Today
Historically, the East End has suffered from under-investment in both housing stock and infrastructure. From the 1950s, the East End represented the structural and social changes affecting the UK economy in a microcosm. The area had one of the highest concentrations of council housing, the legacy both of slum clearance and war time destruction. The progressive closure of docks, cutbacks in railways and the closure and relocation of industry contributed to a long term decline, removing many of the traditional sources of low- and semi-skilled jobs. However, beginning with the LDDC, in the 1980s, there have been a number of urban regeneration projects, most notably Canary Wharf, a huge commercial and housing development on the Isle of Dogs. Many of the 1960s tower blocks have been demolished or renovated, replaced by low rise housing, often in private ownership, or owned by housing associations.
The area around Old Spitalfields Market and Brick Lane called "London's curry capital" has been extensively regenerated and, amongst other things, has been dubbed as Bangla Town. The contribution of Bangladeshi people to British life was recognised in 1998, when Pola Uddin, Baroness Uddin of Bethnal Green became the first Bangladeshi-born Briton to enter the House of Lords; and the first Muslim peer to swear her oath of allegiance in the name of her own faith.
The area is also home to a number of commercial and public art galleries; including the newly expanded Whitechapel Gallery. The artists Gilbert and George have long made their home and workshop in Spitalfields, and the neighbourhood around Hoxton Square has become a centre for modern British art, including the White Cube gallery, with many artists from the Young British Artists movement living and working in the area. This has made the area around Hoxton and Shoreditch fashionable, with many former residents now driven out by higher property prices, and a busy nightlife has developed, with over 80 licensed premises around Shoreditch.
By the mid-1980s, both the District line (extended to the East End in 1884 and 1902) and Central line (1946) were running beyond their capacity, and the Docklands Light Railway (1987) and Jubilee line (1999) were constructed to improve rail communications through the riverside district. There was a long standing plan to provide London with an inner motorway box, the East Cross Route. Apart from a short section, this was never built, but road communications were improved by the completion of the Limehouse Link tunnel under Limehouse Basin in 1993 and the extension of the A12 connecting to the Blackwall Tunnel with an upgraded carriageway in the 1990s. The extension of the East London line to the north, on the border between Islington and Hackney, provided further travel links in 2010. From 2017, Crossrail line 1 is expected to create a fast railway service across London, from east to west, with a major interchange at Whitechapel. New river crossings are planned at Beckton, (the Thames Gateway Bridge) and the proposed Silvertown Link road tunnel, to supplement the existing Blackwall Tunnel.
The 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics were held in an Olympic Park created on former industrial land around the River Lea. It is intended that this should leave a legacy of new sports facilities, housing, and industrial and technical infrastructure that will further help regenerate the area. This is linked to a new Stratford International station in the Newham, and the future Stratford City development. Also in Newham is London City Airport, built in 1986 in the former King George V Dock, a small airport serving short-haul domestic and European destinations. In the same area, the University of East London has developed a new campus which will provide the United States Olympic Team its training base during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Queen Mary campus has expanded into new accommodation both adjacent to its existing site at Mile End, and with specialist medical campuses at the Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel and at Charterhouse Square in the City. Whitechapel is the base for the London Air Ambulance, and the hospital's clinical facilities are undergoing a £1 billion refurbishment and expansion.
Much of the area remains, however, one of the poorest in Britain and contains some of the capital's worst deprivation. This is in spite of rising property prices and the extensive building of luxury apartments centred largely around the former dock areas and alongside the Thames. With rising costs elsewhere in the capital and the availability of brownfield land, the East End has become a desirable place for business.
Read more about this topic: East End Of London
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