John. Not only are your walks enjoyable for those of us who used to live in the area many decades ago, and have moved away - but also an invaluable historic record of 'now'.
Thank you John, for another short burst of sanity and interesting/informative wonderfulness during these troubled times. It's amazing how it is forever changing around that area. Thank you too, for including the various maps and vocal explanations of the locations of you were filming (This is so valuable for the viewers, so as to get their bearings during your walk.). Wishing you a good week ahead, stay safe! 🙂👍
Hi John The area of Temple Mills was my playground when I was a youngster over 50 years ago. The Eastway Cycle Track and Clays Lane estate was built on the site of a Victorian rubbish tip which led to Bully Point on the River Lea. It was a great place to explore. It was also full of wildlife. My Mum used to work at Clarnico's and I used to go with my Dad to Hackney Speedway (Make it a date Friday at Eight). There used to be a pub at Temple Mills Lane, The White Hart, it turned into The Flamingo (a dodgy nightclub). So many great memories of that area its quite hard to come to terms with it now. I haven't really explored the Olympic Park and after watching your video its about time I did. Thanks as always. Gary
We sprayed all the wild flower with a soil and seed back in 2012 at the QE2 park we was the last guy's to dig up shrubs and roses from the Eastway cycle centre before the bulldozer moved in and replanted then at the waterworks Lea valley centre in 2007 very sad day
My mum's family when they arrived in 1969 lived a few streets down from Leyton station and eventually moved closer to church rd after a brief period of sharing a place with my grandfathers brother and his family. My late grandparents eventually sold up around 2004 and moved to Wanstead to be closer to us which was the best thing they ever did. Before my grandmother passed not too long ago, I using my iPad showed her the first house that she and my late grandfather bought and Leyton in general. I remember where each petrol station was in the area and funnily enough all of them sold the lottery which is a really strong memory. Another one is that Percy Ingle has their factory on Church rd which is probably why they were better. Leyton has fond memories for me as both my parents worked so I was brought up by my grandparents going around Leyton, Leytonstone and Walthamstow. Where the matalan is in Leytonstone was a co-op when I was a baby to this day nearly a quarter of a century later I can remember the layout like where the cigarettes and lottery as it was huge. In Leyton on the high road was a kwik save and I remember that downstairs down three or four steps was the lottery and cigarettes in the corner and there might have been the checkouts as well. I might be talking about the lottery a fair bit but I was born in April 1994 and the lottery came about roughly November. I remember this all because I possess a photographic memory.
I used to live just off Hackney Wick and my family are from Old Ford. The transformation and the clean up while establishing a beautiful park and lasting legacy facilities are great for East London. I just hope it's not spoilt by greedy over development. Thanks for another smashing film John. We've been inspired by you to take walks around Wantstead Park, Claybury Park and yesterday we walked the Roding from Redbridge Lakes to Wantstead Park and back. Didn't know the route existed till we found your films. Just lovely in this remarkable weather. Thanks very much 😀
Love this video John, the last time I was in the park was during the 2012 games. Things have certainly moved on but you can still feel the spirit of the place. Thanks for capturing it so well!!
Raced around eastway many evenings in criterium events in 75/77,Eddy mercx and sid barras had a show down there,which was televised,mercx won the final sprint by a tyre width,was an excellent well designed course,just another memoir confined to the pages of history,
Direction of travel around eastway was always anti-clockwise,sometimes this was reversed,but it was never popular,cyclo-cross events were staged during the winter months,shoulder carrying a bike up muddy steep grassy banks was not my thing,but it did make for exceptional bike handling skills
Thanks so much for another great video! I live in Poland, but I spend some time in London a few years ago and just fell for this city. Your videos are among those that let me feel somehow connected to what's going on there.
Hi John, Your wanders, if I can call them that, are an absolute joy, you are a shining example of the good of youtube, a platform for the talented, that do not need anyones approval, just perfect, please never give up, thanks for making my day!
I believe that at one time, part of the Olympic site was Temple Mills marshalling yards, which then became the London International Freight Terminal in the 1960’s. My grandfather worked for British Rail at the marshalling yards, and in the 60’s, I worked for MAT Transport who operated out of Stratford LIFT. A very interesting walk. Thank you, John, it brought back many memories.
Great video , I did part of one of your walks yesterday, as I really have just been going shop , once a week , I walked around Filebrook Road and down to Hollow ponds and past the Leytonstone School and saw the original street lamps and great weather yesterday, I glad I did I enjoyed it .
Thank you John for your walk around the Olympic Park. It was synchronistic as I was watching Queen perform at the Olympic 's closing ceromony just before I got the notofication that you had uploaded a video at the Olympic Park..Freddie Mercury must have intervened!! Thanks again for all your uploads which are welcome even more on these lockdown days. Wishing your family continued good health
Lived in Clays Lane for 3 years back in the eighties. It was rumoured to have been built on an old rubbish dump with concomitant methane bubbles. This may be the reason why they didn't take the Olympic flame anywhere near it. The opening ceremony was epic but may have been more so had huge, gassy farts been accidentally incorporated. They also used to have nuclear waste trains rolling past in the wee hours. A lot of us were under certain influences much of the time!
thanks for sharing that Davie - there was all kind of things buried under there. Apparently there was around 2 meters of permafrost under the old Cold Storage depot
thanks John, I'm new to your work, really relaxing and interseting work you do. I'm a Scotsman living in Ireland now. London has changed so much in the last 50 years.
Great video John again John. My Grandfather worked at the CO-OP garage in Temple Mills lane servicing the HGV lorries. I also played in the school orchestra at Leyton Town hall on the main stage for a local music competition.
On the one hand it thrills me to see green fields and the never changing beauty of the river, but on the other, I'm filled with horror at the pace of building and development. I can only suppose we'll not stop until every square foot of this planet is covered with housing, and only then we'll maybe stop and think about birth control. or should I say humanities self control. Stratford for me was marshalling yards and endless 'two up two down' terraced houses, and all with an amazing church in the middle of the main road. As always a beautiful video with rich asides to wild flowers etc, great job my friend.
I know exactly how you feel and I still experience that mixture of emotions every time I go down there as all the while more towers are raised around the perimeter fencing the park in
@@JohnRogersWalks I'm not sure this is the place for debate, but I've seen Galleons Reach, Becton marshes etc when they were places of open land, in fact I used to play football on Becton's open fields. All are built on now, disappearing for an eternity. I live in Lincolnshire now, and every spare piece of land is in development for housing. No other creature on the planet does this. When and where will it end?
It can certainly feel disheartening at times Michael. I suppose one of the processes I go through when I walk is to look for signs of optimism. This is partly the journey described in my book where I chart some of the changes I've witnessed since the Olympics
Hi John Thanks for another intriguing walk. I worked down Marshgate Lane in the late ‘80s for a couple of years. I looked out over the now buried (I believe?) Pudding Mill river and my desk is resting deep below the Sir Trevor Brooking Stand! As a nineteen year old I would have much preferred the new environment as I found the Marshgate Lane area a bit foreboding and compared to my friends working in the City and West End decidedly down market! Now though, I can appreciate it for what it was, one of the last remnants of the industrial East End.
