Well, behind me it seems like it’s a bit of a police incident.
You can buy an Iranian flag.
Doesn’t feel like England, does it? Look at this.
The Islamic Sharia Council of London.
Yes.
Yes.
Nice to meet you.
My name’s Ed.
Have a good day.
Yeah.
Take care, mate.
What have I walked into? Good day, my friend.
Thank you.
Interesting to see the the different sort of laws depending on what part of the city you’re you’re in.
Did you know some burrows of London have been declared Islamic no go zones? Or at least that’s what people say.
In New White British population is about 14% making it the most ethnically diverse area in London.
In Newm the majority ethnicity is actually Bangladeshi not English.
Sharia law councils are even set up across London.
Although it’s not exactly what you think.
Today I decided to explore London’s so-called nogo zones for myself to see is Sharia law really being implemented here and is it true that it’s dangerous? Will I be welcome as a white person? Join me as we find firsthand the truth.
Good morning everyone from London.
Today we’re in Leighton and something caught my eye here.
Allegedly in London there’s over 85 Sharia law councils in the entire city and it’s growing day by day or that’s what the media likes to say at least.
Today we’re going to find out if that’s actually true.
It’s kind of mad when you see the headlines, right? Like Sharia law in the UK that sounds like a right-wing tabloid thing.
Surely that can’t be true.
And the answer is yes and no.
It kind of is true but it’s not what you think.
So this is the what the research I’ve done which I’ll tell you about while we’re walking there.
So it’s not legally binding.
You can’t just enforce Sharia law like the UK law still is on top.
However, in practice maybe it’s slightly different is what I mean by that in Islamic culture if you want to get a divorce and this is the number one reason why women use these Sharia law councils more than men is to get divorce on their husband.
Right? But in order to do that you have to go through not only civil law but you have to go through a religious court as well.
And that’s the primary reason of these Sharia laws courts in the UK.
There’s a few other bits and bobs that it does do as well.
And whether the conspiracies are true, whether they’re enforcing Islamic law or not, I don’t know.
But at least if you’re a Muslim and you’re going there, this is what you do.
This is what you do.
It’s totally voluntary.
They’re not necessarily forcing it.
I was reading some of the reviews of this place as well and it’s absolutely well I wouldn’t even say if it’s hilarious or depressing or what but someone called Sabah Amin has basically called do not waste your money and your time there and goes through a big old paragraph I’ll put it on the screen for you guys just so you can see it and the guys replied and maybe not in the most professional way he said you were the only volunteer who was incapable of turning on a computer and then basically went to insult her for ages like what the hell is this official is this not official Sure.
I have no idea, but clearly it’s down this road.
It’s got to be by the looks of it some guy’s house.
But which house is it? I mean, it doesn’t exactly stick out.
This is really beautiful as well.
You got a lovely gervoir for the seek people here, but you got the seek symbol up there, but across the road, this is what catches your eye.
Should I say it doesn’t catch your eyes, the Islamic Sharia Council of London.
And it’s not the only one.
Apparently, there’s 85 of them.
But yeah, there you can see it in the flesh.
It is pretty much just some guy’s house, but it is just weird to see the rumors and that it is actually a true thing.
For better or worse, you tell me.
I would have absolutely loved to go in there and just see what it’s like, what the ins and outs are, cuz I’m pretty naive.
Like, I don’t really know too much about it, right? There’s rumors and then there’s the truth.
And somewhere in between is the real truth, right? I asked him, I did email.
I’ve asked for a statement.
He hasn’t gone back to me first.
I said, “Can I have a statement about what’s what’s going on, what the ins and outs are?” Um, and could I possibly go in and have a little look? I haven’t had a single reply.
So, if there is a statement, I’ll put it up now.
If there isn’t a statement, I just got aired basically.
Then you’ll see nothing and we’ll move on to Brick Lane.
In that case, we’re going to Bangla road now as they call it or brick lane.
It’s the largest Bangladeshi population in the entirety of the UK.
