Photograph of the week: Brick Lane, London, UK

Brick Lane in London’s East End is many things to many people. A shopping mecca for hipsters with money to burn and an insatiable thirst for one-offs. A hotbed of cultural diversity and artistic freedom. The “curry capital” of the United Kingdom. You might even know it as ‘Banglatown’.

The street itself runs from Bethnal Green to Whitechapel, passing through the Shoreditch and Spitalfield areas, but nowadays when people speak of Brick Lane they are more often than not referring to the greater area around the street. An area teeming with street art – as pictured here; a street market where you can find anything, and we do mean anything; trendy boutiques boasting one-of-a-kind designs; vintage record stores; buskers playing music good enough for Royal Albert Hall (well, some of them anyway); and curry houses. All of the curry houses.

It’s no secret that the UK’s favourite dish is “a curry”. Indian food continues to play a huge…