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A section of eastern London north of the Thames River. It was long a densely populated working-class and immigrant area centered around the docks and warehouses, although most of the Victorian-built slums described by Charles Dickens and other writers were obliterated by bombing raids during World War II.
The East End of London, known locally as the East End, generally refers to the area of London, England, east of the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames, although it is not defined by universally accepted formal boundaries. Use of the term began in the late 19th century[1] and arose with the rapid expansion of the population in London, this led to extreme overcrowding throughout the area and a concentration of poor and immigrants. These problems were exacerbated with the construction of St Katharine Docks (1827),[2] and the central London railway termini (1840-1875) that caused the clearance of former slums and rookeries, with many of the displaced moving into the East End. Over the course of a century, the East End became synonymous with poverty, overcrowding, disease and criminality[3]
The East End developed rapidly during the 19th century from being an area characterised by villages clustered around the City
walls, or along the main roads, surrounded by farmland, with marshes and small communities by the River, serving the needs of
shipping and the navy. Until the arrival of formal docks, shipping was required to land its goods in the Pool of London, but industries related to construction, repair, and victualling ships flourished from
Tudor times. Successive waves of immigration began with Huguenot refugees creating a new extra-mural suburb in Spitalfields in
the 17th century.[4] They were followed by
Irish weavers,[5] Ashkenazi Jews[6] and, in the last century, Bangladeshis.[7] Many of
these immigrants worked in the clothing industry. The abundance of semi- and unskilled labour led to low wages and poor
conditions throughout the East End. This brought the attentions of social reformers during the mid-18th century and led to the
formation of
Official attempts to address the overcrowded housing began at the beginning of the 20th century, under the London County Council. World War II devastated much of the East End, with its docks, railways and industry forming a continual target, leading to dispersal of the population to new suburbs, and new housing being built in the 1950s.[3] The final closure of the London docks in 1980, created further challenges and lead to attempts at regeneration and the formation of the London Docklands Development Corporation. The Canary Wharf development, improved infrastructure, and the Olympic Park[8] mean that the East End is undergoing further change, but some of its parts continue to contain some of the worst poverty in Britain.[9]
The term East End was first applied to the districts immediately to the east of, and entirely outside, the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames; these included Whitechapel and Stepney. By the late 19th century, the East End roughly corresponded to the Tower division of Middlesex which from 1900 formed the metropolitan boroughs of Stepney, Bethnal Green, Poplar and Shoreditch in the County of London. Today it corresponds to the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and the southern part of Hackney.[3]
[The] invention about 1880 of the term East End was rapidly taken up by the new halfpenny press, and in the pulpit and the music hall ... A shabby man from Paddington, St Marylebone or Battersea might pass muster as one of the respectable poor. But the same man coming from Bethnal Green, Shadwell or Wapping was an East Ender, the box of Keating's bug powder must be reached for, and the spoons locked up. In the long run this cruel stigma came to do good. It was a final incentive to the poorest to get out of the East End at all costs, and it became a concentrated reminder to the public conscience that nothing to be found in the East End should be tolerated in a Christian country.[10]
Parts of the London boroughs of Newham and Waltham Forest, formerly in an area of Essex known as London over the border, are sometimes considered to be in the East End.[11] However, the River Lee is usually considered to be the eastern boundary of the East End and this definition would exclude the boroughs but place them in East London.[12]
The extension of the term further east is due to the diaspora of East Enders who moved to West Ham (1886)[13] and East Ham (1894)[14] to service the new docks and industries, established there. In the inter-war period migration occurred to new estates, built to alleviate conditions in the East End, in particular at Becontree and Harold Hill, or otherwise left London entirely.
The East End came into being as the separate villages east of London spread and the fields between them were built upon, a process which occurred in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. From the beginning, the East End has always contained some of the poorest areas of London. The main reasons for this include
At the end of the 17th century large numbers of Huguenot weavers arrived in the East End, settling to service an industry that grew up around the new estate at Spitalfields, where master weavers were based. They brought with them a tradition of reading clubs, where books were read, often in public houses. The authorities were suspicious of immigrants meeting, and in some ways they were right, as these grew into workers' associations and political organisations. When, towards the middle of the 18th century, the silk industry fell into a decline - partly due to the introduction of printed calico cloth, riots ensued. These Spitalfield Riots of 1769 were actually centred to the east, and were put down with considerable force, culminating in two men being hanged in front of the Salmon and Ball public house at Bethnal Green; one was John Doyle (an Irish weaver), the other John Valline (of Huguenot descent).[15]
William Booth began his Christian Revival Society, preaching the gospel in a tent, erected in the Friends Burial Ground, Thomas Street, Whitechapel in 1865. Others joined his Christian Mission, and on August 7, 1878 the Salvation Army was formed at a meeting held at 272 Whitechapel Road.[16] A statue commemorates both his mission and his work in helping the poor. A Dubliner, Thomas John Barnardo came to the London Hospital, Whitechapel to train for medical missionary work in China. Soon after his arrival in 1866, a cholera epidemic swept the East End, killing 3,000 people. Many families were left destitute, with thousands of children orphaned and forced to beg, or find work in the factories. In 1867, Barnado set up a Ragged School to provide a basic education, but was shown the many children sleeping rough. His first home for boys was established at 18 Stepney Causeway in 1870. After a boy died after being turned away (the home was full), the policy was instituted that No Destitute Child Ever Refused Admission.[17]
In 1884, the Settlement movement was founded, with settlements such as
Toynbee Hall[18]
and Oxford House encouraging university students to live and work in the slums to experience life
and try to alleviate some of the poverty and misery in the East End. Notable residents of Toynbee Hall included R. H. Tawney, Clement Attlee, Guglielmo Marconi, and William Beveridge. The Hall
continues to exert considerable influence, with the Workers Educational
Association (1903), Citizens Advice Bureau (1949) and Child Poverty Action Group (1965), all being founded here, or influenced by it.[19] In 1888, the matchgirls of Bryant and May, in Bow struck for better working
conditions. This, combined with the many dock strikes in the same era, made
the East End a key element in the foundation of modern
Towards the end of the 19th century, a new wave of radicalism came to the East End, arriving both with Jewish émigrés fleeing from Eastern European persecution, and Russian and German radicals avoiding arrest. A German émigré, Rudolf Rocker, began writing in Yiddish for Arbayter Fraynd (Workers' Friend); by 1912 he had organised a London garment workers' strike for better conditions and an end to sweating.[21] Amongst the Russians were such luminaries as Peter Kropotkin, the anarchist. Leon Trotsky, Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin all attended meetings of the socialist newspaper Iskra in 1903; a few years later they met in a warehouse in Whitechapel to plot the October Revolution. Afanasy Matushenko, one of the leaders of the Potemkin mutiny, fled the failure of the Russian Revolution of 1905 to seek sanctuary in Stepney Green.[22]
By the 1880s, the casual system caused Dock workers to unionise under Ben Tillett and John Burns.[23] This led to a demand for 6d per hour (The Docker's Tanner[24]), and an end to casual labour in the docks.[25] After a bitter struggle, the London Dock Strike of 1889 was settled with victory for the strikers, and established a national movement for the unionisation of casual workers, as opposed to the craft unions that already existed.
