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Bethnal Green

Areas of LondonBethnal GreenDistricts of the London Borough of Tower HamletsPlaces formerly in MiddlesexUse British English from August 2015
Bethnal Green Stairway to Heaven
Bethnal Green Stairway to Heaven

Bethnal Green is an area in the East End of London 3 miles (4.8 km) northeast of Charing Cross. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heath Road. By the 16th century the term applied to a wider rural area, the Hamlet of Bethnal Green, which subsequently became a Parish, then a Metropolitan Borough before merging with neighbouring areas to become the north-western part of the new London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Economic focus shifted from mainstream farming produce for the City of London – through highly perishable goods production (market gardening), weaving, dock and building work and light industry – to a high proportion of commuters to city businesses, public sector/care sector roles, construction, courier businesses and home-working digital and creative industries. Identifiable slums in the maps of Booth in Life and Labour of the People in London (3 editions, 1889–1903) were in large part cleared before the aerial bombardment of the Second World War which accelerated clearance of many tightly packed terraces of small houses to be replaced with green spaces and higher-rise social housing. Bethnal Green has stations on the London Underground and London Overground.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Bethnal Green (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Bethnal Green
Bethnal Green Estate, London Bethnal Green

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N 51.527 ° E -0.055 °
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Bethnal Green

Bethnal Green Estate
E2 0HS London, Bethnal Green
England, United Kingdom
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Bethnal Green Stairway to Heaven
Bethnal Green Stairway to Heaven
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London Buddhist Centre
London Buddhist Centre

The London Buddhist Centre (LBC) is a temple in Bethnal Green in East London, is the main base for the London Triratna Buddhist Community, formerly known as the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order. It opened in 1978, and is located in an ornate, vernacular redbrick Victorian fire station, completed in 1888, and in use by the London fire service until 1969. The building was fire-damaged in the 1970s, before being renovated by volunteers for its current use. Further major improvements were completed in 2009. The centre teaches meditation and Buddhism and offers drop-in lunchtime meditation sessions Monday-Saturday, and evening sessions on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, open to beginners. The centre also explores the teaching of the Buddha (dharma) and its relevance in today's society through seminars, courses, classes and retreats. Regular retreats are run at its retreat centre in Suffolk, Vajrasana. In addition to this the centre also runs courses and retreats using mindfulness based cognitive therapy approaches. Its courses for depression, based on the mindfulness-based cognitive behavioral therapy methodology of Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, featured in the Financial Times in 2008. This initiative is supported by the local authority, the London borough of Tower Hamlets. The Times has also reported on the centre's work with those affected by alcohol dependency The building's ground floor areas include a library, bookshop and reception room, with painted murals, as well as two ornate shrine rooms with Buddha figures, or "rupas", sculpted by Chintamani, a member of the Triratna Buddhist Order. A third, basement, room for meditation and classes, primarily used by a project called "Breathing Space", opened in 2009. The building's upper floors house Buddhist residential communities. The LBC is a UK-registered charity (255420), and is part of a local network of Buddhist businesses and organisations within the Bethnal Green area. This includes Buddhist communities, a charity shop and an arts centre. The former fire station is a Grade II listed building.