And the Petticoat Lane Heritage Trail is… live!
Posted on: 01.10.2025
As eagle-eyed fans may have noticed, we’ve added some new bling to our streets recently. “Why’s that?”, we hear you cry. What started off as a temporary way to bring the community together and share the Lane’s storied past has now been officially launched as the Petticoat Lane Heritage Trail.
Tower Hamlets, London Historic Building Trust, Historic England and Make:Good have been working together on this initiative to celebrate the character of the Wentworth Street Conservation Area since 2022.
You’ve probably had a sneak peek already… remember big, bright stickers dotted around the Lane? Well, that was phase one of the Heritage Trail… spotlighting some of the area’s iconic characters. Now, as a permanent fixture, the stickers have been replaced with bespoke plaques at various locations.
Each of the ten ‘de-constructed plaques’ were created in collaboration with local schoolchildren from Cannon Barnett Primary School, who collaged together old photographs to design the lively steel cut-outs. Every plaque is unique and, through its images and words, illuminates a theme pertinent to the area’s past and present.
The Trail has been a labour of love, researched by people with a strong connection to the area. People like Mark, a Heritage Researcher and Story Collector with a generational connection to the Lane:
“My great-great grandfather Joseph Palkowski arrived in the area in 1886 [and] opened a costermongers, selling cheap china. His son, Marks, opened a Jewish deli called Marks of the Lane in 1941, which continued trading until the mid-1990s with my great uncle Mossy Marks and my grandmother Golda Levy, at the helm. They had a stall outside the shop selling pickled and schmaltz (salted) herring. My mother, worked in the deli until she emigrated to South Africa, where I was born. We returned to London in 1960, and I then worked in the deli every Sunday for over 20 years.”
Three generations, two shops and one century of life down the Lane is just one example of the stories the Trail is all about. Here’s just a taste of what you’ll find…
- Trailblazers and pioneers who’ve transformed industries from the heart of Petticoat Lane
- Performers who’ve shown that you can make anything a stage
- Different communities who’ve sought sanctuary, community and opportunity down our way
- And fashion, the designers, makers and traders, who’ve spun threads and turned heads to weave a story across the centuries.
Whether you’re passing through or on a dedicated treasure hunt, keep your eyes peeled, ’cos the prize of brash smugness at knowing way more about East London than your mate who brews their own cider to fund their vinyl collection is waiting for you.
Swing past Toynbee Hall to get started.
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