East End mourns loss of Ripper pubs

They are the last links with the East End's days of gaslight and fog.

The pubs where Jack the Ripper sought out his prostitute victims look likely to join the ranks of the wine bar and continental-style cafe.

The Ten Bells in Commercial Street, Whitechapel, which was frequented by several of the serial killer's victims, is to be sold for £1.2 million, while the Alma - on the other side of Brick Lane and another of the key venues on the Ripper trail - is on sale for £800,000.

Changing tastes have forced the owners to put the pubs on the market but regulars fear they will be turned into up-market bars and restaurants.

The Ten Bells is in a prime location on a corner opposite Christ Church Spitalfields. On the other side of Commercial Street is Spitalfields market.

There is no lack of demand for premises selling alcoholic beverages; even the public urinals outside the church have been converted into a bar. But the Ten Bells's beautiful Victorian tiles and murals no longer fit in. Estate agent Baker Allen has already seen a flood of interest in the ramshackle old premises.

Partner John Allen said that if a buyer could get planning permission for change of use, the price could rise further. He said: "Rents have doubled and doubled again over the past five years. This is a very hot pitch."

Builder Brian Watson, 31, said the spread of up-market bars was making it difficult for him and his colleagues to get a drink. He said: "We don't like wine bars because they turn us away in our kit. They put 'no soiled clothing' signs up but we have so much dust to wash out of our throats that we are more entitled to a drink than someone who sits in front of a computer all day."

Ronald Rowley, 74, comes from Hackney every day to have a drink. He said: "The East End is being gentrified. Brick Lane has become a foodie paradise full of trendy bars and coffee shops.

"It's probably good for the community because it brings in a few pounds, but I for one wouldn't be seen dead in one of those places."