Tower Hamlets
On a Friday afternoon in Whitechapel, the streets near the East London Mosque were alive with movement. Families strolled together, men wore long robes, and women in headscarves filled the pavements. Traffic barely moved as worshippers made their way to the mosque for Friday prayer. On a nearby wall, a British Army recruitment poster stood out, almost out of place in this scene. Then the adhan, the Islamic call to prayer, rose over the rooftops. Unlike church bells, which simply mark time, the adhan carries a message: Allah is the only God, and Muhammad is His messenger. For those attending, it is an expression of faith; for others, it is a sign of how the neighborhood’s character has changed.
That day, Stefan Tompson, founder of Visegrad24, and Ridvan Aydemir, known online as the “Apostate Prophet”, spent time walking these streets, observing the transformation. Ridvan was born in Germany to a Turkish family and once practiced Sunni Islam devoutly. Leaving the faith strained his relationships and put him at odds with the authorities in Turkey. He eventually moved to the United States and started sharing his experiences on YouTube in 2017.
Together with Tompson, he set out to see how immigration and policy have reshaped Tower Hamlets, one of London’s most dramatically changed boroughs.
Population and Tensions
Few areas in Britain show demographic change as sharply as Tower Hamlets. Once an almost entirely white, working-class borough, it has, within just a few decades, become one of the most diverse areas in the country, with White British residents now a clear minority.
This is not only about skin color. It is about language, food, and religion. Today, the borough has around 50 mosques and madrasas. Halal butchers and Bengali restaurants line the streets. Festivals follow the Islamic calendar. The East End once symbolized Cockney culture, with pubs, markets, and working-class traditions. Now, much of it feels closer to Bangladesh than to Britain’s past.
The geography of the borough underlines the contrast. Council estates with high unemployment and child poverty stand only minutes away from the glass towers of Canary Wharf. Extreme wealth and deep deprivation exist side by side, but they rarely interact.
The transformation has occurred in just a few generations. When newcomers settle close together, have more children, and long-time residents move away, assimilation fades. Numbers alone reshape an area, and once a new majority forms, it is their culture that sets the tone.
The Future of Britain
Tower Hamlets’ politics reflect its changing population. Lutfur Rahman was re-elected mayor even after a conviction for electoral fraud, showing how communal loyalty can sometimes outweigh legal accountability. At the national level, “Gaza independents” have won seats by campaigning almost entirely on identity issues, showing that growing immigrant communities can now elect their own representatives without relying on traditional parties like Labour.
Integration faces real challenges here. Communities concentrated in one area often stick to their own social norms, prioritizing loyalty to family or religious networks over broader societal rules. Scandals like the grooming gang cases show how these loyalties can interfere with law enforcement and accountability.
Tower Hamlets is a cautionary example. The adhan rising over Whitechapel is both a sign of faith and a marker of change. Diversity can strengthen a nation when it adds to the whole but when it begins to replace the whole, shared values and cohesion start to fray. If Britain is to stay united while celebrating diversity, policymakers, community leaders, and citizens will need to focus not just on inclusion, but also on the common civic values that hold society together.
Heike Claudia Petzer
Content Writer
