well stay at home then!

[e15boy]

I just want to mention that since westfield has been open I have been told by lots of visitors from Essex and the like " I haven't been to Stratford for years cor hasn't it gone downhill"................
Well if its only a shopping centre you want but not the surroundings of East london heres a tip GO TO LAKESIDE.........you left cos you didn't like it here so stop your moaning or don't bother coming. sorry to all the other visitors but just had to say something cos its driving me mad!! laters E15

[Dave S]

I can only speak for myself here, but sure others will agree. I remember Stratford as it used to be in the fifties and sixties. Fond memories too. Coming back to Stratford now is a bit of a shock.
My old mum saw how it was going and moved us all out to Canvey in 1968.
I'm gradually making my way back though. I'm in Rainham now, just on the borders.

You've only got to go on Google Earth streetview to see how Stratford has changed.
Don't be too hard on us e15boy.

[e15boy]

Fair play but we know it has changed we also wish it had not.........however we live here and I know for a fact I would not give up the East End for harlow dagenham Basildon or the like.
Like anywhere else its our backyard and to speak ill of it seems rude so I thought I would speak up for the residents cos no-one else does!!  Hands up if you love the East End! lolol  E15

[Phil S]

Well said E15boy.  It amazes me how many "ex (Stratford) pats" come on here to reminise the old Stratford and want to knock it today.

I've lived here 61 years and as far as I'm concerened it is much improved from the 50/60s.  Yeah sure I liked the old Angel Lane, Buildings etc but time does not stand still in London.

I sometimes wonder what the agenda of some people is because I think the area itself is much improved.  What do they expect to come back and see; old bombsites, barrow boys, trams, steam trains and dozens of pie and mash shops?  Sorry the place has moved on!

[Robert Rogers]

I agree, if the place was so wonderfull, (have lived in the east end for 58 years, it was not, unemployment, substandard housing, poor social care, poor education, and that was just on the surface), why did they move out, and what did they expect would move in to replace them.

Airports, Light Transit System, International Exhibition Halls, Private Luxury Riverside apartments, Large Shopping Centre, a New Park and Stadium, even a Cable car system is coming (not certain we want that!), theaters like the Theater Royal and the Brick Lane Music hall at Silvertown, two multiplex Cinemas, a Bowling Alley, we even have a Football team (O`well, nothing is perfect)!

Yes of course Stratford currently looks a bit of a Dump, (I know I work there), after all it is the Biggest Building Site in Europe, but come 2012, the whole world will be looking at a much improved place.

Yes of course Newham has problems, and we know it is not the `wonderland` that Sir Robin would like us to believe, but what area of this country does not, the recent Riots proved that?

[Alf still]

     
     ROGER,E 15,and the others
                                      Not every one moved out of the Newham out of choice,when the docks closed and Red Ken and the rest of the G,L,C wanted to rebuild  the dock area they offered firms help to move out to Essex and take their workers with them,i was one of them workers,i had worked for my firm for 15 years and worked  up to become a manager,when they ask me if i would like to move with them i said yes,i had a young family to provide for,Leyes Rd. where i lived was due to be demolished in the near future,same with Royal Rd,where iwas born and where my mother still lived.It was hard leaving the place where i had spent 40 wonderful years and where, even today after being away for nearly 37 years my heart is So please think a little before you have a go at ex Newham Pats,remember lots of them lived there all through the war years when things were realy hard.
                                          Regards   ALF.

P.S. I still come up there every two weeks to see the HAMMERS.

[e15boy]

Alf, it wasnt aimed at everyone who moved just those who return 25 years later and slate the place not people who regularly pop in and out come to see the irons or visit relatives.
My point was that if you only came back in the last 20 years to see westfield then start moaning thats its gone downhill then you should have come back in the seventies or eighties and seen what a ghost town it was then!!!
Westfield aint all of stratford and I must admit I am putting off going I dont dislike crowds just the individuals in it!! : )

[MickG]

I think the problem is one of perception. Anyone who moves away from any area and does not see it again for a few years will often be surprised at the change that will have occured. In their minds eye people would be expecting an area to look the same as when they last saw it. It is just a matter of individual judgement whether a person considers it an improvement or otherwise.

Change takes place on a daily basis but when we live in an area, that change goes almost unnoticed. If you look carefull at old photographs taken prior to about 1920, you will recognise the general layout of a place but it will still be different to what you knew as a young child. There are no rights or wrongs to a debate like this, it's just a case of personal judgement.

[carol a price]

 I worked in Yardleys box factory Stratford from 1958 until about 1965 and from 1977 until 2000 at the Two Puddings pub in Stratford , I spent lots of time at the dances upstairs in the Puddings and at the townhall and in the 50s early 60s used to shop in Stratford broadway , Boardmans etc and go down Angel lane to buy records in Lauries and have a cup of tea in the cafe , the area had character and atmosphere and was a really great place to be . I lived in Forest gate then and still do today but until recently had only been to stratford a few times since the Two Puddings closed . A few weeks ago I went to an exhibition at the Yardley building where I used to work , the whole area is an unrecognisable dump which will not improve when the Olympics have been and gone  , the once beautiful Yardley building can hardly be seen behind all this glass rubbish and a bridge which looks like a collapsed crane , when you came over Bow bridge years ago the Art Deco Yardley  bulding stood out and shone a near white building with the Lavender girl tiles , now it is dwarfed by complete rubbish . I am not from outside of the area I am still here and what they are doing and already have done to the east end in the name of progress and regeneration is disgusting , The once working docks are an area of flats and houses by the river for those with money , no markets to speak of anywhere , fruit and veg or otherwise ,and  no factories , just places
like Westfield and the Olympic stadium , this isnt the East End its just cheap and nasty rubbish that has cost everyone a fortune and no doubt it will do for years to come , but the East End is gone forever , I hope all those that think its progress and that all the things we have now are wonderful , Enjoy it. Me!  I would much rather  have the East End with its markets ,factories ,docks , pubs and even the bomb sites .they were much happier days .
                       carol.

