Tower Hamlets Town Hall - Tim Soar
Celebrating Tower Hamlets
Join us for a day of festivities to celebrate Tower Hamlets’ diverse community, rich history and exciting future - Saturday 20 September 10am to 5pm – which is open and free for all to attend.
The Open Day will celebrate the historic former Royal London Hospital Building being brought back into public use, with an official plaque unveiling at 2pm to commemorate the transformation of the building, and hourly tours of the grade II listed building from 10am.
We will also be opening a new photography exhibition in the Town Hall celebrating the London Borough of Tower Hamlets’ 60th birthday, showing the changing face of Tower Hamlets and paying tribute to the evolution of our diverse community.
The vibrant programme of entertainment begins at midday, with a wide range of activities and cultural events including:
- An unveiling of a plaque at 2pm to commemorate the building.
- Behind the scenes tours of the building with the award-winning AHMM architects running every hour from 10am to 1pm, and delivered by Tower Hamlets staff from 2pm to 5pm, all as part of Open House London Weekend.
- Pearly Kings and Queens share stories of the East End through the ages.
- Live performances from across our diverse community, including Celtic dancing, steel band and Klezmer music, to Bengali, Somali and Chinese cultural acts.
- Family activities throughout the day, with kids enjoying face painting and balloon modelling, while adults can join fitness sessions with the Council’s Be Well leisure team.
- Community marketplace with stalls from local traders and community groups · Special discount for the iconic Brick Lane Curry Festival taking place the same weekend in Brick Lane and Banglatown - the UK’s ‘Curry Capital’.
The Grade II listed former Royal London Hospital Building in Whitechapel first opened its doors in 1757, and despite being one of London’s most important structures, it had been closed since 2014 and was falling into disrepair.
We bought the building in 2015 and have renovated and extended it while keeping many of the original features.
It is now a focal point for regeneration in Whitechapel and across the borough.
The building, which has reopened as Tower Hamlets Town Hall, has helped to treat and been the place of birth for millions of Londoners. Famous workers and residents have included Joseph Merrick (the elephant man); Annie Brewster (one of the first black nurses to have worked in Britain); Edith Cavell (nurse and hero who helped 200 Allied soldiers to escape from German occupied Belgium); Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (first woman to qualify as a surgeon); and Thomas Barnardo (philanthropist studied at the hospital).
We hope you will be able to join us for this special celebration of Tower Hamlets and be part of this historic moment as we formally mark the building’s continued dedication to serving our community.
The London Hospital - Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives