My granddad came from Poplar and I was born at Mile End hospital within the sound of the Bow bells. I moved out of London in 2007. But you can take the girl out of London, but you can never take London out of the girl! 😉
I have always been fascinated with the East End of London. I am from Chicago and read a lot about the East End from the Victorian Jack the Ripper days to the London blitz , the Krays, all of it. I wanted all of my life to visit London, not to visit the landmarks but to meet the people of the East End the down to earth ,tough , spirited Cockneys that gave the area it's flair and soul. I finally realized my dream of visiting London in 1986. I've been told that around this time the traditional East End people started moving out. It's tragic to me that the old East End has lost it's soul and charm and I did not grow up there. And I envy you Londoners that grew up on the streets of Bow, Poplar, Whitechapel, Mile End etc before it changed. It must have been a terrific place to be a kid..
Exactly! You said everything I was thinking. I'm in the US, never been to any part of England, but have always been drawn to everything England and obsessed with the Cockney East End.
Jack Young Read the 3 books by Jennifer Worth that are the basis for the British TV series "Call the Midwife." Worth was a bicycling midwife, assisting with the home births of mothers living in Poplar, Stepney and Isle of Dogs (now all gentrified). My spouse just gave me those books for my 73th birthday and I fell in love with the hard core East End. I too spent 10 years in the South Side of Chicago. Much of the housing shown in these photos was built around the time of Dickens. 1930s, declared unfit for human habitation. 1940s, bombed by Germany. 1950s, appalling conditions persist because of desperate housing shortages. 1960s, worst slum housing is emptied. 1970s, most former slums are demolished. 1980s, repair and rebuild to middle class standard. 21st century, Canary Wharf is built, turning Stepney and Bow into a community of well-off office workers, mixed with Muslim immigrants.
@@Lxx-tc4xc Muslim immigrants? Your comment shows how misinformed you are about the East End of London, the Bengalis have been in the East End of London since the 1900s, Albert Mahmod was a son of a English women from Poplar and a Bengali father, also many lascars jumped ship in Tilbury and headed over to the East End to join other Bengalis during and after the Second World War, then came the economic Bengali migrants of the 60s, my father’s generation. So when you say “Muslim immigrants” you must be referring to the recent Somalis that have moved into the East End in the mid 90s and not the Bengalis who make up 36% of the East end population. Do more research on my area and people before you leave a comment on a subject you know nothing about.
I grew up in Bow and as a 7 year olds we used to explore the abondoned houses that were condemned for demolition to make way for new estates of flats and maisonettes. I still have strong memories of those creepy old places and the interesting things that were left behind.
My grandad was from Bethnal Green and nanny from Poplar great grandparents from Limehouse. Looking at these photos brought a tear to my eye and makes me want to go home. Thank you for sharing them
My grandfather came to New Zealand in 1910 from the UK. The address in his prayer book was 16 Hale Street, London. He was just 16 years old when he was sent here to work on farms in the South Island and never saw his family again. I have used Google maps to look at the address as it us today but wondered if you have any photos if Hale Street from a few years back? Would love to visit the UK one day and go to the places that would have been so familiar to my grandpop. Thank you for those you have put together here.
I can’t really say that it’s improved for the better, certainly none of the old characters that you would have had then, proper people salt of the earth. I had pleasure of meeting some of them. Thank you for allowing me to reminisce.
I've shared that with my Dad, who was born in that area in 1941... Hes a real cockney, born in Stepney, within the sound of Bow Bells. Thanks so much for the video creation and upload 👍
Tommy Lucy, my dad Arthur Lucy was born in Poplar High St in 1913, any relation or was it a popular surname in those days? All I know is that his father was Irish and that he was an old style copper with a quick temper!
My nan & grandad used to live on Copenhagen Place, off East India Dock Rd, then off Pixley Street, Popular - I missed those days so much, especially the park bang opposite their house. Fun times. "Thanks" for the upload.
Do you mean that little park opposite All Saints Church? I moved away 45years ago , but my friend still lives there, so on a visit back there saw there was a nice new building where the park was when I asked my friend what the building was she said it was an AIDS hospital. I come from Prestons Road.
I used to work in Poplar Hospital in the 1970s and when Keith Joseph closed the hospital it was a depressing time. I used to go to the pub opposite but can't remember the name of it. Happy days now the whole area has changed beyond recognition and that is sad. The East End had a soul and character. Sadly gone forever. The London Docklands Development Corporation didn't bother with the rights of the local population and just run rough shod over them, disgusting.
