The Worst Street in London

The first book to reveal the remarkable and tragic story of London’s Dorset Street - the worst street in London. Halfway up Commercial Street, one block away from Spitalfields Market, lies an anonymous service road. The average pedestrian wouldn’t even notice it existed. But unlikely though it may seem, this characterless, 400ft strip of tarmac was once Dorset Street - the most notorious thoroughfare in the capital; the worst street in London and the haunt of protestant firebrands, thieves, con-men, pimps, prostitutes and murderers, most notably Jack the Ripper. Although Dorset Street may have disappeared from the map, its legacy is too powerful to ever be entirely erased. This book chronicles the rise and fall of this remarkable street, from its promising beginnings at the centre of the 17th century silk weaving industry through its gradual descent into iniquity, vice and violence to its final demise at the hands of the demolition men. Its remarkable history gives a fascinating insight into an area of London that has, from its initial development, been a cultural melting pot - the place where many thousands of immigrants became Londoners. AUTHOR: Fiona Rule is a London historian, whose previous books include London’s Docklands (Ian Allan, 2009), Streets of Sin (THP, 2015) and The Oldest House in London (THP, 2017). In 1998, she set up her own marketing and research company, and, after successfully completing a Diploma course in Local History from the University of Oxford, began to specialise in historical writing and research.