A Peoples History of Petticoat Lane

admin News May 25, 2022 | 1

Toynbee Hall are offering paid opportunities to create exhibitions, events and creative community happenings on Petticoat Lane.

We are people who live in and love the Petticoat Lane area. This is our home.

The People’s History of Petticoat Lane, is part of an Historic England managed High Streets Heritage Action Zone project, celebrating, preserving, and highlighting the uniqueness of this area. We are looking to find local artists and creative people to help us celebrate the culture and heritage of Petticoat Lane market. We want to work with you to do things which highlight our history, raising awareness, positive perceptions and footfall.

Petticoat Lane is special because of working class and migrant communities. From the Huguenots in the 14th Century, through to the Bangladeshi communities of today, the area has consistently formed a space of refuge and welcome.

Petticoat Lane is nestled between Tower Hamlets and the City of London. The area is changing rapidly and this ‘regeneration’ has been experienced as displacement by many people who consider the area home.

Much of the local economy and cultural offer that is based around people commuting into the area for work. This often prices out local residents from cultural events happening locally – or creates experiences that are neither representative of or enjoyed by us. And the richness and diversity of local culture is what makes Petticoat Lane the vibrant and exciting place it is.

To preserve and celebrate this Historic England have contributed £90,000 towards the People’s History of Petticoat Lane Project for us to spend on cultural events, activities, and training that represent us, and what we value about where we live.

We are looking to commission up to 10 individuals or groups to take inspiration from these ideas and create cultural happenings that value the history and community of this area.

This pack is full of prompts and ideas for cultural events that could happen now and January 2024, we hope they inspire your creativity. The ideas came from our community conversations and are reflective of our priorities as a local community.