Wonderful video. I am so impressed by the new park areas. I don't like tidy new parks at all -so that is quite notable for me! Lockdown has kind of become nostalgic now, so I really enjoyed this. Thanks once again for the guided tour!
Watching this beautifully shot video on 3 October 2021, hard to believe lockdown was only a year ago, it seems more like 5 years ago. This time last year I had barely started to go out in my local area (Walthamstow) and even this year I only really started venturing into London thanks to Open House. I'm now back exploring London, wishing it was a bit warmer.
Just came across this today. The vast majority of my lockdown walks were from Leyton to the Olympic Park. I was already a frequent visitor to the park before lockdown and really appreciated that I had a nice beautiful place to go and make the most of my government approved lockdown walks 😊
Hello John The whole area at temple mills lane , was waste land , at the top end , by Eton manor sports ground, on the other side of the road , just past the pub (who’s name I can’t remember) but I can remember the name of the disco held there called the Lacey lady , at the back of the pub , there was a very well hidden army camp from the Second World War , I think it was called BULLY DEN or BULLY FEN , we used to climb over the fence and play around the disused buildings , there were accommodation buildings some stores type building and a bar/pub , I can remember the rubbish strewn around , old steel helmets and gas masks etc
John Rogers Hello John , no problem using that info , I spoke to a friend this afternoon, who used to live in Dunedin road the pub at the top end of Temple mills lane was the White Hart
This is weird; In the early '90s I lived in Oliver Road, almost next door to the old primary school, for a year or two, not knowing until I moved out that that was where my dad went to school as a kid, after which I lived in the Clays Lane housing association for 2/3 years. I had a flat overlooking the Eastway cycle track you mention, it was incredible to wake up to all that wildlife at the same time as being able to see Canary Wharf a couple of miles away (When it got bombed it rattled my windows and made me fall off my chair.) At that time there was a tower block (or two?) next to the housing association for student accommadation, and more interestingly a site set aside for travellers, I think it was one of the oldest legal travellers sites in the country, but don't quote me on that. The whole area was all a bit disconnected from everything else, the only way to get there from Leyton was to go down Temple Mills Lane, across a bridge over the train tracks for the marshalling yards. This was while the houses all the way from Wanstead, through Leytonstone and all the way alongside the Central Line tracks through to the Leyton Tube station were being bought up under compulsory purchase orders, boarded up and knocked down. Before I moved to Oliver Road I squatted quite a lot of those houses, and ended up in Claremont Road before we all got kicked out. If I remember correctly the Met' bussed in over 450 officers from all over Greater London just to clear us all out of that street, it came off of the main road, ran parallel to the tube tracks for a couple of hundred metres and then rejoined the main road. I Still remember the Tube drivers honking at us as they went by, as you said yourself a lot of the Central Line is above ground. At the time is seemed like a community was being divided in two but from what I see in your videos it's not all turned out for the worse, has it. Thanks a lot for your videos, I love that part of the country but I haven't been back in 30 years so It's great to watch your videos and see whats changed and whats stayed the same.
@@JohnRogersWalks I was mistaken about Oliver Road, it was Dawlish Road. Apparently my father lived towards the High Road end of Dawlish Road until he was about 6 years old. His father had been a pilot during the war in Hurricanes, mostly out in Burma towards the end, he got a job in the Tax Office afterwards and moved him and his wife, my father and his brother out to a new build in Harlow, just like so many other East End families at that time. The capital was so bombed out and they had a new family, I really struggle to imagine what it must have been like to have somewhere to live that was safe and quiet after the hell they'd all been through. We used to visit them quite often, and his parents, my great-grandparents, who'd moved to Harlow as well and lived just 'round the corner. My great grandfather had been a conscientious objector in World War One, but I think you were given a choice of service then because he was a stretcher bearer, and like a lot of them suffered from being gassed on the front lines. Apparently the family used to have a picture of his father, in a typical 19th century farmers smock, standing next to his favourite cow on Wanstead Flats. I suppose that would have been somewhere around the 1850's. It's all gone down hill for us since then, I don't even own a cow, let alone have a favourite.
Hi again John. I remember the Eastway track well. As well as watching the famous Eddy Merckx race there in 1977 I also raced there as an amateur riding for the Hainault Roads Club. It was a devil of a track. One mile in length, short flat sections, sharp turns and grinding slopes, all designed to destroy those of my calibre, or lack of. On a separate note my late father in laws parents had a pig farm off of Temple Mill Lane in the 1930's and 40's.
A fascinating area ... did a walk from Stratford to the velodrome then along the river Lea up to the pitches on Hackney Marshes .. a blisteringly hot day .. really amazed the the sheer size of the Olympic Park .. excellent video btw 😊👍
Thanks for all the great insights. The shell of Clarnico chocolate factory building is still on the bank of the lea near what was Carpenters Road. My grandfather was born in a dwelling connected to the Yardley perfume factory in Carpenters Road where his father worked as a perfume oil refiner!
I had a couple of mates that lived on Clays Lane in the 90s. They used to hold these estate-wide parties that were always pretty epic. As a kid, I ran around the Eastway cycle track a fair bit. It was used for trials by 3 or 4 of the local councils for selection to the mini London Marathon (the last 3 miles of the actual course). Trying to train on it while there were cycles whizzing past was a bit tricky at times though! I've been watching Doctor Who with my boy during lockdown too! We started at the beginning of _New Who_ and we're just coming to the end of the Tennant era. I've never been into the Who Shop either, even though I've walked past it countless times. One day...
I worked in that area for 30 years and left before the Olympics. I remember the speedway at the stadium and there was also a very dodgy nightclub under the stands called (I think) Cherry's, also a pub nightclub The Spooky Lady where that picture of Eaton Manor was taken. My mum used to work in Clarnico's as well.
@@davidmcguiness8862 and Carpenters Road was the smelliest road in London due to the factories that lined it and there was a special low height double deck bus that used to run along it, so it could clear the low bridge.
Of course you can, also there was a lab of the university at Mile End in a really desolate area of Marshgate Lane and it was rumoured they had a very small nuclear reactor in there, I remember the radiation warning signs.
I worked around here between 1997 and 2007. Clays Lane housed student accommodation at that time plus there was a large cold storage company called Frigoscandia. In Temple Mills Lane itself there was a large freight terminal with lots of sheds that trains rolled straight in and out of. Although heavily industrialised the area had a natural beauty about it. Its a real shame in some ways that all of that has made way for what it is now.
It’s hard to remember what that area looked like before the Olympics. There used to be quite a lot of allotments along the River Lea. There also used to be allotments and horses at Temple Mills and does anyone remember the Eastway sports centre? We used to play school sports there when I was in my last few years at secondary school 1989-1991. Another enjoyable video, thanks John.
John, have you read Esther Kinsky's "River"? It covers the edgelands surrounding the River Lea in a Sebaldian kind of way that you'd probably appreciate ...
Hi John, my Grandads brother Bill Sykes who was born in 1896 in Bow, lived on Fish Island in 1939 at 101 Monier Road. My Grandad was George Sykes, and he lived behind the Rose and Crown pub, Stroudley Walk, Bromley High Rd. E3. Thank you.