The philanthropist Angela Burdett-Coutts was active in the East End, alleviating poverty by founding a sewing school for ex-weavers in Spitalfields and building the ornate Columbia Market in Bethnal Green. She helped to inaugurate the London Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and was a keen supporter of the Ragged School Union,[26] and founded institutions such as the East End Dwelling Company. This latter, led to the foundation of organisations such as the 4% Dwelling Company, where investors received a financial return on their philanthropy.[27] Between the 1890s and 1903, when the work was published, the social campaigner Charles Booth instigated an investigation into the life of London poor (based at Toynbee Hall), much of which was centred on the poverty and conditions in the East End.[28]
Sylvia Pankhurst became increasingly disillusioned with the suffragette movement's inability to engage with the needs of working class women, so in 1912 she formed her own breakaway movement, the East London Federation of Suffragettes and based it at a baker's shop at Bow, emblazoned with the famous slogan "Votes for Women" in large gold letters. The local Member of Parliament, George Lansbury, resigned his seat in House of Commons to stand for election on a platform of women's enfranchisement. Sylvia supported him in this and Bow Road became the campaign office, culminating in a huge rally in nearby Victoria Park, but Lansbury was narrowly defeated in the election and support for the project in the East End was withdrawn. Sylvia refocused her efforts, and with the outbreak of World War I, began a nursery, clinic and cost price canteen for the poor at the bakery. A paper, the Women's Dreadnought, was published to bring her campaign to a wider audience. Pankhurst spent twelve years in Bow, fighting for women's rights. During this time, she risked constant arrest and spent many months in Holloway Prison, often on hunger strike. She finally achieved her aim of full adult female suffrage in 1928, but along the way had alleviated some of the poverty and misery, and improved social conditions for all in the East End.[29]
The alleviation of widespread unemployment and hunger in Poplar had to be funded from money raised by the borough itself under the Poor Law. The poverty of the borough made this patently unfair and lead to the 1921 conflict between government and the local councillors known as the Poplar Rates Rebellion. Council meetings were for a time held in Brixton prison, and the councillors received wide support.[30] Ultimately, this led to the abolition of the Poor Laws through the Local Government Act 1929.
Industries associated with the sea developed throughout the East End, including rope making and ship building. The former location of roperies can still be identified from their long straight, narrow profile in the modern streets, for instance Ropery Street near Mile End. Shipbuilding was important from the time when Henry VIII caused ships to be built at Rotherhithe as a part of his navy. On 31 January, 1858, the largest ship of that time, the SS Great Eastern designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, was launched from the yard of Messrs Scott, Russell & Co, of Millwall. The 211 metre (692 ft) length was too wide for the river, and the ship had to be launched sideways. Due to the technical difficulties of the launch, this was the last big ship to be built on the River, and the industry fell into a long decline.[31] Smaller ships, including battleships, continued to be built at the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company at Blackwall, until the beginning of the 20th century.
The West India Docks were established in 1803, providing berths for larger ships and a model for future London dock building. Imported produce from the West Indies was unloaded directly into quayside warehouses. Ships were limited to 6000 tons.[32] The old Brunswick Dock, a shipyard at Blackwall became the basis for the East India Company East India Docks established there in 1806.[33] The London Docks were built in 1805, with waste rubble from the construction being barged to west London, to build up the marshy area of Pimlico. The docks imported tobacco, wine, wool and other goods into guarded warehouses within high walls (some of which still remain). They were able to simultaneously berth over 300 sailing vessels, by 1971 they closed, no longer able to accommodate modern shipping.[34] The most central dock, St Katharine Docks were built in 1828 to accommodate luxury goods, clearing the slums that lay in the area of the former hospital of St Catherine. They were not successful commercially, as they were unable to accommodate the largest ships, and in 1864, management of the docks was amalgamated with the London Docks.[35] The Millwall Docks were created in 1868, predominantly for the import of grain and timber. The dock housed the first purpose built granary for the Baltic grain market, a local landmark that remained until it was demolished to improve access for London City Airport.[36]
The River Lee was a smaller boundary than the Thames, but it was a significant one. The building of the Royal Docks consisting of the Royal Victoria Dock (1855), able to berth vessels of up to 8000 tons,[37] Royal Albert Dock (1880), up to 12,000 tons[38] and King George V Dock (1921), up to 30,000 tons[39] - on the estuary marshes extended the continuous development of London across the Lee into Essex for the first time.[40] Railways were driven through the East End slums at the same time, providing access to a passenger terminal at Gallions Reach and new suburbs created in West Ham, which quickly became a major manufacturing town, with 30,000 houses built between 1871 and 1901[41]. Soon after, East Ham was built up to serve the new Gas Light and Coke Company and Bazalgette's grand sewage works at Beckton.[42]
From the mid-20th century, the docks declined in use and were finally closed in 1980, leading to the setting up of the London Docklands Development Corporation in 1981.[43] London's main port is now at Tilbury further down the Thames estuary, outside the boundary of Greater London. The dock had been established in 1886 to bring bulk goods by rail to London, but being nearer the sea and able to accommodate vessels of 50,000 tons they were more easily converted to the needs of modern container ships in 1968, and so survived the closure of the inner docks.[44] Various wharves along the river continue in use, but on nothing approaching its previous scale.
