Shoreditch High Street runs north from the edge of the City at Norton Folgate to St Leonard’s church, where it meets Old Street, Hackney Road and Kingsland Road. It is part of the A10 and follows the line of Ermine Street, the Roman road from London to Lincoln and York.
The street is the spine of Shoreditch. Most visitors arrive at its Overground station, walk past Boxpark and turn off into Redchurch Street, Bethnal Green Road or Rivington Street.
St Leonard’s, the actors’ church
St Leonard’s stands at the northern end of the street. The present church was designed by George Dance the Elder and finished in 1740, after the medieval church was pulled down in 1736. The bells were increased to 12 in 1807, and the current ring dates from 1994. They are the bells of Shoreditch in the nursery rhyme Oranges and Lemons.
It is known as the actors’ church because Elizabethan theatre figures were buried there, including James Burbage, who built The Theatre in Shoreditch in 1576, and his son Richard, the leading actor in Shakespeare’s company. A marble memorial put up by the London Shakespeare League in 1913 commemorates the actors buried at the church.
Shoreditch High Street station and the goods yard
Shoreditch High Street station opened on 27 April 2010 as part of the East London line extension, now the Overground. It stands on part of the former Bishopsgate Goods Yard. The goods station there was destroyed by fire in 1964, and most of what remained was demolished in 2003 and 2004 to make way for the railway, according to Transport for London.
Boxpark
Boxpark opened in December 2011 next to the station, at the corner with Bethnal Green Road. It is built from about 60 shipping containers, with shops on the ground floor and food and bars upstairs. Made in Shoreditch interviewed founder Roger Wade on Boxpark and Boxfund.
Directly opposite, in October 2026 Activision built a replica Korean street from its new Call of Duty game at Electric Garden, 201-207 Shoreditch High Street.
The Tea Building
The Tea Building at 56 Shoreditch High Street, on the corner of Bethnal Green Road, was built between 1931 and 1933 as a bacon factory for Allied Suppliers, the group that included Lipton. Tea packing started there in the late 1930s. It was converted to offices and studios in 2002 to 2004, and the name stuck.
One Hundred Shoreditch
The hotel at 100 Shoreditch High Street was the Ace Hotel London until Ace closed it in 2020. Lore Group reopened the building as One Hundred Shoreditch in March 2022, with 258 rooms. For other places to stay, see the Shoreditch hotels guide.
Where to eat and drink on Shoreditch High Street
- Sticks’n’Sushi, 100 Shoreditch High Street, E1 6JQ. The Danish sushi and yakitori group opened here in July 2023. Open Monday to Saturday from noon to 11.30pm and Sunday from noon to 10.30pm.
- Boxpark Shoreditch, 2-10 Bethnal Green Road. The upper deck of containers is given over to street food stalls and bars.
- Village Underground, 54 Holywell Lane, a minute’s walk west of the High Street, with old Tube carriages on its roof. It runs as a concert venue and workspace.
The roads off the High Street hold most of the area’s restaurants and bars. See the Shoreditch nightlife guide, the shopping guide, the Brick Lane guide and the street art walk.
Getting there
Shoreditch High Street station is on the Windrush line of the Overground. Old Street station, on the Northern line, is about ten minutes’ walk west, and Liverpool Street is about ten minutes south.