Sandys Row Synagogue, Spitalfields

London’s oldest ashkenazi Synagogue and the last fully functioning Jewish community in what was once the very heart of the Jewish East End.

Our congregation is as diverse as our Spitalfields neighbourhood, with Jews from a wide variety of backgrounds. We wholeheartedly welcome anyone interested in discovering a warm community, spiritual meaning and a truly vibrant Jewish life.

We hold regular services and offer lunchtime shiurs, a host  of musical concerts and cultural events as well as special holiday celebrations.

The Synagogue is so hidden away in a narrow lane that even people working a few streets away are unaware of its existence. It was built in 1766 as a Huguenot church, then a chapel, until the pioneering Dutch founders of this community first rented it in 1854. They then bought the freehold and ingeniously adapted the building to align it towards Jerusalem while retaining a remarkable amount of the Georgian interior.

A £400,000 restoration of the roof and interior was recently completed with major grants from English Heritage for the Grade II-listed building, after the discovery that bomb damage from the Blitz had shifted the roof timbers so that they were resting only on decaying plaster.

The Synagogue is now open and looking glorious once again now, We hope you’ll explore our community and consider it your own.

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