Podcast: A walking tour of the Somali East End

British Somali tour guide Abdiladif Ahmed invites you to explore the lesser-known landmarks and histories of the Somali community in the East End of London

This story is part of our Tales from a Slow Way series, funded by the Pilgrim Trust. Each ‘Tales’ award includes a donation to the organisation as well as a project fee to the creative. This project donation went to Numbi Arts, Abdiladif Ahmed and Elmi Original.

There has been a Somali community in London’s East End for over 150 years, but its history is gradually being erased by the process of gentrification and redevelopment. Audio producer Fatuma Khaireh worked with Numbi Arts, an East-London-based Somali cultural organisation, and guide Abdiladif Ahmed. Together they created an oral history walk to preserve and highlight the little-known history of the community and serve as an inspiration for other communities to replicate this model of local archiving. Read on for more.

Walking through the vibrant streets of East London, it’s impossible to ignore the diverse cultures that intertwine. For over 140 years, Somalis have made their mark on London, from their involvement in civil rights activism to their contributions to arts and culture. This tour highlights contemporary landmarks that play a vital role in the lives of East End Somalis, such as restaurants, money transfer services, and the local mosque. Abdiladif uses walking as a powerful tool to connect communities, share untold stories, and deepen your understanding of this rich cultural heritage.

“I have a great love for history. One of the aspects that draws me in most is how past events, no matter how big or small they seem, shape the society we live in. I find it fascinating how so many different events can be interconnected. I also enjoy reading about different cultures and seeing how they have influenced each other throughout history, leading us to the world we live in today. I believe we have a great responsibility as historians to accurately represent our history, as it could become a reference point in the future,” says Abdiladif Ahmed. Listen to the podcast below and embark on a self-guided tour of the Somali East End.

The walking tour podcast

This podcast was hosted by Abdiladif Ahmed, produced by Fatuma Khaireh and Numbi Arts, music by Elmi Original, with support from Slow Ways. The walking tour follows parts of two Slow Ways: Livbet one and Betcan one.

The walking tour route 

Stop 1: Kathleen Wasama Plaque, 84 Cable Street

Description: Kathleen Wasama was a prominent Black activist whose contributions to anti-racist organising in London are often overlooked.

Stop 2: Jack the Ripper Museum

Description: Discover the historical context of the Ali Cafe and Cafe Club Rio, once located nearby on Ensign Street.

Stop 3: Toynbee Hall

Description: Toynbee Hall has been a space where Somali creative communities can collaborate and celebrate their culture. This institution has always supported the needs of diverse communities.

Stop 4: Whitechapel Gallery

Description: The Whitechapel Gallery has hosted a temporary exhibition from the Somali Museum, showcasing the impact of Somali art on the local scene.

Stop 5: Al Kahf Restaurant

Description: As Somali cuisine grows in popularity, Al Kahf Restaurant celebrates Somali culture and food, sharing it with a wider audience.

Stop 6: Dahabshill Transfer Service

Description: Learn about the significance of Dahabshill as Africa’s largest transfer service, and how it illustrates the ongoing connections between Somali people and their homeland.

Stop 7: Al Huda Mosque

Description: A Somali-built place of worship that serves as a hub for community connection.

The audio tour transcription

My name is Abdiladif Qadir Ahmed. I work for Numbi Arts. I became a tour guide when I took a course in Camden (and) eventually got my badge and certificate which shows that I am now a qualified tour guide. And the main reason why I guide (as a whole) is because I have quite a lot of passion for history and I do enjoy explaining historical events to people.

So the idea of doing something similar to that for a living is something that I just couldn’t say no to. The thing I find exciting about Somali history is that the history of Somalia and Somali culture in the UK is not well-known to a lot of people in the greater British public. And I think that the more people learn more about Somali history in the UK, I think they will be quite surprised about some of the things that they might learn.

Because Somali history, African history, basically anything that’s not European or American history, doesn’t get the same representation. All you have to do is the research and you’d realise that how much impact these cultures from around the world have to modern society today. I wasn’t much aware about Somali history in the area when I was growing up.

I think I was more aware of it quite recently when I learned a lot about it in the archives, like in the Tower Hamlet archives. Or in the local papers. I think it is important for kids, especially kids from minority backgrounds, to learn more about the history of their culture or of their nation of origin. And realise how much that has an impact and paves the way for modern society today.