I lived on the Oliver close estate from 77-93. I’d love to tell you a bit about the old railways, factories, and traveller sites that existed on the site. The horses and the famous burger van on homerton rd. love the video.
@@JohnRogersWalks Behind Leyton Station used to be Corpus Christi School. They was always fighting with Rockult School. Both schools have since been shut and the sites redeveloped. The Traverler sites between Hackney dogs and the eastway. The railways that run from Stratford across Hackney marshes behind Oliver Close.
The best Internet content always leads one to discover gems one wouldn't otherwise have known about - thanks, John. Your link to your 2007 video (much enjoyed) led me to the music called Last Farm 5 by Kjartan Sveinsson (lovely atmospheric piece), and that led me to the short 17 min film called Last Farm (dir. Rúnar Rúnarsson). Visually beautiful (but being an Icelandic film, do not expect to be cheered up.) So I have done my own journey today and saw and heard many things.
Thanks, John for the trip. Daft as it sounds I have never walked in that area. In fact, only went to the Olympics once and never came back. I think I need to get my arse in gear and push these old legs of mine to explore. Thanks for the journey. Where the wild flower banks in flower yet as you chowed some wild flowers?
Does anyone remember the transport cafe on the A12 outside the Eastway Cycle track? I remember stopping there in my dads lorry. Memory fails me a bit but was the cafe an old lorry trailer or caravan? Can't remember that detail but i remember the door stop sausage sandwiches! Or did they seem big because i had smaller hands!
Ah Friday nights at the old Hackney Stadium for me when I was younger, I would be cheering on the Hackney Hawks speedway team with their international riders, the one I remember most was Bo Peterson the Dane, happy memories 🙂🙂
I love your films.. just watch the odd one to start the day! Thank you. I particularly liked the use of the Unicorn Heads song in this one. Great tune.
D'you know, as easy as it is to be cynical and dismissive of the endless redevelopment of London for some mythical affluent demographic that you never see [I'm convinced a lot of these luxury flats are empty and they just employ a caretaker to put the odd pot plant and folding chair on a balcony to push the desirability / prices up], this video has done much to reassure me that there are natural, or at least landscaped, pockets of trendy inner London being used by local inhabitants to enhance their free time with outdoor pursuits that need cost no more than a bit of muscular effort... and maybe an ice-cream. It is good to see walkers, cyclists, happy doggos just soaking in the vitamin D... I've spent a lot of time around Stratford - going right back to before the DLR and not experienced much in the way of community feeling, but then I've never been to the Olympic park.
Looks like a good place to potter around on a push bike in the summer.Very encouraging they're opening up cycling lanes all over the place and pedestrianisation....Is that new book going to have an audio version John?...I like my cycling and audiobooks. The last one was great.
Thanks john great video of the Olympic park totally transformed that area the uk should be proud of it must pay another visit up from kent with the family stay safe atb
Like many people I suppose I was annoyed at the initial look of the area - and there are, of course, still problems wrt development that excludes as much social housing as we would like - but after 8 years it's become a bit bedded in and a bit overgrown in places, which is nice. And access to the various water-ways, which were previously very difficult to get to, is very welcome.
Another superb soundtrack for the walk. Someone I know walked from Woodford Green > Barking Reach > Wanstead Flats on VE Day - 25km - all in under 1 hour. You thought about making a video walking from summit of Shooter's Hill to the summit of Maryon Park?
Thanks. Are you sure there were walking and not flying, that'd be impressive on a bike? I did a walk from Shooters Hill to Woolwich with Iain Sinclair a couple of years across that crossed the summit of Maryon Park ua-cam.com/video/rSNdrIF0i2I/v-deo.html
@@JohnRogersWalks (Wrote 'under 1 hour' in case anyone reading was called Boris, Sadiq or Police Helicopter - was 5 hours. Thanks for this link, John. Putting it on now)
Used to go to the White Hart in Temple Mills Lane John. God knows what it was called back in the early 90's. Raving to the early hours in seemingly the middle of nowhere (as far as London goes). Very odd place, essentially a Victorian/Edwardian pub with the rear wall knocked through into an industrial unit. The metal sides used to rattle to the music. Probably not your cup of tea but I have fond memories of the place. Definitely one of the stranger places for a late pint I've been to :-) Stay well.
@@JohnRogersWalks That's it. I saw that too. I live in Ruislip now an aprently there's a piece of the arch on a farm around here somewhere. Might be an idea for a walk when the virus is done. Looking for the arch.
Hang in there. Apparently, Scotland is lifting its exercise restrictions from Monday so that people can go out for as many times as they choose (all other rules apply). I'm sure it won't be long before you get the same too.
Any idea of the relative proportion of 'Affordable Housing' among all these new developments, in comparison to when the now vanished Tenants Housing Co-OP was still in situ John?
In percentage terms it’s naturally significantly lower as Clays Lane was a tenant-owned housing co-op so it was 100% affordable. The percentage of social housing varies in each development (affordable housing can be 80% of market rate which in this area is far from affordable for anyone on the average London wage). I believe the average is somewhere around 30% Affordable Housing and this is divided between social rent, intermediate rent and shared ownership. But this is probably changing as they’re being built and put on the market
Back in the 70`s I worked for MFI on the corner of Marsh Gate Lane by the flyover. There were many small businesses there including Bowman And Webber from whom MFI got all the glass for coffee/dining tables.There was W.Curley & Son`s fat and bone merchants who collected butchers waste,and rendered it down for soap.When the wind was in a certain direction the smell was staggering. As an afterthought MFI. PLC became Howden Joinery in 2006,and sold the stores to a private group.It was this private venture group that went bust in 2008 same day as Woolies`.
thanks for that info Anthony. Marshgate Lane is one of the few areas when you can still get a sense of what it looked like, if not smelt like. There's a coffee roasters down there somewhere (near Carpenters I think) that fills the air with a quite different smell.
Nice video and well presented, this is an area that was close to my heart for over 50 years, until the Olympics came along, twice a week I would make my way over from Upton Park, Wednesday's for a walk and Friday night to Hackney Speedway, I have so many fantastic memories of my times at the old stadium, it broke my heart when it all got swept away, the Olympic "regeneration" of this area is very much subjective depending on you're point of view, yes even I will concede that the whole area definitely looks much prettier now than it used to in past but where once was an industrial heartland within the East End of London and home to hundreds of both big and small businesses and even more importantly employing literally thousand upon thousands of people has now been replaced with acre after acre of open space blocks of flats and well not much else to be honest, oh yes, apart that is from an Olympic stadium white elephant legacy that even to this day is STILL costing the good old tax payer MILLIONS of pounds of losses in running costs EVERY month of the year, but as I said at the start, everyone has a different opinion and no doubt many would disagree with mine but to my way of seeing what has been done in this area well, different, YES, prettier, DEFINITELY, but is it really REGENERATION ? or simply just REPLACEMENT ?.
That’s a really well reasoned argument Robert. I’m gradually coming to terms with it, but that’s more a case of acceptance. The lost skilled jobs and trades simply haven’t been replaced and as you note many of the new flats appear to be empty based on how many lights are on at night
good question. Not so much from this part of London but plenty from Crouch End, Hornsey, Highgate - there are a couple of videos on my channel from that area where I share those stories
Hi John. Loving the extremely local walks. I’m living down by thatched house so I’ve also watched the Olympic Park change over the years. I’m cycling in the park at night nearly every night and it’s truly beautiful. Lockdown has given me the chance to explore every last corner. Mostly empty of folk. You mentioned you wanted comments from people re the old area before the Olympic development. I highly recommend a film by St Etienne on warp films called “what did you do today Mervyn Day” I think it’s called. I’m sure you’re aware of it but if not I have a dvd (remember those?)copy. Let me know and I can drop it through your letterbox ( I’ll disinfect it first of course) Btw: don’t bother with the Doctor Who shop. I took my boys there. Not good.
I love Mervyn Day - many thanks for the offer of loaning the DVD. I remember watching it at the Barbican. We were fortunate to screen it at Leytonstone Library in October and Paul Kelly did a great Q&A
A walk from rathbone market to barking would be good to see, from Abbey arms to Plaistow park to Newham bookshop/Dr Who shop, west ham statue upton park to the redevelopment of the upton park ground also the Boleyn Pub, which is beleived to be near to the site of Boleyn Castle where Anne Boleyn was resident with many of the local streets having Tudor named like Cleeves Road, Arrogon Road, Katherine Road, Boleyn Road, Tudor Road and then through to East ham and onto Barking
Hi John I read on the internet that the Corporation of London have bought for £100m 42 acres in Dagenham for Smithfield, Billingsgate and Spitafields Markets to move to. Do you know if this is correct ? ……..Loved the video Cheers Kev
Yes you are correct, they are all being moved to a site called Beam Reach, it partly covers land that was formally owned by the Ford motor company who now only have a very small works at Dagenham, they are building a virtual "new town" on the site including a new railway station, hundreds of new flats are already under construction, the elevated section of the A13 passes right past it .
Hello again John I have been racking the depth of my small brain , the army camp in temple mills lane was called bullyfen , I did google the name and some info regarding it being for civil defence training , my dad did know about it , but he’s long gone now , not a lot of info on it , must be someone who knows all about out there ! Anyway I forgot to thank you for the video , a light at the end of the Covid tunnel stay safe
I'm a disabled man going in a wheelchair bike. I'm not vaccinated even a single dose. I was every day outside during Covid Circus and I'm still alive...
Huge demographic changes taking place in London/England. Sad to see these lovely green spaces go to make way for the newcomers. What will the population be in a couple of decades? Frightening really.
6:35 Yep Lee Valley HTC is a special place when the temporary seating is in and capacity goes from 4,000-10,000. I know I've been there! People come from all over. arenagroup.com/2018/08/07/arena-expand-lee-valley-for-vitality-hockey-womens-world-cup/ GB Hockey still use the venue for the FIH Pro League, but when the last time that there was lots of demand for tickets the match was moved to Harlequins Rugby Club - they've found a way of laying astro turf over grass pitches and leaving the grass undamaged. Pics on the links below pauldas.tumblr.com/GBvsAus pauldas.tumblr.com/GBvsNz
Lived in Leyton for 29 years and have never been to the Olympic Park and never will. When the Olympic Park was purposed most locals knew it wasn't for them it was for investors, the rich and "the new trendy virtue signalling east Londoners" The Olympic Park is just a newly created "space" for new east londoners to play and like most of this area it's aim is now to cater for these "new east londoners" with ridiculous closed road like Francis road , million pound cycle lanes the creation of "villages" for these groups. Meanwhile most local business and people are leaving the area as rents rocket, parking restrictions are introduced , the only people who are staying are those who where fortunate enough to have a home. My local garage man has been forced to leave as he clients get parking tickets his arch is now a gastro pub, the odd job man who had two vans got one of them towed parking outside his business he cost him £1200 to get it back. when he applied for a permit they wanted £1800 a year for the second van . the cost of doing business in the area is not worth it for the working man and women, His shop is now a £3.90 coffee shop. My local cafe has shut down due to the parking restrictions. The communities that where once there are disappearing fast and we are left with the rich to manipulate the area as they wish to extract as much profit as possible. but what am I complaining about that's progress right?
John. Not only are your walks enjoyable for those of us who used to live in the area many decades ago, and have moved away - but also an invaluable historic record of 'now'.
Thank you John, for another short burst of sanity and interesting/informative wonderfulness during these troubled times.
It's amazing how it is forever changing around that area.
Thank you too, for including the various maps and vocal explanations of the locations of you were filming (This is so valuable for the viewers, so as to get their bearings during your walk.).
Wishing you a good week ahead, stay safe! 🙂👍
and thanks to you Rottie for watching and commenting, it's this exchange after the video that makes it even more rewarding for me
@@JohnRogersWalks No problem. Credit where credit is due! 🎖️ 🙂👍
Hi John
The area of Temple Mills was my playground when I was a youngster over 50 years ago. The Eastway Cycle Track and Clays Lane estate was built on the site of a Victorian rubbish tip which led to Bully Point on the River Lea. It was a great place to explore. It was also full of wildlife. My Mum used to work at Clarnico's and I used to go with my Dad to Hackney Speedway (Make it a date Friday at Eight). There used to be a pub at Temple Mills Lane, The White Hart, it turned into The Flamingo (a dodgy nightclub). So many great memories of that area its quite hard to come to terms with it now. I haven't really explored the Olympic Park and after watching your video its about time I did. Thanks as always. Gary
Thanks very much for that Gary
I lived on Eton Manor across from the White Hart. Lots of fun memories.
We sprayed all the wild flower with a soil and seed back in 2012 at the QE2 park we was the last guy's to dig up shrubs and roses from the Eastway cycle centre before the bulldozer moved in and replanted then at the waterworks Lea valley centre in 2007 very sad day
Thanks for sharing that Andy - poignant memory
My mum's family when they arrived in 1969 lived a few streets down from Leyton station and eventually moved closer to church rd after a brief period of sharing a place with my grandfathers brother and his family. My late grandparents eventually sold up around 2004 and moved to Wanstead to be closer to us which was the best thing they ever did. Before my grandmother passed not too long ago, I using my iPad showed her the first house that she and my late grandfather bought and Leyton in general. I remember where each petrol station was in the area and funnily enough all of them sold the lottery which is a really strong memory. Another one is that Percy Ingle has their factory on Church rd which is probably why they were better.
Leyton has fond memories for me as both my parents worked so I was brought up by my grandparents going around Leyton, Leytonstone and Walthamstow. Where the matalan is in Leytonstone was a co-op when I was a baby to this day nearly a quarter of a century later I can remember the layout like where the cigarettes and lottery as it was huge.
In Leyton on the high road was a kwik save and I remember that downstairs down three or four steps was the lottery and cigarettes in the corner and there might have been the checkouts as well.
I might be talking about the lottery a fair bit but I was born in April 1994 and the lottery came about roughly November. I remember this all because I possess a photographic memory.
I love these videos. Looking forward to your book
thanks May
I used to live just off Hackney Wick and my family are from Old Ford. The transformation and the clean up while establishing a beautiful park and lasting legacy facilities are great for East London. I just hope it's not spoilt by greedy over development. Thanks for another smashing film John. We've been inspired by you to take walks around Wantstead Park, Claybury Park and yesterday we walked the Roding from Redbridge Lakes to Wantstead Park and back. Didn't know the route existed till we found your films. Just lovely in this remarkable weather. Thanks very much 😀
Great to hear you’re doing some of the Walks Paul - the Roding is such a gem.
Thanks John, great walk. I love the Olympic Park, part of my daily commute. Best on a winter morning with no one around and a mist over the river.
cheers Tim
'Wherever that may be', thanks John.The one thing that never changes is nature, and we must be thankful for that.
ah, we are thankful indeed Little Acorns, the walks will continue whatever else is going on in the world
Love this video John, the last time I was in the park was during the 2012 games. Things have certainly moved on but you can still feel the spirit of the place. Thanks for capturing it so well!!
Thanks Brendan
Raced around eastway many evenings in criterium events in 75/77,Eddy mercx and sid barras had a show down there,which was televised,mercx won the final sprint by a tyre width,was an excellent well designed course,just another memoir confined to the pages of history,
that's a great addition to the story of the area Graham
Direction of travel around eastway was always anti-clockwise,sometimes this was reversed,but it was never popular,cyclo-cross events were staged during the winter months,shoulder carrying a bike up muddy steep grassy banks was not my thing,but it did make for exceptional bike handling skills
Thanks for continuing these, it keeps my head on straight
Thanks so much for another great video! I live in Poland, but I spend some time in London a few years ago and just fell for this city. Your videos are among those that let me feel somehow connected to what's going on there.
Just wondrous John. The angels rest on your shoulders as you walk.
Beautiful image Stephen, thanks
Hi John, Your wanders, if I can call them that, are an absolute joy, you are a shining example of the good of youtube, a platform for the talented, that do not need anyones approval, just perfect, please never give up, thanks for making my day!
Thanks so much for that Scott - very kind of you, means a lot
I believe that at one time, part of the Olympic site was Temple Mills marshalling yards, which then became the London International Freight Terminal in the 1960’s. My grandfather worked for British Rail at the marshalling yards, and in the 60’s, I worked for MAT Transport who operated out of Stratford LIFT. A very interesting walk. Thank you, John, it brought back many memories.
I loved that end shot. The Leyton sign in the sunset. Superb.
thanks Neil
Oh, sweet johnny! How good to see u again.
Cheers Syed
Great video , I did part of one of your walks yesterday, as I really have just been going shop , once a week , I walked around Filebrook Road and down to Hollow ponds and past the Leytonstone School and saw the original street lamps and great weather yesterday, I glad I did I enjoyed it .
Brilliant Pauline, it's a great walk
Thank you John for your walk around the Olympic Park. It was synchronistic as I was watching Queen perform at the Olympic 's closing ceromony just before I got the notofication that you had uploaded a video at the Olympic Park..Freddie Mercury must have intervened!! Thanks again for all your uploads which are welcome even more on these lockdown days. Wishing your family continued good health
Wonderful bit of serendipidity Humble. And wishing good health to you and yours too
@@JohnRogersWalks Thank you
Lived in Clays Lane for 3 years back in the eighties. It was rumoured to have been built on an old rubbish dump with concomitant methane bubbles. This may be the reason why they didn't take the Olympic flame anywhere near it. The opening ceremony was epic but may have been more so had huge, gassy farts been accidentally incorporated. They also used to have nuclear waste trains rolling past in the wee hours. A lot of us were under certain influences much of the time!
thanks for sharing that Davie - there was all kind of things buried under there. Apparently there was around 2 meters of permafrost under the old Cold Storage depot
thanks John, I'm new to your work, really relaxing and interseting work you do. I'm a Scotsman living in Ireland now. London has changed so much in the last 50 years.
Thanks Scott - great to hear you’re enjoying the videos over there in Ireland
Great video John again John. My Grandfather worked at the CO-OP garage in Temple Mills lane servicing the HGV lorries. I also played in the school orchestra at Leyton Town hall on the main stage for a local music competition.
Thanks for sharing that David
On the one hand it thrills me to see green fields and the never changing beauty of the river, but on the other, I'm filled with horror at the pace of building and development. I can only suppose we'll not stop until every square foot of this planet is covered with housing, and only then we'll maybe stop and think about birth control. or should I say humanities self control.
Stratford for me was marshalling yards and endless 'two up two down' terraced houses, and all with an amazing church in the middle of the main road. As always a beautiful video with rich asides to wild flowers etc, great job my friend.
I should learn to spell first and then write...:-D
I know exactly how you feel and I still experience that mixture of emotions every time I go down there as all the while more towers are raised around the perimeter fencing the park in
@@JohnRogersWalks I'm not sure this is the place for debate, but I've seen Galleons Reach, Becton marshes etc when they were places of open land, in fact I used to play football on Becton's open fields. All are built on now, disappearing for an eternity. I live in Lincolnshire now, and every spare piece of land is in development for housing. No other creature on the planet does this. When and where will it end?
It can certainly feel disheartening at times Michael. I suppose one of the processes I go through when I walk is to look for signs of optimism. This is partly the journey described in my book where I chart some of the changes I've witnessed since the Olympics
Your videos are one of the highlights of my week, Nice one john :)
Wonderful to hear - many thanks
Hi John, something in your shop should have "The Sacred River Lea" written on it. A tee shirt maybe with one of your photos of the river?
great idea brY an - thanks
Hi John
Thanks for another intriguing walk. I worked down Marshgate Lane in the late ‘80s for a couple of years. I looked out over the now buried (I believe?) Pudding Mill river and my desk is resting deep below the Sir Trevor Brooking Stand! As a nineteen year old I would have much preferred the new environment as I found the Marshgate Lane area a bit foreboding and compared to my friends working in the City and West End decidedly down market! Now though, I can appreciate it for what it was, one of the last remnants of the industrial East End.
thanks for sharing that Anthony
Looked it up, they've done more than bury Pudding Mill river it's been back filled in, physically lost forever!
Wonderful video. I am so impressed by the new park areas. I don't like tidy new parks at all -so that is quite notable for me! Lockdown has kind of become nostalgic now, so I really enjoyed this. Thanks once again for the guided tour!
Watching this beautifully shot video on 3 October 2021, hard to believe lockdown was only a year ago, it seems more like 5 years ago. This time last year I had barely started to go out in my local area (Walthamstow) and even this year I only really started venturing into London thanks to Open House. I'm now back exploring London, wishing it was a bit warmer.
Just came across this today. The vast majority of my lockdown walks were from Leyton to the Olympic Park. I was already a frequent visitor to the park before lockdown and really appreciated that I had a nice beautiful place to go and make the most of my government approved lockdown walks 😊
Hello John
The whole area at temple mills lane , was waste land , at the top end , by Eton manor sports ground, on the other side of the road , just past the pub (who’s name I can’t remember) but I can remember the name of the disco held there called the Lacey lady , at the back of the pub , there was a very well hidden army camp from the Second World War , I think it was called BULLY DEN or BULLY FEN , we used to climb over the fence and play around the disused buildings , there were accommodation buildings some stores type building and a bar/pub , I can remember the rubbish strewn around , old steel helmets and gas masks etc
Thanks for sharing that Richard - do you mind if I mention this in the book?
John Rogers Hello John , no problem using that info , I spoke to a friend this afternoon, who used to live in Dunedin road the pub at the top end of Temple mills lane was the White Hart
thanks Richard
This is weird; In the early '90s I lived in Oliver Road, almost next door to the old primary school, for a year or two, not knowing until I moved out that that was where my dad went to school as a kid, after which I lived in the Clays Lane housing association for 2/3 years. I had a flat overlooking the Eastway cycle track you mention, it was incredible to wake up to all that wildlife at the same time as being able to see Canary Wharf a couple of miles away (When it got bombed it rattled my windows and made me fall off my chair.)
At that time there was a tower block (or two?) next to the housing association for student accommadation, and more interestingly a site set aside for travellers, I think it was one of the oldest legal travellers sites in the country, but don't quote me on that. The whole area was all a bit disconnected from everything else, the only way to get there from Leyton was to go down Temple Mills Lane, across a bridge over the train tracks for the marshalling yards.
This was while the houses all the way from Wanstead, through Leytonstone and all the way alongside the Central Line tracks through to the Leyton Tube station were being bought up under compulsory purchase orders, boarded up and knocked down. Before I moved to Oliver Road I squatted quite a lot of those houses, and ended up in Claremont Road before we all got kicked out. If I remember correctly the Met' bussed in over 450 officers from all over Greater London just to clear us all out of that street, it came off of the main road, ran parallel to the tube tracks for a couple of hundred metres and then rejoined the main road. I Still remember the Tube drivers honking at us as they went by, as you said yourself a lot of the Central Line is above ground.
At the time is seemed like a community was being divided in two but from what I see in your videos it's not all turned out for the worse, has it.
Thanks a lot for your videos, I love that part of the country but I haven't been back in 30 years so It's great to watch your videos and see whats changed and whats stayed the same.
thanks for sharing that brilliant bit of social history
@@JohnRogersWalks I was mistaken about Oliver Road, it was Dawlish Road. Apparently my father lived towards the High Road end of Dawlish Road until he was about 6 years old. His father had been a pilot during the war in Hurricanes, mostly out in Burma towards the end, he got a job in the Tax Office afterwards and moved him and his wife, my father and his brother out to a new build in Harlow, just like so many other East End families at that time. The capital was so bombed out and they had a new family, I really struggle to imagine what it must have been like to have somewhere to live that was safe and quiet after the hell they'd all been through. We used to visit them quite often, and his parents, my great-grandparents, who'd moved to Harlow as well and lived just 'round the corner. My great grandfather had been a conscientious objector in World War One, but I think you were given a choice of service then because he was a stretcher bearer, and like a lot of them suffered from being gassed on the front lines. Apparently the family used to have a picture of his father, in a typical 19th century farmers smock, standing next to his favourite cow on Wanstead Flats. I suppose that would have been somewhere around the 1850's. It's all gone down hill for us since then, I don't even own a cow, let alone have a favourite.
Hi again John. I remember the Eastway track well. As well as watching the famous Eddy Merckx race there in 1977 I also raced there as an amateur riding for the Hainault Roads Club. It was a devil of a track. One mile in length, short flat sections, sharp turns and grinding slopes, all designed to destroy those of my calibre, or lack of. On a separate note my late father in laws parents had a pig farm off of Temple Mill Lane in the 1930's and 40's.
Thanks for sharing that Richard - I'm glad that the last days of the track were captured by Paul Kelly in his film What Have You Done Today Mervyn Day
A fascinating area ... did a walk from Stratford to the velodrome then along the river Lea up to the pitches on Hackney Marshes .. a blisteringly hot day .. really amazed the the sheer size of the Olympic Park .. excellent video btw 😊👍
thanks N T
Thanks John; the early Summer vibe is perfectly represented. Much appreciated.
Thanks Arthur
May 8th was also my B-Day--thanks for the gift walk, always a treat!
Happy birthday! for last week
All the best John, thanks, see you on the next one
Thanks Leslie
Thanks for all the great insights. The shell of Clarnico chocolate factory building is still on the bank of the lea near what was Carpenters Road. My grandfather was born in a dwelling connected to the Yardley perfume factory in Carpenters Road where his father worked as a perfume oil refiner!
I had a couple of mates that lived on Clays Lane in the 90s. They used to hold these estate-wide parties that were always pretty epic. As a kid, I ran around the Eastway cycle track a fair bit. It was used for trials by 3 or 4 of the local councils for selection to the mini London Marathon (the last 3 miles of the actual course). Trying to train on it while there were cycles whizzing past was a bit tricky at times though!
I've been watching Doctor Who with my boy during lockdown too! We started at the beginning of _New Who_ and we're just coming to the end of the Tennant era. I've never been into the Who Shop either, even though I've walked past it countless times. One day...
I worked in that area for 30 years and left before the Olympics. I remember the speedway at the stadium and there was also a very dodgy nightclub under the stands called (I think) Cherry's, also a pub nightclub The Spooky Lady where that picture of Eaton Manor was taken. My mum used to work in Clarnico's as well.
peejstar I also remember Cherries and the Spooky lady (Flamingos) all very risky places to drink in the 70s - 80s
@@davidmcguiness8862 and Carpenters Road was the smelliest road in London due to the factories that lined it and there was a special low height double deck bus that used to run along it, so it could clear the low bridge.
Thanks for sharing that - adds a great bit of colour to the area. Do you mind if I mention this in my book?
Of course you can, also there was a lab of the university at Mile End in a really desolate area of Marshgate Lane and it was rumoured they had a very small nuclear reactor in there, I remember the radiation warning signs.
Thank you for a wonderful walk I enjoy your
UA-cam what a wonderful look at the park
I worked around here between 1997 and 2007. Clays Lane housed student accommodation at that time plus there was a large cold storage company called Frigoscandia. In Temple Mills Lane itself there was a large freight terminal with lots of sheds that trains rolled straight in and out of. Although heavily industrialised the area had a natural beauty about it. Its a real shame in some ways that all of that has made way for what it is now.
It’s hard to remember what that area looked like before the Olympics. There used to be quite a lot of allotments along the River Lea. There also used to be allotments and horses at Temple Mills and does anyone remember the Eastway sports centre? We used to play school sports there when I was in my last few years at secondary school 1989-1991. Another enjoyable video, thanks John.
thanks for sharing those memories
John, have you read Esther Kinsky's "River"? It covers the edgelands surrounding the River Lea in a Sebaldian kind of way that you'd probably appreciate ...
I really need to read it Weldon, we were due to do a walk together to make a video but it unfortunately had to be cancelled
@@JohnRogersWalks It's a good 'un!
brilliant presentation. thank you
Thank you
This channel is definitely my favourite discovery of the lockdown. 😁
thanks Traci
Hi John, my Grandads brother Bill Sykes who was born in 1896 in Bow, lived on Fish Island in 1939 at 101 Monier Road. My Grandad was George Sykes, and he lived behind the Rose and Crown pub, Stroudley Walk, Bromley High Rd. E3. Thank you.
