From the near dereliction of the 1980s to the boom years of the new millennium when around 50 restaurants were in operation, recent years have seen curry houses closing and an influx of restaurants offering other cuisines.
Former London mayor Ken Livingstone ran a ‘Totally Brick Lane’campaign to promote tourism called , along with ‘Totally London’.
In July 2016, Tower Hamlets council stepped in to the mark to ensure the Boishakhi Mela, the annual celebration of the Bangla New Year and returning the Mela to Brick Lane and Banglatown, its original home.
The Mela event – the largest celebration of Bengali culture outside Bangladesh, was a great success despite previuos controversy whenthe Mela was at the centre of accusations of people trafficking.
From 2012 the event was run by the Boishakhi Mela Community Trust but uncertainty and rumours about the fate of the Mela were rife when the new mayor , John Biggs came into power and the council cancelled the contract with the organisers. Later, the council agreed to stage the Mela on the Weaver Field where it was attended by many thousands of people.