My name is Abdiladif Ahmed and I am a walking guide from Numbi Arts. Today I’m going to take you through this special tour in Whitechapel to learn more about Somali culture in the area. The Somali community has been a part of Whitechapel and East London for nearly 150 years. However, the history of this community has not been talked about much, mainly due to biases based on which community to report on and which one not to.

The Somali community has been a part of Whitechapel and East London for nearly 150 years

Today, I would hope that each and every one of you learn more about the Somali culture and how much impact it has had in East London as a whole. Now we’re going to talk more about activism as we’re going to discuss more about a very famous black community activist from the mid 20th century. Now if you all please like to follow me and just to warn everyone there’s going to be a lot of heavy traffic during this walk and I also want each and every single one of you to walk right behind me because you’re all responsible for your own health and safety.

Kathleen Wasama

Now we’re going to go to our first stop which is in 84 Cable Street. Now if you please to follow me. The building that you see in front of you, which is part of Burlington Court, actually used to be a meeting place of a Black community activist organisation called the Stepney Coloured People’s Association during the 1950s.

And the founder of this organisation is called Kathleen Wasama, who was a Black community activist during the fifties and sixties. And the goal of this organisation was pretty much to improve education, housing, and community relations for Black people as a whole within the area. She was born in Ethiopia, which many people believe was in the year 1904.

She was often looked after by nuns and was often put on display as a heathen child from Africa

But in 1917, when she was just a child, she was taken from her home by church missionaries and came to the UK. She was often looked after by nuns and was often put on display as a heathen child from Africa. She was pretty much used as an example for why the British Empire was necessary in the first place. Because they say that where she came from people like her were uneducated and unevolved and the British Empire’s goal was basically to improve the lives of people all around the world and make sure that they become better societies as a whole. Obviously we know the real reason why the empire was a thing in the first place, but this was pretty much the lie that helped justify why the empire existed at all.

Now just to be clear, throughout much of her childhood and young life, Kathleen Wasama would have never seen any other Black people in the UK. This was before the Windrush generation, which means there wasn’t a lot of Black people living in the UK at this time. When the nuns eventually died she was then moved from care home to care home in Yorkshire and she suffered a very bad experience there as well.

Throughout her life she suffered not only verbal racism but also psychological racism as well. When so many people tell you that you’re inferior based on the colour of your skin and where you come from, eventually you’re going to believe that. She eventually ran away and then worked as a farm labourer.

And in the 1930s she moved to London. This was the first time that she saw many people that looked exactly like her. People with dark skin and people with different ethnicity. And she came to the realisation that these people were just the same as everyone else and there’s nothing different about them mainly because of their skin or ethnicity.

She would eventually marry in 1945. And by the 1950s, she would found a company called the People’s Association. In a BBC interview for a documentary in 1982, she talked about the harsh life that she had as a young child living in the UK. “I was brought from Ethiopia when I was a child, and brought to England by missionaries. And they weren’t really physically cruel to me. They were mentally cruel to me. I was an exhibition of one of the heathen children from Africa, and at Sunday school I used to be put on the table as a representative of one of the heathens, this is a representative of what we’re trying to do in this dark continent. I was never allowed to mix with them.”

Her activism was one of the main reasons why thoughts changed towards people who look different from other people. Just because you have a different ethnicity, religion or you came from another side of the world, that doesn’t mean that you’re inferior. It means that you’re just an ordinary person that has a different cultural background.

Iconic Somali cafes

We learn about a lot of activism in this tour, but now we’ve got to talk a little bit more about cafes in our next stop. I was going to go to very old Rio cafes at the end of Cable Street. Now, we are here in Ensign Street, and if you look on your right, you can see a primary school, Shapla Primary School, that has been closed since 2021.

But this actually used to be a site of a Somali-run cafe, and this cafe was called the Cafe Club Rio. The reason why it was called Rio, because Rio in translation was ‘dream’ in Somali. The Cafe Club Rio was one of the most well-known Somali cafes in the UK and is often seen as one of the most iconic Somali cultural institutions in Britain.

The Cafe Club Rio was one of the most well-known Somali cafes in the UK and is often seen as one of the most iconic Somali cultural institutions in Britain

At this period of time many Somali people were seamen and often worked at the docks and this was mainly because of a law in 1894 that pretty much restricted them from working in any other shipping industry. Somalis who worked at the docks settled in places like Cable Street. It would eventually be nicknamed the London Harlem.

