know that the space is no longer for them. Wheler Street had its own special vibe deriving from the industrial Victorian architecture that enveloped the area and loyal residents who used it; old ladies would push their shopping trollies through the street between different markets. They have now been driven away and replaced by ‘Shoreditch types’, fashion conscious and aloof.

They emerge from the station oblivious to anything that is not prescribed by their iphones. I recall with fondness the Wheler Street of old: it was so much better than the polished corporate hub that has replaced it.