Reply to: The future of East London

[GreenerGrass]

Look at virtually every town and city elsewhere in the country for your answer. There will always be a roughly equal proportion of decent people and scummy people, and the distribution of decent to scummy areas will reflect this.

Therefore, for East London to be full of pleasant coffee shops and boutiques, West London would have to take something of a fall. Despite what our esteemed government would like you to believe, London 2012 will do little to change this.

Good point, where are all the people that you don't want to live in the East End going to move to? You can't move them all to Dagenham or Basildon (unless the people that live there now move out into new homes Prescott was supposed to build along the Thames floodplain).

To the east for the trend in gentrification in the inner part of zone 2 to continue (which I agree it will, its too close to the square mile not to), zones 3 to 5 will probably ghettoise (or de-gentrify) even further, if thats possible, e.g. crapholes like Barking and Ilford.

I can't see how the Olympic facilities will hugely change the demographic of the people living in zones 3-5, apart from pockets of new build stuff.
Yes, some brave young professionals will swallow estate agent spiel peddled in the Evening Standard property section and buy new flats in gated complexes. But they'll be living in an almost South African style devoid of any sense of shared "community".
After a few years eventually they'll move out to zone 6 and beyond to towns either just inside or outside the M25 for their own safety and to bring up kids, etc.

[brownie74]

victoria park, hackney

i think that is the best place to live in east london

its already got the little pavement cafes and decent pubs

its also walkable to the square mile, walkable to canary wharf

its near shoreditch

admittedly its not far from murder mile either

on victoria park rd you have million pound houses next to council flats - due to the bombing flight path in WW2

...and you're right on one of the best parks in central London where they do the stella artois film festival in the summer

i loved it there!

[portseven]

Not all of it I hope, I grew up in Bow, round the Roman Rd Market area, went to Stepney Green School. There is still loads of council housing, though gentrification is happening, its not everywhere.

It would be boring if it was full of arty-farty poofta types.

[Gonzo]

Up where I am (North Shoreditch)

North Shoreditch? Is that estate agent speak for Bethnal Green?

I like the East of the city. Every address in London that I have ever lived at I have made sure that there was an "E" in the postcode.

OK it has changed a lot in the twenty or so years that I have been here and there are still a few areas that I would not want to walk around. It is an area of extreme contrasts, you have the sink estates and the rich people's new developments, and not a lot in between (until you get out beyond zone 3). 25 years ago, all you had were the sink estates and a few pockets of professional people in places like Whitechapel and Bow, so there has been a lot of progress and I am optimistic about its future. (I don't intend to stay here beyond the end of next year though)

[Francko]

Indeed. Francko used to live there.

No. I was one of the few who could afford the SW. You are the eastender here.

[zathras]

Does anybody have any thoughts on the future of East London.

Property pirces sky high, slow gentrification but at the end of the day it is still the East End and has a large proportion of skag heads, nutters and gangs etc.

In 10 years time, will it have nice little coffee shops and pattiseries or will it still be a ghetto?

Up where I am (North Shoreditch) there is a large amount of building going. some of it replacing pretty rundown properties. We also have a new school being built - due to open Sept 2008. There is also rumours that Hackney Council are finally going to do something with Haggerston Pool - engineers have been in to check the pool itself.

So this little area is starting to look a lot cleaner than when I moved in, but there are also areas which are not so pleasent. The Factory which now has small industrialised units still has broken windows and is dirty. The Council Flat blocks are still pig ugly.

[sasguru]

East End full off pooftahs. .

Indeed. Francko used to live there.

[ElectricChair]

East End full off pooftahs. Not like us ard nuts sarf of the river. The Krays would never go across Tower Bridge you know. Not while the Richardsons were around.

[Hart-floot]

Does anybody have any thoughts on the future of East London.

Property pirces sky high, slow gentrification but at the end of the day it is still the East End and has a large proportion of skag heads, nutters and gangs etc.

In 10 years time, will it have nice little coffee shops and pattiseries or will it still be a ghetto?

I think the building of a mosque to hold 100,000 (?) people provides the clearest trend there is for the likely future of the East End Why do you think Gorgeous George got elected there

[sasguru]

The bit closest to the City - Spitalfields, Aldgate East will gentrify/has already gentrified due to City money. As for the rest, too much council housing and sink estates. We need another Luftwaffe town-planning session, I'm afraid

[richard-af]

20 years: A harbour.

[wendigo100]

The only hope for East London (Mile End through to Ilford) is the Olympics. I was brought up in Ilford and the place is unrecogniseable from when I lived there 25 years ago.

Didn't Ilford use to make film for cameras?

[Lockhouse]

The only hope for East London (Mile End through to Ilford) is the Olympics. I was brought up in Ilford and the place is unrecogniseable from when I lived there 25 years ago.

[realityhack]

Having lived there and worked for local govt there I don't think it's going to be the next Islington.

Walthamstow is trying a revival of the area - things have improved slightly but it's a running battle. Thing is, with so many council workers still living in the hippie 60s and 70s I see no zero tolerance administration or policing for some time to come - and therefore no sign of a significant improvement.

[chicane]

Look at virtually every town and city elsewhere in the country for your answer. There will always be a roughly equal proportion of decent people and scummy people, and the distribution of decent to scummy areas will reflect this.

Therefore, for East London to be full of pleasant coffee shops and boutiques, West London would have to take something of a fall. Despite what our esteemed government would like you to believe, London 2012 will do little to change this.