I lived on the Oliver close estate from 77-93. I’d love to tell you a bit about the old railways, factories, and traveller sites that existed on the site. The horses and the famous burger van on homerton rd. love the video.
ah, that was where they discovered the Bronze Age settlement.
@@JohnRogersWalks Behind Leyton Station used to be Corpus Christi School. They was always fighting with Rockult School. Both schools have since been shut and the sites redeveloped. The Traverler sites between Hackney dogs and the eastway. The railways that run from Stratford across Hackney marshes behind Oliver Close.
The best Internet content always leads one to discover gems one wouldn't otherwise have known about - thanks, John. Your link to your 2007 video (much enjoyed) led me to the music called Last Farm 5 by Kjartan Sveinsson (lovely atmospheric piece), and that led me to the short 17 min film called Last Farm (dir. Rúnar Rúnarsson). Visually beautiful (but being an Icelandic film, do not expect to be cheered up.) So I have done my own journey today and saw and heard many things.
what a great journey Mariana
Thanks, John for the trip. Daft as it sounds I have never walked in that area. In fact, only went to the Olympics once and never came back. I think I need to get my arse in gear and push these old legs of mine to explore. Thanks for the journey. Where the wild flower banks in flower yet as you chowed some wild flowers?
Does anyone remember the transport cafe on the A12 outside the Eastway Cycle track? I remember stopping there in my dads lorry. Memory fails me a bit but was the cafe an old lorry trailer or caravan? Can't remember that detail but i remember the door stop sausage sandwiches! Or did they seem big because i had smaller hands!
Ah Friday nights at the old Hackney Stadium for me when I was younger, I would be cheering on the Hackney Hawks speedway team with their international riders, the one I remember most was Bo Peterson the Dane, happy memories 🙂🙂
I love your films.. just watch the odd one to start the day! Thank you. I particularly liked the use of the Unicorn Heads song in this one. Great tune.
Thanks very much Jimmy
@@JohnRogersWalks very welcome. I know you've said you like to choose your music well.
Great as always John
thanks Jon
D'you know, as easy as it is to be cynical and dismissive of the endless redevelopment of London for some mythical affluent demographic that you never see [I'm convinced a lot of these luxury flats are empty and they just employ a caretaker to put the odd pot plant and folding chair on a balcony to push the desirability / prices up], this video has done much to reassure me that there are natural, or at least landscaped, pockets of trendy inner London being used by local inhabitants to enhance their free time with outdoor pursuits that need cost no more than a bit of muscular effort... and maybe an ice-cream. It is good to see walkers, cyclists, happy doggos just soaking in the vitamin D... I've spent a lot of time around Stratford - going right back to before the DLR and not experienced much in the way of community feeling, but then I've never been to the Olympic park.
Great walk thanks
Looking forward to the new book. Really enjoying This Other London. Inspired me to start my own walking channel...
That’s fantastic to hear Peter
Looks like a good place to potter around on a push bike in the summer.Very encouraging they're opening up cycling lanes all over the place and pedestrianisation....Is that new book going to have an audio version John?...I like my cycling and audiobooks.
The last one was great.
Thanks Monkey Trousers. I’d like to do another audiobook, have to see how plausible it is without HarperCollins behind me
Come On You Irons ⚒
mykolakanyuk ⚒
Bloody good gent.. I’m a Leyton boy but don’t live there anymore
Thanks john great video of the Olympic park totally transformed that area the uk should be proud of it must pay another visit up from kent with the family stay safe atb
Thanks Paul
John Rogers I like your videos I started watching those
Like many people I suppose I was annoyed at the initial look of the area - and there are, of course, still problems wrt development that excludes as much social housing as we would like - but after 8 years it's become a bit bedded in and a bit overgrown in places, which is nice. And access to the various water-ways, which were previously very difficult to get to, is very welcome.
Another superb soundtrack for the walk. Someone I know walked from Woodford Green > Barking Reach > Wanstead Flats on VE Day - 25km - all in under 1 hour.
You thought about making a video walking from summit of Shooter's Hill to the summit of Maryon Park?
Thanks. Are you sure there were walking and not flying, that'd be impressive on a bike?
I did a walk from Shooters Hill to Woolwich with Iain Sinclair a couple of years across that crossed the summit of Maryon Park ua-cam.com/video/rSNdrIF0i2I/v-deo.html
@@JohnRogersWalks (Wrote 'under 1 hour' in case anyone reading was called Boris, Sadiq or Police Helicopter - was 5 hours. Thanks for this link, John. Putting it on now)
that's still some good going
Great to hear that your next book is almost finished John. Very enjoyable film. Cheers. 👍 Dave
Thanks David - sat down at my desk now to write and replying to comments to ease my way into the process
New site for spitalfields market will be Barking Riverside I believe
thanks for the info Raj
Used to go to the White Hart in Temple Mills Lane John. God knows what it was called back in the early 90's. Raving to the early hours in seemingly the middle of nowhere (as far as London goes). Very odd place, essentially a Victorian/Edwardian pub with the rear wall knocked through into an industrial unit. The metal sides used to rattle to the music. Probably not your cup of tea but I have fond memories of the place. Definitely one of the stranger places for a late pint I've been to :-) Stay well.
thanks for sharing this Mouxbar
That would have been Club Telepathy @ Wax :)
Creator on the rise
Another enjoyable video John 🤓👍
Thanks Colin
That was a great stroll John.. 👍😎
thanks Jag
Dear John. Thankyou.
my pleasure William
wonderful....
Thanks john👍keep safe.
Cheers Dave
Like the wildflower minimeadows sadly dying out these days. Great video.
Thanks John
Sorry for a second comment, but I just thought of something. Isn't a piece of the Euston Arch in a river around the Olympic Park somewhere?
that's right - I think there's a video with Dan Cruiskshank showing it being raised from the river
@@JohnRogersWalks That's it. I saw that too. I live in Ruislip now an aprently there's a piece of the arch on a farm around here somewhere. Might be an idea for a walk when the virus is done. Looking for the arch.
Hang in there. Apparently, Scotland is lifting its exercise restrictions from Monday so that people can go out for as many times as they choose (all other rules apply). I'm sure it won't be long before you get the same too.
@Start, lovely building. If you run out of subject matter, you can introduce us to the figures portrayed in marble.
Any idea of the relative proportion of 'Affordable Housing' among all these new developments, in comparison to when the now vanished Tenants Housing Co-OP was still in situ John?
In percentage terms it’s naturally significantly lower as Clays Lane was a tenant-owned housing co-op so it was 100% affordable. The percentage of social housing varies in each development (affordable housing can be 80% of market rate which in this area is far from affordable for anyone on the average London wage). I believe the average is somewhere around 30% Affordable Housing and this is divided between social rent, intermediate rent and shared ownership. But this is probably changing as they’re being built and put on the market
P.S; I think I've got Oliver Road mixed up with somewhere else, any idea where I'd be able to find a map of Leyton during the 1990's?