I'm a Whitechapel. boy as were my ancestors back to 1640. Haven't been back for 25 years, I couldn't stand to see what the bastards had done to the East End.
Well said! My family go back to 1770’s , I m now still lives in Poplar all have changed mostly traditional pubs , historical buildings and railways now destroyed for luxurious flats , all gone. I will move to live in Budapest because I had enough .
Yes it does bring back many happy memories thank you Grew up there just above the butchers in Christ St Market I don’t think any of the pubs are there now
@@user-dd1lx5li1k well that's good to know. I know the Young Prince has gone , the Ellesmere, The Straw Hat, the Builders Arms, the Guilford is a block of flats. The Charlie was still there last time I looked. Don't know about the Festival Inn, and the one on the corner was it Callaghans?
Many thanks for sharing all of those pictures brought back loadsa great memories My Mum was a true Cockney born in the sound of Bow Bells Passed away only this January 2022 She absolutely Loved the East End Just hated the 2nd world war as everybody did back then. But thank God that is over with.👍👍👍👍👍👍
Tens or maybe even hundreds of thousands of victorian terraced houses, like those at Vallance Road were destroyed during WW2 or were demolished in the late 1940's onwards. There are still a fairly large number of similar houses still standing, and they have usually been fully refurbished and renovated and now sell for amazing amounts of money.
Thank you for the video even though I’m Scot my Aunty , Uncle and Cousin Eleanor ( Ellen) and her husband Derek Gray stayed in Blackwall Buildings and many a happy holiday I had in the late 60s. Eleanor now stays in Wager St. and again great times we had there
I lived in the East End from 1982 till 2001 in Poplar & Bow On the Lansbury Estate in a 2 Bedroom Maisonette the living room was 21ft long and 12ft wide. Oh the party's We had with all our neighbours' it was fantastic. oh those were the day's. 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
When I look at video's like this it makes me wanna cry iam born and bred in poplar on the burdett Estate in 1967 I still live in the east end but not in Tower hamlet's but I'm looking too get out I can't take it no more. 😢
Yeah I agree. I'm American and I've lived here all my adulthood , 25 yrs. .and my ultimate dream job is to work giving the yes or no to new buildings and destruction of others. I'd be the ultimate nightmare for any new buildings project. Historic preservation is my motto.
@Mahdi RANA Ok what would you like to hear something like I don't like your comment I was bought up in the East end top be polite not to be ignorant.ok
im obsessed with anything from the East end, in particular between the 50's-70's era. I feel in my past life if I was born in England its there I would want to live. Have watched im pretty sure everything there is on RU-vid, does anyone have any recommendations encase I have missed something?
London is gradually becoming a soulless city and a place where only the very rich can afford too live, What's left of the council housing is being gradually sold off and demolished and replaced with apartment blocks that locals will never be able to afford,
I came from Poplar, I think they are doing away with Christ Street market altogether in favour of a block of flats, near to the DLR, they’ll be worth a fortune
Can i just correct an error, you named it Poplar Theatre Cinema its correct name was Popular Cinema Theatre in the Commercial Road. I was born in 1952, lived in Gill St and schooled in the Cyril Jackson school in Northey St and would like to here from any person who shared this background.
U stupid ignorant fool. U are a breed long gone. We are here now to stay forever. You are like the american indians. Long gone but wont be forgotten. Come back when west ham are playing wont you 😂😂😂😂😂
unfortunately it isn't . Stepney has been there since Roman times . It became a diocese or Roman protectioon when St Dunstans church was built . All land east was marshland . Poplar is a pup its maybe 200years at most
It’s changed so much over the years I don’t recognise the place anymore and I’m not a fan of the gentrification of the area it’s not my east end anymore and the johny come latelys ain’t my people the pubs and characters that frequented them r no longer there I loved it the way it was a bit rough round the edges with proper people around u alas the genie is out the bottle now and I can’t ever c it going back even the cockney accent is dying out if u go round that manor now ull barely hear true east end accent anymore the influx of people from the shires buying up all the old terraced housing has pushed the house prices through the roof and made them unattainable to the few locals that still remain shame cos it’s changed the whole demographic of the area and like I said ,for me ,not for the better I know I sound a bit bitter here and there’s a reason for that and it’s because I am I wish it was the way it was back then in the 60,s 70,s and 80,s
Balfron tower is in the process of being renovated and privatised..the flats will then sell for an insane amount of money l.. nobody on welfare will be living in them
Where did all the ' True' eastenders go? Im sure us third-world country not as superior race of bengalies could have forced them out. What is so wrong with it now?