Results tagged “East End”

I attended the opening of the new Stratford City shopping centre.

It is impressive, with 300 shops and restaurants, hotels, a cinema, bowling, and a casino and offices to come. Another DLR extension has opened to help get people in and out. On the opening day it was so crowded it was almost impossible to move.

Europe's largest mountain of discarded fridges was cleared from the Olympic Park prior to construction and has became the inspiration behind East London's latest pop-up cinema.

Films on Fridges opens tomorrow night (July 27) and organisers have given a new purpose to the 'urban sculpture' which was recreated down the road at Fish Island.

The East End was originally considered to be the district outside the medieval walled City of London, north of the river.

Today such an area would consist of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets with some of the southern part of Hackney.

The East End is throwing a huge party and the whole world is invited. The Olympic Games are coming to London next year and there promises to be a carnival atmosphere filled with sport, culture and special events, but a group of East Enders are questioning where this leaves residents, small business owners, the market traders and artists.

An access all areas documentary about British indie band The Libertines is premiering at the East End Film Festival.

An after party with band members will follow the screening at The Troxy in Limehouse on the opening night of the annual festival.

A gay rights march planned for Tower Hamlets has been cancelled following allegations that one of its organisers had links with the right-wing English Defence League.

The April 2 event was meant to mark a stand against an outbreak of homophobic stickers declaring parts of the borough a "gay free zone" and concluding with the words: "Arise and warn. Verily Allah is severe in punishment."

By John Biggs

Tower Hamlets has the unique distinction of being at the same time in the bottom five areas for household incomes and the top five for wages in the UK.

This is what happens when you put a Canary Wharf into an area previously dominated by public housing and lower skilled jobs.

By John Biggs

Tackling the economic downturn, while managing the Government's spending cuts, will be a struggle.

We need new jobs to be created, while nationally the cuts mean half a million existing public sector jobs are being deleted. We are being told that new jobs will appear in the private sector.

The face of east London in the '60s has been unearthed by a retired press photographer and turned into book.

Steve Lewis who worked for the Ilford Recorder before embarking on a 35-year career on Fleet Street, took an often serious but occasionally light-hearted look at his patch almost half a century ago.

By John Biggs

The East End, and particularly the Isle of Dogs, has seen a massive housing boom in the last 20 years.

While the recent downturn in construction has had an adverse impact, one of its benefits is the opportunity to take stock and see whether we are building the right sorts of homes, in the right numbers.

An ex-docker has penned a tale of Mods, Rockers, divers and dockers ruling the Docklands and East End in a musical coming to the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch from July 28-31.

Down The River And Up The Road was co-written by Dave Ross, 64, a former docker who worked at West India Docks, Millwall Docks and the Royal Docks, from 1966 to 1992.

By John Biggs

So the cuts are coming.

Having previously agreed across the political spectrum that we needed to be careful not to put the brakes on too quickly, to avoid an economic crash, the new Government has changed the tune and announced big and rapid savings.

Kate Kray has made her name in the literary world by interviewing Britain's most notorious gangsters for hard hitting exposes on crime.

This week sees the release of The Betrayed, her first foray into the world of non-fiction. The widow of Ronnie Kray, told The Wharf the novel had allowed her to go even further into the darkness of organised crime.

He's a writer who has often courted controversy.

South London-born Gordon Newman had a film on journalism banned by the BBC and has regularly upset top police and judges alike with his work.

Giles Broadbent looks back on the day that the war truly came to the East End, leaving the pride of Britain aflame

There was a war on - but you wouldn't know it. A year on from Neville Chamberlain's ominous declaration of hostilities, little had changed for the families of the East End.

By John Biggs

One of "my" two X-Factor contestants (they live in my constituency), Rachel, has been voted out. Stacey remains. There is an East End tradition of success from a modest start to which they both belong. Other examples of success from the East End are numerous - another, from a different field, comes to mind each morning as I walk through Whitechapel and glance up at the blue plaque marking the home of the founder of Tesco.

By John Biggs

We are of course all concerned about the economy but different political parties have different solutions for dealing with it.

The next few months will clarify whether the worst is over, and in the next few years we will understand whether we made the right choices.

WHARFERS have known it for a while, but now it’s official according to Lonely Planet – east beats west.

Lonely Planet’s new guidebook to the capital suggests the East End has stolen the limelight from the west, hailing Docklands as “today’s view of London’s future�.

Despite describing Canary Wharf as a “toy-town, financial theme park�, the guide nonetheless urges people to visit the “dynamic district�.

Canary Wharf’s One Canada Square and Museum in Docklands are flagged up as top picks in the east, with St Anne’s church in Limehouse and Mudchute Park & Farm on the Isle of Dogs (pictured) also listed as attractions.

The brownfield site of Trinity Buoy Wharf earns an entry as the site of London’s only lighthouse, the artist community of Container City and the “much loved American-style� Fat Boy’s Diner.