DESTINATIONS

Next month’s reopening of Whitechapel Gallery (whitechapel.org) in London will be a happy moment for the East End art world. Sculptor Rachel Whiteread has worked alongside the architects to increase gallery space by 78 per cent, add a restaurant, and house one of London’s best specialist bookshops.

Head east along Whitechapel High Street to the Whitechapel Project Space (whitechapelproject space.org.uk) in London's East End, drink Cuban beer at the friendly Indo pub, queue for excellent Pakistani-Punjabi food at Tayyabs or try the Special Breakfast at Sweet & Spicy, a great café on Brick Lane.

You can also browse the East End's Sunday markets – organic food at Spitalfields, and ragtrade chaos around Middlesex Street (aka Petticoat Lane).

Many are the flâneur’s rewards in the East End, from Whitechapel Gallery’s site- specific commissions on Wentworth Street to spotting local artists as you head for vintage clothes shop Beyond Retro (beyondretro.com) on Cheshire Street and houseware shop Labour & Wait (labourandwait.co.uk).

Which is better: London or New York? There's only one way to find out.

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