The main language there is Bengali, not English.
And it’ll be very interesting to see what life is like there, as well as London’s biggest mosque and a few other bits and bobs.
I can’t wait to show you.
Let’s go to that area and let’s check it out.
How bad can it be, as they say? Well, you know you’re in a safe area when your taxi station has two layers of protection.
You’ve got the outer walls and then the the inner walls with the metal there and everything.
I’m sure it’s very safe, very low crime.
Train station toilets in the UK.
Absolutely bloody ming.
I don’t even know if I’m going to use it.
Well, behind me seems like there’s a bit of a police incident.
Can’t see any police officers or anybody, but there’s something something going on down there.
We’re in White Chapel.
We’re going to check it out.
See what there is there.
Super super busy here.
Look at this.
So many people.
All sorts going on here.
There’s a a shop, a market, little bit of everything.
Let’s go and check it out.
It does remind me of the Ezra Road market.
Semi gives me PTSD.
Um, but yeah, you can buy pretty much everything there.
It’s the same story in like so many different markets, local clothing, all of that good stuff as well.
And occasionally you will find actual good food stands which will do like the most insane food you’ve ever had, right? Look at these.
You got like falafel stands, euros wraps, a bit of everything.
Falafles.
Yeah.
So much high energy here.
I like it.
I like it.
There’s even a schwarma.
Syrian shawarma as well.
Now, if you know anything about food, you know, Middle Eastern food is basically the best food on the planet.
And that’s the one the good thing about London is there’s so many different food here.
You can try pretty much any country’s food on the planet Earth, which is pretty cool.
Check it out.
Over here, you’ve got sweets as well.
There’s all sorts like samosas, Punjabi samosas by the look of it.
All sorts of sweets.
Hello, mate.
You all right? Yeah.
Not too bad, mate.
Not too bad.
all sorts.
I think there’s more.
I think this entire row of shops actually is sort of like Bangladeshi sweet shops.
Now I think I’ve had them once before when we were in the Punjab area.
Although it will differentiate a little bit cuz obviously well seek versus Muslim and maybe the ingredients are slightly different.
But it’s very interesting.
You’ve got sort of Bengali I believe they speak.
I’m not entirely sure.
I’m pretty sure they speak Bengali.
And you got the writing of their language on top of English.
So yeah, it’s pretty cool.
There’s even durian here as well.
Actually, I believe they’re durian.
Haven’t seen them since Thailand, Malaysia.
Let’s carry on this way.
I think there’s more of the market that goes back the other way as well.
So yeah, it’s a big old market literally just along the street here.
It’s pretty cool.
And as I say, it’s kind of similar to the to the Ezre Road one.
But yeah, lots of colorful clothing.
Very nice.
I like it a lot.
even get your keys done.
Hello, sir.
How are you? You good? I like your shop.
Oh, you want key? Sorry, I don’t need a key.
Yes, but I’m just filming the markets.
Yes.
Nice to meet you, my friend.
Have a good day, my friend.
Bye-bye.
See, friendly people here.
London isn’t all bad.
There is friendly people here.
Let’s check it out.
I do stick out a little bit here though, don’t I? People are staring at me wondering why is some random like Aryan dudes walking around with a camera.
But it’s for good reason because to be honest, I’m probably going to get a falafel for lunch because I just downed a monster on the train over here and monsters just I don’t know if this happens to you guys, but like coffees, teas, monsters.
It just makes me like bloody hungry.
So I might try and get a schwarma um in a minute.
Not really Bangladeshi though, is it? So maybe I’m just not being cold.
It’s really happening here.
It’s a Wednesday, by the way, for the date of recording this.
It’s not hot, it’s not cold.
We’ve just come out of the heatwave.
So, I think everyone’s decided to come out and go and get like schwarmas and clothes and keys, stuff like that.
So, yeah, I can understand why it’s kind of busy here, but this is like crowded crowded compared to Leighton.