Back in the 70`s I worked for MFI on the corner of Marsh Gate Lane by the flyover. There were many small businesses there including Bowman And Webber from whom MFI got all the glass for coffee/dining tables.There was W.Curley & Son`s fat and bone merchants who collected butchers waste,and rendered it down for soap.When the wind was in a certain direction the smell was staggering. As an afterthought MFI. PLC became Howden Joinery in 2006,and sold the stores to a private group.It was this private venture group that went bust in 2008 same day as Woolies`.
thanks for that info Anthony. Marshgate Lane is one of the few areas when you can still get a sense of what it looked like, if not smelt like. There's a coffee roasters down there somewhere (near Carpenters I think) that fills the air with a quite different smell.
Nice video and well presented, this is an area that was close to my heart for over 50 years, until the Olympics came along, twice a week I would make my way over from Upton Park, Wednesday's for a walk and Friday night to Hackney Speedway, I have so many fantastic memories of my times at the old stadium, it broke my heart when it all got swept away, the Olympic "regeneration" of this area is very much subjective depending on you're point of view, yes even I will concede that the whole area definitely looks much prettier now than it used to in past but where once was an industrial heartland within the East End of London and home to hundreds of both big and small businesses and even more importantly employing literally thousand upon thousands of people has now been replaced with acre after acre of open space blocks of flats and well not much else to be honest, oh yes, apart that is from an Olympic stadium white elephant legacy that even to this day is STILL costing the good old tax payer MILLIONS of pounds of losses in running costs EVERY month of the year, but as I said at the start, everyone has a different opinion and no doubt many would disagree with mine but to my way of seeing what has been done in this area well, different, YES, prettier, DEFINITELY, but is it really REGENERATION ? or simply just REPLACEMENT ?.
That’s a really well reasoned argument Robert. I’m gradually coming to terms with it, but that’s more a case of acceptance. The lost skilled jobs and trades simply haven’t been replaced and as you note many of the new flats appear to be empty based on how many lights are on at night
Very very nice .
Watcha John - keep up the good work.
Thanks John
My old stomping grounds. Do you have any spooky London stories/walks to share? :)
good question. Not so much from this part of London but plenty from Crouch End, Hornsey, Highgate - there are a couple of videos on my channel from that area where I share those stories
Great video.😊
Thanks
Do you attend Leyton Orient games?
Only once or twice a season I'm afraid, but always really enjoy it
Hi John. Loving the extremely local walks. I’m living down by thatched house so I’ve also watched the Olympic Park change over the years. I’m cycling in the park at night nearly every night and it’s truly beautiful. Lockdown has given me the chance to explore every last corner. Mostly empty of folk. You mentioned you wanted comments from people re the old area before the Olympic development. I highly recommend a film by St Etienne on warp films called “what did you do today Mervyn Day” I think it’s called. I’m sure you’re aware of it but if not I have a dvd (remember those?)copy. Let me know and I can drop it through your letterbox ( I’ll disinfect it first of course)
Btw: don’t bother with the Doctor Who shop. I took my boys there. Not good.
I love Mervyn Day - many thanks for the offer of loaning the DVD. I remember watching it at the Barbican. We were fortunate to screen it at Leytonstone Library in October and Paul Kelly did a great Q&A
Very good information please S M thanks
thanks for watching Bavan
A walk from rathbone market to barking would be good to see, from Abbey arms to Plaistow park to Newham bookshop/Dr Who shop, west ham statue upton park to the redevelopment of the upton park ground also the Boleyn Pub, which is beleived to be near to the site of Boleyn Castle where Anne Boleyn was resident with many of the local streets having Tudor named like Cleeves Road, Arrogon Road, Katherine Road, Boleyn Road, Tudor Road and then through to East ham and onto Barking
That sounds like a classic walk Raj - thanks
Hi John I read on the internet that the Corporation of London have bought for £100m 42 acres in Dagenham for Smithfield, Billingsgate and Spitafields Markets to move to. Do you know if this is correct ? ……..Loved the video Cheers Kev
Yes you are correct, they are all being moved to a site called Beam Reach, it partly covers land that was formally owned by the Ford motor company who now only have a very small works at Dagenham, they are building a virtual "new town" on the site including a new railway station, hundreds of new flats are already under construction, the elevated section of the A13 passes right past it .
Thanks for the info Kev and Robert - it seems the move further out East is a trend
A shame I used to work just around the corner from Smithfield Market and it was a vibrant part of the area.
Don't forget Butters 🤣🤣
how could I forget Butters - I also had Randy Marsh on my mind at the time
I'm glad you don't sneer at everything new. Change can be sad, but inevitable. Waste of energy once it's done.
Hello again John
I have been racking the depth of my small brain , the army camp in temple mills lane was called bullyfen , I did google the name and some info regarding it being for civil defence training , my dad did know about it , but he’s long gone now , not a lot of info on it , must be someone who knows all about out there !
Anyway I forgot to thank you for the video , a light at the end of the Covid tunnel stay safe
Thanks for that info Richard, I’ll look into it
I'm a disabled man going in a wheelchair bike. I'm not vaccinated even a single dose. I was every day outside during Covid Circus and I'm still alive...
i never knew spitalfields will be moved to make way for yet more (soulless) flats...
Huge demographic changes taking place in London/England. Sad to see these lovely green spaces go to make way for the newcomers. What will the population be in a couple of decades? Frightening really.
Not all are 'newcomers'.
6:35 Yep Lee Valley HTC is a special place when the temporary seating is in and capacity goes from 4,000-10,000. I know I've been there! People come from all over.
arenagroup.com/2018/08/07/arena-expand-lee-valley-for-vitality-hockey-womens-world-cup/
GB Hockey still use the venue for the FIH Pro League, but when the last time that there was lots of demand for tickets the match was moved to Harlequins Rugby Club - they've found a way of laying astro turf over grass pitches and leaving the grass undamaged. Pics on the links below
pauldas.tumblr.com/GBvsAus
pauldas.tumblr.com/GBvsNz
Hello John
Just in case you haven’t see it ,,,, “brought up in Leyton- parody”
Lived in Leyton for 29 years and have never been to the Olympic Park and never will. When the Olympic Park was purposed most locals knew it wasn't for them it was for investors, the rich and "the new trendy virtue signalling east Londoners" The Olympic Park is just a newly created "space" for new east londoners to play and like most of this area it's aim is now to cater for these "new east londoners" with ridiculous closed road like Francis road , million pound cycle lanes the creation of "villages" for these groups. Meanwhile most local business and people are leaving the area as rents rocket, parking restrictions are introduced , the only people who are staying are those who where fortunate enough to have a home. My local garage man has been forced to leave as he clients get parking tickets his arch is now a gastro pub, the odd job man who had two vans got one of them towed parking outside his business he cost him £1200 to get it back. when he applied for a permit they wanted £1800 a year for the second van . the cost of doing business in the area is not worth it for the working man and women, His shop is now a £3.90 coffee shop. My local cafe has shut down due to the parking restrictions. The communities that where once there are disappearing fast and we are left with the rich to manipulate the area as they wish to extract as much profit as possible. but what am I complaining about that's progress right?
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