During the Middle Ages, settlements had been predominantly along the lines of the existing roads, and the principal villages were Stepney, Whitechapel and Bow. Settlements along the river began at this time to service the needs of shipping on the Thames, but the City of London retained its right to actually land the goods. The riverside became more active in Tudor times, as a navy was established and international trading developed. Downstream, a major fishing port developed at Barking to provide fish to the City. Whereas, royalty such as King John had had a hunting lodge at Bromley-by-Bow and the Bishop of London, a palace at Bethnal Green, now these estates began to be split up, and estates of fine houses for captains, merchants and owners of manufacturers began to be built. Samuel Pepys moved his family and goods to Bethnal Green during the Great Fire of London, Captain Cook moved from Shadwell to Stepney Green, a place where a school and assembly rooms had been established (commemorated by Assembly Passage, and a plaque on the site of Cook's house on the Mile End Road). Mile End Old Town also acquired some fine buildings, and the New Town began to be built. As the area became built up and more crowded, the wealthy sold their plots for sub-division and moved further afield. Into the 18th and 19th centuries, there were still attempts to build fine houses, for example Tredegar Square (1830), and the open fields around Mile End New Town being used for the construction of estates of workers' cottages in 1820[45].
But during the 19th century, building on an adhoc basis could never keep up with the needs of the expanding population, and already in 1890 slum clearance programmes had begun. One was the creation of the world's first council housing, the LCC Boundary Estate, which replaced the neglected and crowded streets of Friars Mount, better known as The Old Nichol Street Rookery.[46] Between 1918 and 1939 the LCC continued replacing East End housing with five-six storeyed flats, despite residents preferring houses with gardens, and opposition from shops being forced to relocate to new, more expensive premises. The second World War brought an end to further slum clearance.[47]
Traditionally the home of London's docks and a large part of its industry, especially industries based on processing foodstuffs and other imported raw materials, the area was a continuous target during the blitz. It is estimated that 80 tons of bombs fell on Bethnal Green alone, affecting 21,700 houses, destroying 2,233 and making a further 893 uninhabitable. In Bethnal Green, 555 people were killed and 400 seriously injured.[47] Many children and adults were evacuated throughout the East End and by the end of the war it was a scene of devastation with large areas derelict and depopulated. Rebuilding began, soon after the war ended, and post-war, specifically 1950s and 1960s, architecture dominates the housing estates of the area, such as the Lansbury Estate in Poplar, which was built as a show-piece of the 1951 Festival of Britain.[48]
Throughout history the area has absorbed waves of immigrants who have each added a new dimension to the culture and history of the area, most notably the French Protestant Huguenots in the 17th century,[4] the Irish in the 18th century,[5] Ashkenazi Jews fleeing pogroms in Eastern Europe towards the end of the 19th century[6] and the Bangladeshi[7] community settling in the East End from the 1960s.