And I know Leighton’s quite out of it, but here very very busy.
Look at that.
It’s like keeps going forever.
This is even like bracelets and stuff.
I don’t know anything about any of this but it does look very very beautiful isn’t it? Hello mates.
How are you? You good? It’s very beautiful shop.
Yeah, very beautiful.
Yeah.
Yes.
Nice.
Yeah.
It’s not displayed properly but Yeah.
Yeah.
No, it’s it’s good.
Okay.
Everyone come to this man.
Buy from this man.
Cheers.
What is your name? N.
N.
Nice to meet you.
My name’s Ed.
Have a good day.
Yeah.
Take care, mate.
Bloody hell, guys.
It just keeps going and going.
You even fish here.
But I like that there’s no sort of orderly.
The fish is here, the meat’s there.
It’s just sort of all jumbled up in one place.
There’s all sorts.
Yeah.
Very interesting.
Doesn’t feel like England, does it? Look at this.
What have I walked into? This is one of those places where it’s just interesting to walk around.
Like, I don’t even really need to like say much.
So, I don’t even want to say much because you guys can just sort of take in the sounds.
You can’t take in the smells.
You can imagine what it smells like.
Mostly fish to be honest because of those fish stands.
But back there it was mainly falafles, that sort of thing.
And over here, I don’t know what building this is.
The Albian Health Center.
There you go.
Check it out.
They’ve got mattresses here.
I think this place literally sells pretty much everything your heart could desire.
Hello, my friend.
How are you? [Music] I’m actually shocked at how far this place goes.
But look how many people there are.
There’s so many people.
This is really cool.
You can literally order cho chopped potty.
Makes me want to go to Bangladesh and try all the food for myself.
I don’t know if these are sort of first gen people, second gen people, and therefore how authentic the food is.
But nonetheless, I can’t stress enough, it does smell pretty good here.
And to be fair, it’s actually pretty clean.
Like usually when you go to areas like this is dirty, but it’s actually really clean.
Everyone’s really, really friendly.
And to be fair, it’s actually a nice atmosphere.
We went to somewhere very, very similar or be a smaller one in Ezra Road, and you probably seen the video, but literally got kicked out, just told to leave just for filming, which is crazy.
And here we’ve got the East London Mosque.
Now, the really interesting thing about here is the foot of this place is absolutely mental.
How many people do you think visit this mosque? It’s not even the biggest mosque in London.
That is, I believe, it more than to my recollection, but this is one of the biggest.
It’s probably the second biggest in all of London, possibly even in all of Europe.
Guess how many people come here? 5,000, 6,000, 7,000 per week maybe.
Well, on Fridays, which is the major prayer time for Muslims, you get about 7,000 people plus per day, which is jaw-dropping per week.
Apparently, it’s over 35,000.
Now obviously London has a population of a mill 11 million thereabouts.
So it will have a decent amount of footfall but it’s not the only mosque in London.
I don’t know how many mosques there are in London but I can imagine there’s more than 100 you know.
So to have over 35,000 people here, I think it really shows that yes, you’re in the UK, but you’re not in the same regard.
As you can see by to be fair, completely not being, you know, opinionated or anything, but the food is pretty good.
I love biryani.
I love masala chai.
And I like lassi.
Very good food.
Look at this guys.
cuz I’ve never seen so many pigeons in such a small area.
I call this pigeon alley.
The pigeon alley of Bangler Road.
You don’t get content like this on board and bankrupt.
It’s a standard day in London.
Hello, my friend.
How are you? Do you mind if I film your shop? It’s okay.
Yeah.
Could I try one of your sweets? You can pick which one.
Whichever one is best.
Thank you, man.
All good, my friend.
Have a good day.
Cheers.
See you later.
We got this.
I don’t know what it is, but I’m going to give it a try.
Let’s have a little a little taste.
Now, last time I was in an area like this in South, I met a lovely dude, a lovely dude.
It wasn’t actually Punjabi, he was Hindu.
