A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity of joining the Jack The Ripper walking tour around East London, with a lovely bunch of bloggers.

The tour began near Aldgate East station at just gone 7pm and ended in an authentic local fish and chip shop for dinner. Our tour guide, Richard Jones, had over 20 years of practice, having been hosting Jack The Ripper tours since the 1980’s. With it already being dark and cold by that time of night, the scene was set as we wandered around many twisting lanes, and creepy alleyways. Our tour guide did a fantastic job of bring the story to life, and transporting us back to the 1880’s.

Having not previously studied Jack The Ripper, or heard much about the story, I found the evening fascinating. With helpful photographic aids, we were able to really see what life was like back then, over 100 years ago. There were also a couple of gruesome photos of his victims, which were chilling to look at, but helped us understand just how awful his crimes were, and how unheard of they would’ve been at that time.

Over time we’ve almost got used to seeing horrific images on the news, and have almost become immune to it. Back then it would’ve been a very different story. And what makes the whole story worse, is of course that he was never found. His identity has never been solved, and the crimes will remain a mystery. It puts into perspective how far technology has come since then, and how remarkable the police force can be nowadays, solving similar murders.

Whilst what Jack The Ripper did was horrendous, it felt a little exciting re-walking his footsteps with the feeling that we were re-tracing the clues.

The tour itself is very affordable at just £10 per person, and is a great way of not only learning about Jack The Ripper, but also about the history at the east end is steeped in. You get to walk past some beautiful buildings, and learn about their individual history, as well as learning about the pockets of people that migrated to that area, and how it’s changed over the years - particularly within the last decade or two. Shoreditch is now a sought after area with young professionals and students, craving the great night life, food and culture. But it didn’t used to be that way. It had always been a very poor area of London, with hundreds, if not thousands of people, quite literally living on top of each other in a very small but built up space.

Now that we’re coming up to Christmas, and it’s getting cold and wintery, the Jack The Ripper tour is a brilliant thing to do of an evening. I would highly recommend it. Whether you go with your partner or a group of friends. I’d now really like to a murder mystery night. I think I’ve got the bug!I've also been featured on the Creare website in an article that gives you a bit more info on this activity. It's especially useful if you're a brand wanting to host a similar activation with bloggers.