Communities also developed in the riverside settlements. From the Tudor era, until the 20th century, ships crew were employed on a casual basis. New and replacement crew would be found where ever they were available, local sailors being particularly prized for their knowledge of currents and hazards in foreign ports. Crews would be paid off at the end of their voyage. Inevitably, permanent communities became established, including colonies of Lascars and Africans from the Guinea Coast. Large Chinatowns at both Shadwell and Limehouse developed, associated with the crews of merchantmen in the opium and tea trades. It was only after the devastation of World War II that this, predominantly Han Chinese community relocated to Soho.[49]
In the 1870s, so many Jewish émigrés were arriving that over 150 synagogues were built. Today, there are only four active synagogues remaining in Tower Hamlets, the Congregation of Jacob Synagogue (1903 – Kehillas Ya’akov), the East London Central Synagogue (1922), the Fieldgate Street Great Synagogue (1899) and Sandy’s Row Synagogue (1766).[50] Jewish immigration to the East End peaked in the 1890s, leading to anti-foreigner agitation by the British Brothers League, formed in 1902 by Captain William Stanley Shaw and the Conservative MP for Stepney, Major Evans-Gordon, who had overturned a Liberal majority in the 1900 General Election on a platform of limiting immigration. In Parliament, in 1902, Evans-Gordon claimed that not a day passes but English families are ruthlessly turned out to make room for foreign invaders. The rates are burdened with the education of thousands of foreign children.[51] Jewish immigration only slowed with the passing of the Aliens Act 1905, that gave the Home Secretary powers to regulate and control immigration.[52]
Community tensions have often been raised by racist events. In 1517, the Ill May Day riots, where foreign owned property was attacked, resulted in the deaths of 135 Flemings in Stepney. The Gordon Riots of 1780, began with burnings of the houses of Catholics, and their chapels in Poplar and Spitalfields.[53] In 1936, there was an anti-semitic Fascist march that was blocked by residents and activists at the Battle of Cable Street.[54] From the 1970s, anti-Asian violence and more recently anti-white violence occurred, and in 1993, there was a council seat win for the British National Party (since lost).[55] A 1999 bombing in Brick Lane was part of series that targeted ethnic minorities, gays and "multiculturalists".[56]
Throughout the 19th century, the population of the East End increased inexorably, house building could not keep pace and overcrowding was rife. It was not until the interwar period that there was a decline caused by migration to new Essex suburbs, like the Becontree estate, built by the London County Council between 1921 and 1932, and to areas outside London.[57] This depopulation accelerated after World War II and has only recently begun to reverse.
These population figures are for the area that now forms the London Borough of Tower Hamlets only:
| Borough | 1811[58] | 1841[58] | 1871[58] | 1901[59] | 1931[59] | 1961[59] | 1971[60] | 1991 | 2001[61] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bethnal Green | 33,619 | 74,088 | 120,104 | 129,680 | 108,194 | 47,078 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Poplar | 13,548 | 31,122 | 116,376 | 168,882 | 155,089 | 66,604 | |||
| Stepney | 131,606 | 203,802 | 275,467 | 298,600 | 225,238 | 92,000 | |||
| Total | 178,773 | 309,012 | 511,947 | 597,102 | 488,611 | 205,682 | 165,791 | 161,064 | 196,106 |
By comparison, in 1801 the population of England and Wales was 9 million; by 1851 it had more than doubled to 18 million, and by the end of the century had reached 40 million.[45]
Due to the rampant poverty in the East End, crime has always been a potential career option. From earliest times, crime depended, as did labour, on the importing of goods to London, and their interception in transit. Theft occurred in the river, on the quayside and in transit to the City warehouses. This was why, in the 17th century, the East India Company built high-walled, guarded docks at Blackwall to minimise the vulnerability of their cargoes. Armed convoys would then take the goods to the company's secure compound in the City. The practise led to the creation of ever larger docks throughout the area, and for large roads to be driven through the crowded 19th century slums to carry goods from the docks.[3]
