Business in Shoreditch: Gary Founder of Alternative London Tour

G: Tell us about your business

The Alternative London Tour is a walking tour around East London which covers the history and culture of the area as well as its street art with a focus on the changes the area is currently experiencing. It started when I got back to London from a stint of travelling and it hit me how much the area had changed in such a short time and also how the level of creativity had gone up a notch. There was nothing like it so I decided to take it upon myself to start doing walks a few nights a week after I finished work. I suppose it has a few unique selling points, but mainly just that the tour itself is unique, it really is the only all encompassing tour in East London where you could go on it more than once and it could be completely different, with more emphasis on any one subject depending on how I feel on the day, but still trying to get across a few messages.

G: What are the main challenges maintaining your business and how are you overcoming them?

Obviously competition is a factor; people see that it’s going well and either try to imitate you or in the case of some of the bigger companies just out and out try to fuck you over. Healthy competition is a good thing though and encourages you to constantly try harder. Also expanding and turning it into a business isn’t something that comes naturally to me. I didn’t start it to make money or thinking it would ever become a full time job and after I lost my job and slowly became that I’m learning every day how to do that side of things better.

G: What would you say has been your biggest success since starting your business?

Becoming the number one tour in London on one of the world’s biggest travel websites (Time Out) and keeping it there for several months is a huge achievement for a one man company. It’s nice to know people appreciate what you’re doing, they realise you’re in it for the right reasons and want to support you. It also allows me to compete on a level that would otherwise be obsolete and makes some of the bigger guys take notice and take you more seriously which gives you a platform and the confidence to begin to grow.

G: What were the funniest moments that happened while running your business?

There have been so many funny, strange and just odd things happen on the tours. Just the nature of walking around East London with a group of people makes you a bit of a target. One of the best has to be when I was showing people a piece of artwork down a dark backstreet and I had my back to it telling them about it. I didn’t realise some guy who was really pissed had come along behind me and started flapping his cock around in front of the group of tourists. It was fucking huge as well! The group didn’t really know what to do and the older ones weren’t too impressed. I thought it was pretty funny, you’ve got to take it all with a pinch of salt and have a laugh, it’s all part of it.

G: Tell us about DO’s and DON’Ts when running the company?

Like I said before I’m only really just starting to turn this into a company so I’m probably not the best person to be giving advice. One thing I would say though is do something because you love it and you think other people will love it too. Then if it makes money, take the next steps towards turning it into a business. I think if your first and last aim is to make money it’s going to be a lot harder and certainly less enjoyable. I used to think that people who say things like ‘do what you love and the money will follow’ were just people who have never had to worry about money, but there’s a lot of truth in it.

G: Why do you choose Shoreditch to run your business?

It’s got to be one of the only places in the world with so much creativity and diversity in such a small area. It’s also my home, a place I love and underneath all the trendy shit there is such an amazing community here. One of the main aims of the tour is to show people that a place like this is valid and that our creative industries are just as important as our financial ones. This really is the frontline between the two with the city ever encroaching. Some of the changes are good but some make me very sad and I suppose I took it on myself to show people what’s happening here with the impending gentrification and try to make people realise what we have here is worth saving.

G: What/who should help for the development of Shoreditch entrepreneurial community?

Someone who understands the fabric of the area and the importance of creative freedom, not the people at the top who see a bit of paint on the walls and say ‘we need to clean the area up and turn it into the new Silicone Valley’.

G: Who/what are your favourite businesses in Shoreditch?

The Village Underground is an amazing project. I also love the people of Bacon St like Carol Burns, running proper family business’s the same way they’ve been run for years, real East End people.

G: What are your favourite places in Shoreditch?

I love the ping pong table at Book Club, 98 Curtain Road is probably my favorite bar, it’s just a complete one off and Cathy always makes you feel so welcome. The Pride of Spitalfields is my local though; it is just everything you want in a proper local boozer.

G: What does the future has in store for Shoreditch?

God knows. If the council and developers stay on the track they’re on now, more gray walls, boring generic apartment blocks and the same shops, cafes, restaurants and bars you see on every high street in the world. And more shit like Boxpark which is basically just the above in disguise.

Social links:

Website: www.alternativeldn.co.uk

Twitter: @alternativeldn

Facebook: facebook.com/alternativelondon