He was from Delhi, right? And I had such a good conversation with him.
He was the nicest guy going.
And I tried the food and I bloody lost the footage for it.
I don’t know why GoPro just keeps uploading my footage in a weird way and I just lose the footage every time.
Anyways, without further ado, let’s give it a go.
Some sort of pistachios on it.
Let’s try it out.
It’s kind of like a a mixture of creamy and grainy at the same time.
That is a weird sort of um taste actually.
It’s kind of like coconut milk, a little bit of sugar, little bit of crunchy pistachios in there.
It’s actually really good to be fair.
Highly recommend.
I have no idea what the name of this is though.
So if anyone knows the name, if there’s any Bangladeshi people or Indian people watching, please let me know what this is.
is very good.
Solid 8 out of 10.
So here, as I say, a lot of people are from Bangladesh.
You’ll find everything’s owned by Bangladesh as well.
You even got British Bangladesh travel group, which is pretty cool as well.
You get a Bangladeshi haircut, all sorts of things.
And yeah, I say for the most part, it does feel like you’re in a different country.
Not saying it’s good or bad, just saying it’s what I’ve seen.
I’m not allowed to have opinions as a YouTuber.
If I do, if I say this is bad, for example, Islamic store, I’ll get my bloody head chopped off.
So, I’m not allowed to say it.
So, when I get comments saying, “Oh, you’re clearly a lefty in disguise.
” I don’t want to bloody hear it cuz anyone who knows me knows I’m not one.
Not saying I’m rightwing.
Not allowed to say that.
Okay.
Now, we’re in the heart of Bangla Town.
We’re in the main main bit of Brick Lane, of course.
Now, you probably heard of this one.
You probably haven’t heard of anywhere else that you’ve seen in the video.
But the thing with this is one thing and one thing in particular, it’s fairly touristy.
There is actually one or two things to do here that I can show you.
But yeah, there is more modern shops here.
Once again, to be fair for London, in the last few videos we’ve done here, there’s been trash everywhere.
It’s been a bit of a hole, to be honest.
But here, there’s actually no litter, which is pretty surprising.
Like, yes, the wall is kind of trashed with graffiti.
And as per user, I could go on about the skyscrapers in the background, but if you’ve watched any of my old videos, we’ve said that a billion times.
I want to show you new content each time.
But yeah, I mean it’s not Why is there toilet roll on the floor? What the hell? But yeah, obviously you’ve got some old kind of hell hell stuff basically on that side, but you’ve also got the gentrification like that pub.
I briefly sort of popped my head in there and yeah, mega modern.
So Brick Lane is obviously getting a lot more investment than other parts of London.
It does feel fairly decent here to be fair.
And judging by I didn’t know this existed.
What the hell is that? Hang on a minute.
There’s a bloody gate like Chinatown.
So maybe we’re not in Brick Lane.
Maybe this was No, we must be in Brick Lane.
That says Brick Lane.
As you can see, I don’t know what I’m doing.
But the signs, let me show you this actually.
This is pretty cool.
So you got this big old sort of entry thing.
Very similar.
To be fair, it’s not as impressive, is it? But when you go inside there, just like Chinatown, which is pretty cool.
And you can see the language changes as well.
Banglatown Arch.
Let’s do it.
No bloody way are they selling Iranian flags.
That’s surely not.
Hang on a minute.
So, you can say there’s these weird sort of like houses up there which are quite cool.
Yeah.
You can buy your Palestine flags.
You can buy an Iranian flag.
You can buy an Iranian flag.
That’s pretty um interesting.
Don’t get that in um well, surely anywhere else on the planet.
Iranian flag.
I mean, I’m don’t think the average Iranian person being persecuted by their government would necessarily appreciate supporting a caliphate government, but you know, who am I to say? You know, who am I to say? Long story short though, I don’t think it’s too bad of an area.
Like it does feel a little bit rough here and there on the outskirts and that Leon place did have that weird sort of council thing, but nonetheless, it doesn’t necessarily feel like, you know, you’re going to get stabbed as they say.
