The Nomadic community garden on Brick Lane is a wonderous place. A community project. It can be found nestling near Allen Gardens. Sitting on a patch of scrubland in an alley between two railway lines.
The development of this space over the past few years has transformed what was a wasteland into an organic commune type of development. It has buildings made from found materials, street art, sculpture. There are also allotments. These have now fitted into a space which for years had been fenced off and overgrown.
Development of the Nomadic Garden
In a previous post we said that the Nomadic Community Garden on Brick Lane just might be the coolest place to hang out in London right now. Like a “giant den for adults” our advice was to get along to see it and now that we are well into spring, the gardens are coming into life once more and they’ve grown a lot since last year.
A recent addition is the creation of a makeshift theatre. This has added to the makeshift bars and coffee shops. There’s even a space that sometimes doubles as an art gallery. This is an experiment in social regeneration which seems to have done good. Left to their own devices the community have transformed what really was an unappealing area of town into a chilled out hangout where anyone is welcome.
Nomadic Garden and Meeting of Styles
It’s also the location for this years London edition of Meeting of Styles and it’s been the centre piece for that event for the past few years now. The garden boasts one particularly eye-catching wall. This is usually a collaborative effort. The murals created on that have been spectacular.
There’s also plenty more art to see. Just wander around the gardens and it is everywhere and it’s not just street art, wander round and you’ll see paste ups and sculptures made out of just about anything.
So have a look and wander around if you get a chance. The garden will be there until such time as a more permanent development will be erected on the space. At the moment the owners, Network Rail, have gifted the land for it to be used. That is providing there is a good community benefit in doing so. It won’t last forever though because however altruistic that is, in the East End of London these days the money of development seems to trump all.
Where are the Nomadic Gardens on Brick Lane?
Are the Nomadic Gardens still open?
The Nomadic Community Garden was visited on 14 April 2017 and last featured on Inspiring City on 17 April 2016 and they’ve changed a lot since then.
Nomadic Community Garden Gallery
To learn about more street art in the area have a look below:
that’s really cool. thanks for sharing this
So lively and creative but where are the plants?
There are quite a few of them in allotments around the perimeters of the gardens, not much seems to be growing in them at the moment though
I do enjoy a wander around the community gardens now and then. I need to post my photos. The sculpture of the plague doctor is by MCLN, and he also puts paste-ups around.
that’s really cool. thanks for sharing
Your welcome glad you enjoyed the article 🙂
Loved it here, stumbled across here in the day but definitely want to come back in the night-time. Cool little gem……….
Can the organisers of this space find another location to install at least some if this art. Also can the landowners have selected days as Open days for the public to visit before everything gets demolished?
Sadly everything has now gone and the space is completely cleared. Some painting still happens in the nearby Allen Gardens but the nomadic gardens are no more