One of the East End industries that serviced ships moored off the Pool of London, was prostitution and in the 17th century, this was centred on the Ratcliffe Highway, a long street lying on the high ground above the riverside settlements. In 1600, it was described by the antiquarian John Stow as a continual street, or filthy straight passage, with alleys of small tenements or cottages builded, inhabited by sailors and victuallers. Crews were 'paid off' at the end of a long voyage, and would spend their earnings on drink in the local taverns. One madame described as the great bawd of the seamen, by Samuel Pepys was Damaris Page. Born in Stepney in 1620, she had moved from prostitution to running brothels, including one on the Highway that catered for ordinary seaman, a further establishment nearby catered for the more expensive tastes amongst the officers and gentry. She died wealthy, in 1669 in a house on the Highway, despite charges being brought against her and time spent in Newgate prison.[62] By the 19th century, an attitude of toleration had changed and the social reformer William Acton described the riverside prostitutes as a horde of human tigresses who swarm the pestilent dens by the riverside at Ratcliffe and Shadwell. The Society for the Suppression of Vice estimated that between the Houndsditch, Whitechapel and Ratcliffe area there were 1803 prostitutes; and between Mile End, Shadwell and Blackwall 963 women in the trade. They were often victims of circumstance, there being no welfare state, and a high mortality rate amongst the inhabitants leaving wives and daughters destitute.[63] At the same time, religious reformers began to introduction Seamans' Missions throughout the dock areas that both sought to provide for seafarer's physical needs and to keep them away from the temptations of drink and women. Eventually, the passage of the Contagious Diseases Act in 1864 allowed policemen to arrest prostitutes and detain them in hospital. The act was repealed in 1886, after agitation by early feminists, such as Josephine Butler and Elizabeth Wolstenholme led to the formation of the Ladies National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts.[64]
Said to be England's first, the Marine Police Force was formed by magistrate Patrick Colquhoun and a Master Mariner, John Harriott, in 1798 to tackle theft and looting from ships anchored in the Pool of London and the lower reaches of the river. Its base was (and remains) in Wapping High Street, it is now known as the Marine Support Unit.[65]
Notable crimes in the area include the Ratcliff Highway murders (1813);[66] the killings committed by the London Burkers (apparently inspired by Burke and Hare) in Bethnal Green (1831);[67] the notorious serial killings of prostitutes by Jack the Ripper[20] (1888); and the Sidney Street Siege (1911) (in which anarchists, inspired by the legendary Peter the Painter, took on Home Secretary Winston Churchill, and the army).[68] In the 1960s the East End was the area most associated with gangster activity, most notably that of the Kray twins.[69] The 1996 South Quay bombing caused significant damage around South Quay Station, to the south of the main Canary Wharf development. Two people were killed and thirty-nine injured in one of Mainland Britain's biggest bomb attacks by the Provisional Irish Republican Army.[70] This lead to the introduction of Police checkpoints controlling access to the Isle of Dogs, reminiscent of the City's Ring of steel.
Many disasters have befallen the residents of the East End, both in war and in peace.
Theatres were first established in Shoreditch in the Tudor period, with The Theatre (1576) and Curtain Theatre (1577) standing close together. The Goodman's Fields Theatre was established in 1727, and it was here that David Garrick made his successful début as Richard III, in 1741. In the 19th century the theatres of the East End rivalled in their grandiosity and seating capacity those of the West End. The first of this era was the ill-fated Brunswick Theatre (1828), which collapsed three days after opening, killing 15 people. This was followed by the opening of the Pavilion (1828) in Whitechapel, the Garrick (1831) in Leman Street, the Effingham (1834) in Whitechapel, the Standard (1835) in Shoreditch, the City of London (1837) in Norton Folgate, then the Grecian and the Britannia Theatre in Hoxton (1840).[79] Though very popular for a time, from the 1860s onwards these theatres, one by one, began to close, the buildings were demolished and their very memory began to fade.[80]
There were also many Yiddish theatres, particularly around Whitechapel. These developed into professional companies, after the arrival of Jacob Adler in 1884 and the formation of his Russian Jewish Operatic Company that first performed in Beaumont Hall,[81] Stepney, and then found homes both in the Prescott Street Club, Stepney, and in Princelet Street in Spitalfields.[82] The Pavilion became an exclusively Yiddish theatre in 1906, finally closing in 1936 and being demolished in 1960. Other important Jewish theatres were Feinmans, The Jewish National Theatre and the Grand Palais. Performances were in Yiddish, and predominantly melodrama.[50] These declined, as audience and actors left for New York and the more prosperous parts of London.[83]
The once popular music halls of the East End have mostly met the same fate as the theatres. Prominent examples included the London Music Hall (1856-1935), 95-99 Shoreditch High Street, and the Royal Cambridge Music Hall (1864-1936), 136 Commercial Street. An example of a giant pub hall Wilton's Music Hall (1858) remains in Grace's Alley, off Cable Street and the early saloon style Hoxton Hall (1863) survives in Hoxton Street, Hoxton. Many popular music hall stars came from the East End, including Marie Lloyd.