It’s like, oh, it’s a nogo.
So, it certainly feels really safe.
As I say, we’ve spoken to loads of locals here and everyone’s actually super friendly.
So, yeah, kind of debunked it to be honest.
Like I mean we we’ll do another video into Newham and just see how we get on there.
Maybe it will be slightly different.
I don’t know.
I’ve heard Ilford and East Ham are a little bit dodgy.
But here there’s even like Italian biryani pizzeras.
So it’s a bit of multiculturalism there.
Look, you got like fish and chips and chicken mandy, which to be honest, I’ve never actually heard of literally in the same restaurant.
So yeah.
Interesting artwork as well up there.
Here we have the mosque of Brick Lane.
Now, obviously, maybe not obviously for some people that don’t know, there are separate women’s entrances to the men.
So, the women would go through here, the men go around the other side and they come in through that way.
So yeah, interesting to see the the different sort of laws depending on what part of the city you’re you’re in.
Yeah, once again it’s busy, but it’s not as busy as like the other place we were just in despite this being the touristy place.
And to be honest, it’s like the demographic is way more mixed in comparison.
And there’s obviously like tourist stuff like let me show you this actually.
There’s obviously tourists here because um you’ve got sort of these, you know, normal shops like that selling rugs and stuff, but you’ve got this which is pretty good marketing.
So, this is a state Asian, but they’ve just got a little bit of showmanship here.
It does feel a little bit more um up market.
I can imagine tourists going here, but to me, it’s nowhere near as interesting as that market we went to because that was Bangladesh, that was proper, whereas here feels a little bit more watered down um in comparison.
That’s just what I’ve taken away from it personally.
And fun fact, many Indian restaurants that you may see, you think, oh, they’re owned by Indian people, but they’re actually owned by Bangladeshi people.
So going here, you can actually get some real Bangladeshi food and not just your standard sort of Indian food really.
So, but yeah, there’s a lot going on.
Lots of different restaurant choices.
Got all sorts.
Hi, mate.
You okay? And yeah, basically a wall of restaurants as you go up.
Now, I’ve been here once before and there is actually a market right at the top which you can go in.
So, we’re going to go check that out.
There’s a bunch of different food.
As I say, it’s pretty touristy.
So, you’ll get food from like Ethiopia, Lapia.
There’s basically all sorts there.
Um, not just there Bangladeshi food.
So, yeah.
In fact, I think this is it.
This is it actually.
They do give you tasters as well, by the way.
So, if you want a cheap meal, you can actually just pop in here and you can actually get something for quite a good price of free, which is pretty cool.
Buy something from them, though, cuz everyone who works here is actually really nice as well.
Yeah, it’s a popular area.
You’ve got all sorts of of food really.
Hi, brother.
You’re okay? Oh, I’d love to, mate.
Thank you.
I will tell everyone to go to your shop in return.
Very good.
Black pepper.
Oh, black pepper.
You can mix and match anything.
You can mix.
Lovely.
And what’s the name of your shop? So, everyone can go.
Beijing dumpling.
Okay.
It’s this shop here, guys.
Beijing dumplings.
So, you can find it in Brick Lane.
Everyone come here.
They’re very incredible food.
Very tasty.
Are you okay? Thank you, my friend.
Have a good day.
Bye-bye.
Hi, mate.
In a second, I need to chew.
Thank you.
I can’t even finish my mouthful while they offer me more food.
As I say, it’s good.
I’m probably getting demonetized from the music.
The food is very good.
As say you can get like Japanese food, Sri Lankan food, Ethiopian food.
There’s all sorts here.
[Music] Yeah, there’s a lot.
Oh, there’s even mango sticky rice.
Oh my god.
Yeah.
So many so many stuff.
You’ve got lots of Korean food in this one.
Hello.
Hello, mate.
How are you? Are you good? You want to taste some? Uh, if I could try that would be amazing.
