Charming and charismatic sites of London... By Saul Wilks

I feel very lucky that half of my life is spent in the magnificent and awe inspiring city that is London and it's a great feeling knowing that I'll be a resident myself in the not so distant future.

I've been coming and going from London for some years for different reasons and outlets and I'm lucky that my girl lives there, as well as a lot of my friends including outside interests that i have.

The streets are always a treat for the eyes and there are many thought provoking and wondrous things to find, behold and snap away at and I often stop and stare at things like a deranged person for different amounts of time as curious onlookers stroll by giving me a wide berth.

With this in mind, I thought I'd start a little post with a few images of some of those sites that I often walk past and wonder about. I'll try and make this a semi-regular post, when I've managed to capture a few more images of some of the places i'm talking about but for now here's two.

The first two places I'm going to post about, I often marvel at on the walk from Stepney Green tube station to my girlfriends house which is a brisk ten minute stroll (15 if I'm lugging my records). The walk leads past the old Stepney public green which is flanked by grand looking Victorian houses and the area itself  holds that exuberance and charismatic feeling that somewhere steeped in history always does.

On this route, the first building of interest is an old shop frontage for what I can old presume was a bakery or a seller of baked goods, either that or an advertisment which, in days gone by were usually painted onto buildings. In this case the advertisment is for - 'Daren Bread'. I'm not sure when it dates from, the paint work look quite fresh so I wouldn't be surprised if the original has been touched up but it certainly holds a lot of character for what is essentially an empty building in a now modernised area!

Secondly, this next building is one that holds an inimitable charm and personality. An old pub, looking out onto the green, it certainly radiates that East End community spirit and rhetoric that has since long disapeared. A marvelous looking old free house, no longer used but still retaining its magnificent and proud paint job. I often slow my paces as I draw near just to study it in all its glory. A very original and homely looking building that no doubt has its own tales entwined in the paint work and walls inside.