EAST LONDON

rom the Industrial Revolution to the 2012 Olympic Games, East London’s seen it all. For decades, this corner of the capital was a byword for squalor, made infamous by the works of Dickens and a real-life cast of nefarious characters. But the area has worked tirelessly to reinvent itself, and after enormous (and ongoing) regeneration, East London now provides a fascinating snapshot of a modern and historic capital. For travellers who haven’t strayed far beyond the centre, the East End is, in many ways, the perfect foil for the West End: gritty, in-your-face London, a collage of cultures and neighbourhoods with a worldbeating array of arts venues, bars and restaurants to boot. Within the past decade, hotels in and around the Shoreditch-Bethnal Green-Whitechapel triangle have finally