Thank you.
Thank you, mate.
You can do mix and match whatever you want.
Beautiful.
Thank you.
They’re so good.
Suppose that’s better than the other one.
That was really, really delicious.
Thank you so much.
What you can get in a sample? Another one.
Oh, thank you.
Thank you so much.
Yeah.
Hi, mate.
You want to try my free sample? So good.
And if you want to go here, Korean food fusion.
So, everyone go to this shop.
Thank you so much, guys.
Good luck.
Have a good day.
Bye-bye.
As you can see behind me with these sort of spires and chimneys and whatnot.
This place used to be a very industrial area.
Used to be factories back in the day, and they basically converted it into a bit of a tourist site.
So the start of the road, if you’re looking for more Bangladeshi food, right? Like the authentic stuff, the further back this way, the better it gets.
Then you got the market.
When you go past the market, you’ve basically turned into like Shaw Ditch, Camden, those kind of places.
So yeah, it’s mainly like hippie shops, which I really don’t care for.
But I might as well show you the end of the road seeing I’m here.
But it’s a colorful place.
There’s a bunch of color everywhere.
If you Thanks, mate.
Um, if you want like some I don’t know why I picked that up to be honest, but what is that? Happy hour.
We can go happy hour if you want.
Um, yeah, if you want a hippie stuff or if you’re a hippie, any hippies watching this, judging by my demographic on my videos are like 50 year olds, I don’t think you’ll be interested in buying supernatural sparkling water.
Like, how natural can it be? It’s water.
Supposed to be natural.
Your marketing will not work on me.
Anyways, that’s pretty much the end of Brick Lane actually.
Now, it basically just dissolves to be honest.
Like I’m almost unimpressed cuz I haven’t walked to this end of the street before, but it basically just turns into like a semi- touristy part of London.
It’s pretty quirky.
It’s like these cool like plugs plugs everywhere.
They don’t work obviously, believe it or not.
The entire wall is actually made out of them.
That’s pretty cool.
I’m in some weird street and I thought, you know what? Let’s record it.
Like, what the hell is that? Why are there two people standing on a counter? I don’t know.
What is this street food? Is it authentic? I just don’t know.
Which probably isn’t actually that bad.
Hi, bro.
Do you want to have one? Yeah.
Yeah, thank you, mate.
You can try and make a video.
Grind Burger.
I will.
Everyone go to Grime Burger.
Yeah, it’s good.
Cheers, mate.
Have a good day.
Grime Burger.
Look at that.
Hi, mate.
Look at this one as well.
Go to what’s the name? This is a Christian.
It’s awardw winning street food.
Oh, wow.
Nice.
Been liking it so far.
So, we’re doing something, right? Beautiful.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Getting the thumbnail together.
Come by here, man.
I’m just Good idea.
Exactly.
Good idea.
Nice to meet you, bro.
Have a good day.
See you later.
Three people are going to see that.
He thinks he’s famous.
Hi, brother.
Do you mind if I have one? Yes.
Hello.
Thank you, bro.
Thank you.
Have a good day, my friend.
Thank you.
Have a good day.
Halumi fries.
Bloody delicious.
But nonetheless, yeah, that’s pretty much the end of the video, guys.
I hope you enjoyed it.
Hopefully, it sheds some light on Sharia law and the Bangladeshi communities.
Is it terrible? To be honest, it’s better than I thought.
It’s better.
It’s just Ezra Road.
When I went to a little Arabia, that area was awful.
I mean, can’t be worse than getting kicked out, right? So, we set the bar pretty low.
I’m not going to lie.
Do you think Sharia law should exist in the UK? The answer is probably no.
The answer probably should be no.
But nonetheless, the people when you talk to them on a onetoone basis, no matter what people’s views or religions are, they’re actually really nice people 99.
9% of the time.
I think in Ezra Road, to be honest, like with anywhere in London, we just got a little bit unlucky.
So, I’ll see you guys in the next