Novelist and social commentator Walter Besant proposed a Palace of
Delight[84] with concert halls, reading rooms,
picture galleries, an art school and various classes, social rooms and frequent fêtes and dances. This coincided with a project
by the philanthropist businessman, Edmund Hay Currie to use the money from the winding up of the Beaumont Trust,[85] together with subscriptions to build a People's
Palace in the East End. Five acres of land were secured on the Mile End Road, and the Queen's Hall was opened by
Some parts of the East End have been subject to a number of urban regeneration projects, most notably Canary Wharf, a huge commercial and housing development on the Isle of Dogs. Many of the 1960s tower blocks have been demolished or renovated.
The area around Old Spitalfields market and Brick Lane has been extensively regenerated and is famous, amongst other things, as London's curry capital,[89] as well as being the home of a number of London's art galleries, including the notable Whitechapel Gallery. The neighbourhood around Hoxton Square has become a centre for modern British art, including the White Cube gallery and many artists from the Young British Artists movement live and work in the area.
The Docklands Light Railway and Jubilee Line are improving communications through the riverside district; and the extension of the East London line to the north, on the border between Islington and Hackney will provide further travel links. Crossrail line 1 will create a fast railway service across London, from east to west, with a major interchange at Whitechapel. New river crossings are planned at Beckton, (the Thames Gateway Bridge)[90] and the proposed Silvertown Link road tunnel to supplement the existing Blackwall Tunnel.[91]
The 2012 Summer Olympics will be held in an Olympic Park, created on former industrial land around the River Lee. It is intended that this should leave a legacy of new sports facilities, housing, industrial and technical infrastructure, that will further help regenerate the area.[8] This is linked to a new Stratford International station in Newham, and the creation of the Stratford City development.[92] Also in Newham, is London City Airport, built in 1986 in the former King George V Dock, this is a small airport serving short-haul domestic and European destinations.
In the same area, the University of East London has developed a new campus, and the Queen Mary campus has expanded into new accommodation both adjacent to its existing site at Mile End, and with specialist medical campuses at the Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel and at Charterhouse Square, in the City. Whitechapel is the base for the London Air Ambulance, and the hospital's clinical facilities are undergoing a £1 billion refurbishment and expansion.[93]
Much of the area remains, however, one of the poorest in Britain and contains some of the capital's worst deprivation. This is in spite of rising property prices, and the extensive building of luxury apartments, centred largely around the former dock areas and alongside the Thames. With rising costs elsewhere in the capital and the availability of brownfield land, the East End has become a desirable place for business.[9]
See also East End Literature
The East End features in the fiction of Charles Dickens (1812-70), Arthur Morrison (1863-1945), Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), Israel Zangwill (1864-1926), Sax Rohmer (1883-1959), Thomas Burke (1886–1945), Simon Blumenfeld (1907-2005), Peter Ackroyd (1949-), Iain Sinclair (1943-) and Monica Ali (1967-). Crime, poverty, vice, sexual transgression, drugs, class-conflict and multi-cultural encounters and fantasies involving Jews, Chinamen (and women) and Indian immigrants are major themes. Though the area has been productive of local writing talent, from the time Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray the idea of 'slumming it' in the 'forbidden' East End has held a fascination for a coterie of the literati. One contemporary manifestation of this is the school of psychogeography espoused most prominently by Peter Ackroyd, (particularly in his novel Hawksmoor) and Iain Sinclair. More 'realistic' concerns are addressed by Monica Ali in her novel Brick Lane though the latter address is also the scene of Salman Rushdie's fantastic and controversial The Satanic Verses, emblematic of the world-wide clash of civilisations beween West and East of which the East End has historically been the microcosm [94] [95].
EastEnders a UK soap opera, is set in the area
East End gangsterism features in many films of variable worth:
