MOVING DOWN RIVER

There are places in London which are off the main tourist route yet always worth a visit. One area is Wapping, just a mile downstream from Tower Bridge. This was once the bustling heart of the Pool of London, busy with ships loading and unloading their cargoes, hundreds of dockers working on the quayside and in the wharves; the cranes swinging out over the river lifting goods from the far corners of the globe and loading some of products which carried the 'Made in Britain' badge to distant lands.

All that is now consigned to the history. These scenes of 50 years ago have been replaced by the quiet calm of affluence. The warehouses have been converted into smart, expensive apartments; no more noise and dirt. People here eat in trendy restaurants, have expensive tastes and count their money.

Yet it's still worth going to have a look at Wapping. The High Street doesn't have any shops - just converted, towering warehouses. The D3 Docklands bus bounces over the cobbles and the estate agents sit in spacious offices waiting for people to come along with £500,000 to spend on one of the glossy properties advertised in the windows.

On a fine day you can see why people want to live here. If you're lucky enough to to be on your balcony overlooking the river and enjoying a pre-dinner drink, the money will seem well spent. Or you may pop along to the pub for a pint, places with dockside traditions and memorabilia like the Prospect of Whitby, the Town of Ramsgate or Captain Kydd.

Dinner? Well maybe a stroll up to St Katherine's Dock where you can have a budget Pizza or spend a lot more; there's always the London Hydraulic Company restaurant in Wapping, one of those much-loved themed eating places, where you sit surrounded by 19th century heavy machinery while enjoying the fish speciality.

This is affluent Wapping - but go less than a mile away from the river towards Shadwell and Cable Street and the taste buds really come alive. This is where the Bangladeshi community live - and the streets are bustling, the shops busy, the schools noisy, the food exotic and cheap and the restaurants inviting. It's a remarkable contrast - and shows how the diversity of London and its people is one of its great attractions.

Don't turn down an invitation to Wapping. The walk along the Thames Path from the City will amaze you. Wapping is a place where cash and culture collide. The docks are consigned to memory. What we have now is very different - but fascinating in its own way.