OK, so I’m doing some business in London and my clients have me booked in Shoreditch.
What’s it like? Every city has good and bad areas, so I’m not trying to be insulting when I ask if this is a nice section of town. I like to take long walks in the morning. Can I do so safely in Shoreditch? Any good places to eat? Any sights that need seeing?
It’s a highly-fashionable part of town. If you like clubs and bars, you’ll be spoilt for them. However, if you leave those clubs and bars on your own looking a bit lost or overly wealthy, you might get mugged.
Long walks in the morning would be extremely safe - there wouldn’t be many people around. Places to visit within walking distance - the Geoffrey Museum, the original Methodist church with John Wesley’s house (an interesting little place to visit for people of any religion - the tour guides are a bit eccentric :D) Wander down to Brick Lane for the morning market, visit the old Huguenot houses there or the Bodyworks exhibit, see if you can get into the Mosque that has housed every religion over time, then have a curry - the area’s famous for that. The other direction has the Museum of Childhood. There are lots of little things to see, too, like one of the churches from the Oranges and Lemons nursery rhyme, the Krays’ favourite cafe, sites of famous protests, ancient cemetaries, etc. I think that, if you Google, you could probably find some independent walks to print out and take with you, where they tell you all about the things you’re passing.
BTW, if it’s the Days’ Inn at Shoreditch you’ve been booked into, that’s not actually Shoreditch. It’s Bethnal Green. They used Shoreditch because it’s trendier. It’s about a fifteen minute walk from Shoreditch. I live very near the hotel. 
Forgot to add: there are lots of other morning/afternoon markets in that area at the weekend, too. You’d be very near Columbia Road flower market and Broadway market. London Fields is right next to that market, as is the Regent’s Canal, which you could follow up to Victoria Park. Depending on when you come, there might be some sort of festival going on (usually free - the museums I’ve mentioned are all free too).
Which is directly opposite Bunhill Fields, probably the most interesting of the few surviving central London cemetaries.
The whole area is on the edge of the Square Mile - the formal City of London itself - so you’ll be within easy walking distance of a lot of the commercial and financial history of the city. Stuff like the Bank of England or the Wren churches (and about half of the Hawksmoor ones). It may be irrelevant if you’re on business and hence here during the week, but the Square Mile is a ghost town at weekends. However, as scifisam says, border areas like Shoreditch very much aren’t.
I know the area very well as it’s a haven for design companies (I’m a designer).
It’s a former industrial, formerly run-down area, previously popular with print companies and heavily bombed during the war, that has since seen vast regeneration in the last 10 years.
About 15 years ago, design agencies and artists (including Damien Hurst), spotted the potential of turning old run-down warehouses into studios. What followed was an explosion in trendy bars, clubs, restaurants and loft-style living.
It’s not pretty - much of it still looks pretty rough - but behind the battered facades lie a wealth of boutique shops, coffee bars, architects offices and, well, you get the picture. Kind of like Lower East Side Manhattan. Full of painfully trendy 20 somethings.
It’s also right next to Jack the Ripper territory (Whitechapel).
There’s loads of interesting things to see if you’re interested in urban cool, victorian underground history and contemporary art. Not so much if you’re a quiet living 50 year old who likes country walks and classical music.
But it’s safe.
Making it an ideal time to visit the Museum of London which is a bit of a pig to find, but quite interesting and also free.
Country walks, no, but the Barbican’s only a short walk away!
Though a short walk to any destination in the Barbican can so very easily turn into a long one. Usually in circles.
Thanks guys. I am not in the Holiday Inn and my clients tell me I am truly in Shoreditch.
I am not really a club guy. I used to really like my beer, but I can’t drink too much of it anymore. (English beer is a little easier to drink though because it usually has little carbonation compared to US beers.)
Apparently we are not close to where we’ll be working, but one of the guys - an old friend - lives close by and he suggested this because we usually have a drink or two at night. He suggested this to make it easier on him. He says he would rather we ride the tube for an hour after work and then drink a little than have a few beers after work and then HE has to ride the tube home after. This way we (both) ride the tube and then drink and he has a 10 minute walk home.
Of course, that means I have to ride the tube in the AM as well. But it is only for a week and this will mean I get to see a different part of London.
They - as a company - start their day much later than I usually do. Even with jet lag I expect I’ll be up earlier than they usually are. So it will be nice to get a walk in in the morning.
Just for fun, here’s some webcam views of Rotherhithe (near Shoreditch)
Well, I said Day’s Inn, not Holiday Inn.
Your friend’s idea does make sense if you’re going out drinking regularly. You must be an extremely long way from your workplace if you have an hour’s tube ride from Shoreditch! I pity you spending an hour on rush hour tubes.
Rotherhithe is not that near Shoreditch. 
Fair enough. It isn’t the Day’s Inn either…
Fair point!
Well it’s either the Hoxton (lucky you) or the Holiday Inn Express (ho hum)