[e15boy]

Think you have to let that vision go Carol, As much as we all love the old days and the sentiment it provokes it is called living in the past.........and my point was even if you think it looks crap and dont like the area dont broadcast it to the locals please as I think places like the souless collier row are the pits but would not tell the people that live there that........oops just did  ; )

[Phil S]

Carol

I can't see how Stratford High Street was "nicer" in those days with the polluted Bow Back River, the broken down factories and the smell of John Knights soap factory up your nose.

Yes the Yardley building was/is a nice art deco building but aren't they going to restore the best part of it.  I think the bridge your refering to is temporary for the Olympics.

Where I might agree to a point is that there have been too many high rise appartment blocks been allowed to develop.  Who will live in them and whether they were needed is debateable, low rise houses would have been far better.  I'm not sure who to blame for that, perhaps it's the council?

[carol a price]

 The Carpenters road area always smelled of many different things some worse than others but it was a part of Carpenters road , My dads family all grew up in Old Ford very near the Old Ford lock which is on the Bow Back river , dads childhood was very poor as were a lot of families at that time (dad was born in 1916) the two up two down house he grew up in with 2 sisters another girl taken in because her mum died 2 brothers 1 of them died when he was 27 of TB and a grandmother was a home he always visited even after they had all grown up , then the last sister moved out, the tiny little streets were pulled down and a high rise council estate was built , dad went back thinking that some of it might still be there but it was unrecognisable it upset dad very much , it was somewhere he always loved and had fond memories of , happiness isnt money and posh glass buildings next to a redundant docks to everyone , happiness is friends , family , characters and a great atmosphere which is what Stratford and most of the East End had but doesnt have any more ,mum grew up in Canning town the men in the family were all dockers , happiness is going to the shop on the corner to get a paper and coming back half an hour later because you were talking to a friend or a neighbour .           I was told the bridge in Stratford was temporary but it is like a smack in the face of an old friend and a beautiful one at that . I preferred the old stalls and market places , I like the docks and factories to be working , I loved the many different people that worked these places , there is a documentary called Every day except Christmas filmed in Covent garden market in the 50s , That is real life and real people . The East End might have been dirty sometimes smelly even but it was full of wonderful people mostly happy, working hard and looking forward to the weekend at the local pub or dancehall ....also a thing of the past .

[EX CUSTOM HOUSE]

Carol,I enjoyed your spirited posts and agree almost with all you said.
Born in Leyes road, CUSTOM house almost opposite dock gates, i am a true EAST ender.  I had to leave in 39 due to evacuation and never came back often to my
regret but still had great memories, like you say not all good espescially for us,
lost Father at sea, bombed from Canning Town, (complete loss) and then moved up
to Manor Park to be near relatives (that being just my Grandma) and got a Doodle Bug
in the back yard almost direct hit on Shelter
Mum and I were still in the house otherwise i would not be writing this to you.

STRATFORD to me has many memories, such as the pretty Yardley front and I thought
as a 10 yr.old the smell was lovely.I even to this day have an ornament which is a replica of Yardley frontage and i think it was probably an advertisement given as free
gifts bye representatives.
Drawer full of Yardley Soaps, Powders, Lavender Bags, Boxed perfumes never been
opened
Best place in the world i thought for PAWN SHOPS WE KNEW THEM ALL . 
As soon as dad went to join his ship mum and i would walk over to stratford with his suit.  Then retrieved again about 2 days before he docked.

Carol tell Dad not to be too unhappy because the true feelings and our history is still here. It can never be the same but let us make the best of things eh! and hope,

Regards Louise





 
 had been used for advertising as free gifts.
Have now a drawer full of Yardley, powders, soap, perfumes and small bags full of
the lavender.

[carol a price]

Louise ,
I wish I could but  sadly mum and dad are both gone ,.but  I am sure they would hate what is going on in the area today .The Yardley building in Stratford with the lavender girls produced boxes and soap , that often smelt nice but Carpenters road smelt of many things usually the many other factories that were there, as kids me and my sister would go to the Christmas parties at Clarnicos where my mum and dad worked and we would often visit dads family in Old Ford , on the way back we used to hold our noses coming through Carpenters road . .
                  Carol.

[Will.B]

Well said Alf,
                   I like you also you spent all the war years including the Blitz in West Ham,lived there for 30 years before having to move into one of  my Mother-laws rooms in Dagenham because we could not get accommodation in West Ham ,I also worked for a company in West Ham/Newham for a total of 45 years ,and occasionally go back to the area mainly to have my haircut (Needless to say not as often as I use to ) and have a chat with the barber I have known for many years. I guess there is always going to be those who try to compare yesterday  to today but it's all  a matter of choice. For me I would take yesterday everytime,Yes I know some people will say there was a lot of bad things then but they have only been replaced with a lot of bad things now. Somebody once said when you get to a certain age you find that the most valuable thing you have is your memory,well I don't know if that's true but I do know I am very thankful for the wonderful memories I have of living in West Ham and are always proud to say that's where I was born. Will