At this time, many Somalis who lived in Cable Street would often visit a Somali-run cafe, which was around during the 1950s and 60s. Unfortunately, the cafe isn’t here today, but there is an image of the club that you can find online on the cover of Bob Dylan’s album, Rough and Rowdy. In fact, there were numerous cafes like Rio Cafe in many port cities across the UK, like in Cardiff and Liverpool.

There was also another cafe here in Cable Street called Ali’s Cafe, and it actually was one of the last surviving Somali cafes in the area until it was closed a few years ago. It is now the site of the Jack the Ripper Museum. We discuss a lot about cafes in this stop. And in our next stop, we’re going to be talking a little bit more about charitable institutions.

Now, this is going to be quite a long walk from this stop to the next stop. I’m going to go past very busy roads. So it’s very important right now for you all to follow me. And as we go to our next stop, we will go past the Jack the Ripper Museum.

Social reform in the East End

The building that you see in front of you is Toynbee Hall. It is located here in Commercial Road and it was done by the architect Elijah Hoole. It was created back in 1884 during the Victorian period. The founders were the married couple, Samuel and Henrietta Barnett and it was named after a close friend of theirs called Arnold Toynbee. He was an economist, a historian and also a social advocate.

The goal of the charity was pretty much to address poverty in East London and advocate for social reform. At this time, in the late 1890s, there wasn’t any social safety nets. There was no welfare state, there were no pensions, there was no NHS. So poor people in the area suffered greatly. And the unions at the time weren’t really that strong.

In fact, when Charles Beavis was elected, (and did his) report of poverty in the beginning of the 20th century, he’d realised that around 70 percent of people living in Whitechapel and the East End were in abstract poverty and that’s the reason why this charity was set up in the first place, to basically advocate for change in the area and to help those in need.

Numbi Arts and the Somali Museum

Now the charity went through several changes over the years and if you look to your right you can see a five storey building. This was made during the 2010s. And it’s actually a meeting place for a Somali non-profit organisation called Numbi Arts. Now Numbi Arts has been around for nearly 30 years. And the goal of the organisation is to produce workshops, podcasts and hosting events to give a further platform for African art and heritage.

Recently they just created the Somali Museum UK, which is a museum that doesn’t have a permanent building. The organisation was founded back in 1995 but had a different name at the time called Kudu. It’s actually named after a dance in Somalia and the founder and director is called Kinsi Abdulleh. The organisation also works alongside artists, educators and peer organisations to provide opportunities for communities to engage in art.

And one of the ways they do this is to hold exhibitions. We mentioned a lot about charities in the (previous) stop, but now we’re going to mention a little bit more about arts and exhibitions in our next stop, which is going to be the Whitechapel Gallery. The Whitechapel Gallery, is located in Whitechapel High Street, which is above the Aldgate East Underground Station.

The gallery was founded in 1901 and the founder was the same as the founder of Toynbee Hall. Which is Samuel Barnett, who I mentioned earlier in our last stop. Whitechapel Gallery was important because it was one of the first publicly funded galleries for temporary exhibitions. The architect of the gallery was a man called Charles Harrison Townsend.

The gallery would further be expanded in 2009. Whitechapel Gallery and Numbi Arts has a long history of working together. In fact, Numbi held its first event in the Whitechapel Gallery back in 2005. And Numbi continued to hold many exhibitions in the gallery ever since. Recently, Numbi Arts had actually held an event on the 29th of June 2023 called Numbi Fest.

And in the fourth gallery, there is an exhibition for the Somali Museum called Any Space Whatever which is held there from the 14th of June to the 10th of September in 2023. We have mentioned a lot about art and organisations and exhibitions in the stop and in our next stop we are going to discuss a little bit more about food and cuisines as we’re going to go to the Al Kahf restaurant.

Somali cuisine

Now the restaurant that you see opposite you is called the Al Kahf restaurant. Now the Al Kahf restaurant is actually a Somali restaurant that serves cuisines from Somalia. The Al Kahf restaurant was opened not that long ago from 2014 and the founders were two brothers called Mohammed Jama and Saeed Jama.

The Al Kahf restaurant is probably the most well-known Somali restaurant in London and it had recent refurbishment as well. It suffered quite a lot during the pandemic but it managed to survive. And the Al Kahf restaurant is probably the best known Somali restaurant in London as a whole and gets lots of positive reviews, especially in social media like TikTok.

