The Nomadic Community Garden on Brick Lane

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.

The main wall in the Nomadic Gardens on Brick Lane — The main wall in the gardens and the centerpiece for the Meeting of Styles festival

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.

Street art inside the Nomadic Gardens on Brick Lane — The gardens are a bit of a playground for street artists with works such as these from Pablo Kiran and Elno

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.

IMG_20170414_191218 — A pop up cafe built entirely from found materials

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?

The Nomadic Gardens can be accessed via Pedley Street, a small alley running off Brick Lane. Head towards Allen Gardens and then go underneath the railway bridge. The gardens are immediately in front.

Are the Nomadic Gardens still open?

No. Sadly they closed last year. The land owners have now taken back the space with the intention of re-developing it.

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.