The area around Bond Street in London's West End has always been the home of the big commercial art galleries - but things are changing. Art is moving east, and there are many galleries now in the East End of London around Hoxton and Shoreditch. This area is becoming London's new Bohemia, with many young artists living there and new bars and clubs springing up, slowly transforming a once run-down area of workshops and warehouses.

You can start a tour of some of them at Old Street station. Walk a short distance east along Old Street, and on your left you find Hoxton Square, the home of what might be thought of as the cathedral of the contemporary art scene. This is the White Cube (48 Hoxton Square, N1 6PB tel. 020 7930 5373), a gallery set up by Jay Jopling that has supported most of the famous names of contemporary art in Britain, such as Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Gilbert and George, Jake and Dinos Chapman and Sam Taylor-Wood. Its main gallery is a pure white cube, and a feel of the sacredness of its art works permeates its cool spaces.

Go a little further east, and then turn south down the broad Shoreditch High Street. A little way down on the right you will come to Rivington Street, on which one of the first buildings on the right is the Bischoff/Weiss gallery (95 Rivington Street, EC2A 3AY, tel.020 7033 0309). This is a really typical new East End gallery - a small converted ground floor, which offers just paintings on a bare wall, and a desk. It opened last June, and is dedicated primarily to up-and-coming London artists, selling their work and taking it to art fairs.

Continue along Rivington Street, and take the second on the left, Charlotte Road. Follow this south, cross Great Eastern Street and continue in the same direction, and in a moment you will find Luke Street on your right. This is a dramatic area of old dilapidated buildings, but at No.78, by a charming little crossroads, you will find an ambitious gallery called Paul Stolper (78 Luke Street, EC2A 4PY, tel. 020 7739 6504). In its small space it recently had the whole sequence of Damien Hirst's silkscreen prints and sculptures called New Religion.

Now cut back, crossing Great Eastern Street again, into Shoreditch High Street, and turn right there once more, continuing southwards. You will almost immediately come to a big junction with Bethnal Green Road going off to the left. On this corner stands an enormous old tea warehouse called the Tea Building. In its vast, white-tiled interior it has many floors, which are home now to scores of businesses, including designers, publishers and discos. The entrance is a short way down Bethnal Green Road, and here you can find two more enterprising new galleries, both of which have plenty of space for large works of art, and which will welcome you in. They are the Andrew Mummery gallery (tel. 020 7729 9399) and the Rocket gallery (tel. 020 7729 7594). Both have the same address, 56 Shoreditch High Street, E1 6JJ.

Finally, go back to the big junction and bear left down the A1202, Commercial Street. On the right is the old Spitalfields Market, and embedded in its walls in Commercial Street is a lively bar, bistro and gallery called Spitz (tel. 020 7392 9032). Its walls are covered with cutting-edge pictures, especially photojournalism exploring new social trends in the East End. You can end your tour here with some good cooking and wine - and Liverpool Street Station is only a short walk away.

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