The restaurant itself has 13 dishes and the most famous one is known as the Beef Suqar, which is basically beef and rice and vegetables. They serve seven drinks and also can seat up to 140 people. Many Somali people within the community often prefer to go to the Al Kahf during special occasions like Eid or birthdays.

We discussed a lot about food in the stop and now we’re going to discuss a little bit more about money and transfer in our next stop as we’re going to go to the Dahabshiil transfer service.

Now in front of you is called a transfer service. It’s a place that you go to, to transfer monies from one place to another, mainly to relatives and loved ones. And now this transfer branch actually belongs to Dahabshiil, which is a Somali transfer company, the biggest international money transfer company in Africa. And in 2021, it made revenue of nearly £300 million, which is a lot. Many Somali people within the area often use Dahabshiil to send money back to their loved ones back in their home country of Somalia.

Dahabshiil — the Somali version of PayPal

Now Dahabshiil is an extremely very famous business. It has around 140 branches across the UK and it operates in 126 countries across the globe, 40 in Africa. It has over 2,000 employees and 400 branches worldwide. Now, this branch is very close to the Royal London Hospital and also close to the Royal Mail Delivery Office.

It was opened, this branch was opened in 2000 and is in Cavell Street, not far away from Whitechapel Station. Now, the Dahabshiil transfer service began around 1970 and the founder was a man called Mohamed Duale. It’s probably best to think about Dahabshiil as the Somali version of PayPal. Often this branch was used as the UK headquarters for Dahabshiil and Dahabshiil still has a positive representation for the Somali community in this area as a whole.

Now we have discussed a lot about money and now we’re going to discuss a lot more about prayer and worship in our final stop which is Al Huda Mosque. Now the white mosque that you see in front of you is called Al Huda Mosque. It is a big white building and has two columns in the bottom and also three floors.

Al Huda Mosque

It also has some big windows and it’s been around since around the late 90s. It’s located in Mile End Road, right next to Genesis Cinema and also right next to the Sports Direct store. It’s close to Stepney Green Station. And it’s considered a cultural centre and a charity and not just a mosque. It has a lot of support from the Somali community in East London for nearly 30 years.

It does prayers, Friday khutbah, and hosts Islamic events. Now the root of Al Huda goes back as far as 1985, when a non-profit organisation called New World Islam Society was set up. It was founded by young Muslim students and Somali community elders. That charity changed its name to the Somali Islamic Circle.

The goal of this society was basically to assist Somali refugees that were coming to this country and settling in Tower Hamlets in the early 1990s. Many of these refugees were escaping the civil war that was going on in Somalia at the time. What the organisation does is that they will rent properties to do activities.

But when the community continued to grow over the years, by the late 90s, they realised they needed to find their own new mosque, a permanent mosque, so they don’t need to rent buildings in order to do prayers and cinemas and other events. So fundraising pretty much began around 1998. And a year later in 1999, the charity purchased the current building for £265,000 which was actually quite a lot of money at that time if you count for inflation. The building actually used to belong to a bank but then they sold it to the charity and now it’s a mosque that we know today. Eventually the charity changed its name to the Al Huda Cultural Centre and Mosque.

Further extensions were introduced in 2001 and the mosque now can accommodate to more than 500 people. However, since 2016, it’s still going through real redevelopment, and it believes it will become even bigger than it is today. The Sheikh is called Saeed, and another person that’s responsible and has a lot of influence in the mosque is another man called Abu Qutundi.

The Al Huda Mosque is probably one of the most important mosques for the Somali community in Whitechapel. The Somali community rely a lot on the mosque and they probably often will go there more than they do for the East London mosque itself. Now, we have reached the end of the tour. I really hope that each and every single one of you learnt a lot during this tour.

And I appreciate each and every single one of you having the time to come to this tour in the first place. I really appreciate that. And if you want to learn more about Somali culture and heritage, you can check out Numbi Arts to see if there’s any other walks taking place. And thank you very much and have a nice day.

My name is Abdiladif Qadir Ahmed. I work for Numbi Arts and I appreciate everybody who’s listening to this podcast. Thank you very much.

Last year we launched ‘Tales from a Slow Way’, a community stories initiative that enabled us to commission creatives and community groups to work together to produce original stories and content situated around Slow Ways walking routes. Each award included a donation to the organisation as well as a project fee to the creative.

Together, the awarded projects map the sheer diversity of walkers across the UK and highlight the importance of forging new paths.

Click here to find out more about our Tales from a Slow Ways project! Why not sign up to walk and review Slow Ways. You can also find and follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.