It is 1.9 miles (3.1 km) long, running from Gardiner's Corner (previously the site of Gardiners department store, and now Aldgate East Underground station), through Stepney to the junction with Burdett Road in Limehouse at which point the route splits into the East India Dock Road and the West India Dock Road.

It is an artery connecting the historic City of London with the more recently developed financial district at Canary Wharf, and part of the A13.

These include the George Tavern, the Troxy cinema, the Limehouse Town Hall, the former Caird and Rayner Ltd works and the Albert Gardens estate.

Commercial Road starts at a junction with Whitechapel High Street (the A11 close to Aldgate East tube station.

awarded construction to the Commercial Road Company, whose trustees were allowed to raise money and levy tolls.

[5] The road originally began at Back Church Lane and cut a straight line across fields north of the busy Ratcliffe Highway, taking advantage of land cleared by a major fire in 1794 that had destroyed a large part of the neighbourhood.

The London and Blackwall Railway was built parallel to Commercial Road; along with the numerous factories, this caused the street to become overcrowded and polluted.

[7] In 1943, Commercial Road was marked for improvement in the County of London Plan, after much of the surrounding area had been destroyed by bombing.

Numerous side streets south of the road towards Ratcliffe Highway were cleared of slums and replaced with modern housing.

[7] The Commercial Road Conservation Area was established by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in 1989.

[8] The square consists of three sides of three-storey residential buildings constructed in the 1840s, overlooking a railed garden.

They were built in the early 19th century as a terrace, and all span four storeys with parapets roofs, round arched entrances and panelled doors.

The main theatre housed a revolving stage Wurlitzer organ which could be raised from the orchestra pit to provide interval music; these have survived intact.

It has subsequently served as the National Museum of Labour History, a homeless shelter, and an arts centre.