please empty your brain below
Don't worry, dg. The hipsters will get to Bow soon.

(Not just a smart comment - they will).

Dan | 15.01.14 - 7:31 a.m. | #

Imagine how much better the parade would look if all the shops were pulled forward so their entrances were flush with the arch. Pedestrians would lose some cover but it would make the ground level far more inviting.

| 15.01.14 - 8:53 a.m. | #

Shoots of Growth or Streets of Growth?

dg writes: Yes. Thanks.

Greg S. | 15.01.14 - 9:03 a.m. | #

Oh dear. Those plain brick facades are not the most attractive, are they. According to the GLA document below, they were built in the 1980s, but Pevsner says 1970s (http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=EW7k2KA4UkwC&pg=PA631 - "curiously formal ... like a surreal painting")

Was there ever a street market? When did it disappear?

Interesting that the council's officers suggested rejecting the planning application, for a host of reasons, but the committee voted to grant permission anyway.

More at http://moderngov.towerhamlets.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?AIId=36057 and http://moderngov.towerhamlets.gov.uk/mgAi.aspx?ID=36056 (the same council meeting was considering the plans to demolish the London Fruit & Wool Exchange) and a GLA document http://drpop.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/stroudley_walk_report-1.pdf

Andrew | 15.01.14 - 10:39 a.m. | #

I think there were three stalls when I first moved here (1993). The hipsters *have* got to E3 judging by the number of beards, skinny jeans and Vans (plus the odd top-knot (yuk!)I see walking up Fairfield Road; Hoxton it isn't though.

Kim | 15.01.14 - 2:42 p.m. | #

this is rather funny short 2 minute audio clip where grayson perry talks about the "gentrification" of london areas:

http://www.helicopterlife.com/talk.mp3

dave | 15.01.14 - 3:35 p.m. | #

I had mixed feelings about your piece. I live rurally (own choice) but I would love an Indian takeaway to which I could walk and all the halal stuff and cheap hardware sounds exciting, plus all the facilities for young people, again just around the corner. If one has to live in an urban environment, it's at least a consolation that can walk to shops. Environmentally responsible too!

HowardGWR | 15.01.14 - 4:01 p.m. | #

Wow, that does look grim. We hear so much about the gentrification and hipsterisation of London it's quite a shock to realise these sort of areas still exist quite close to the centre of London.

Whiff | 15.01.14 - 11:50 p.m. | #

Wow, there is a coincidence, I was staying on my narrowboat for a couple of nights at 3 Mills a few weeks ago (on my way to Limehouse) and coming back I cycled through this 'shopping centre', you never know I might have found a interesting 'veggie' type Asian takeaway (I didn't). It did look a bit grim and pretty deserted. Ended up buying a steak in Tescos after using the pedestrian underpass. I still find exploring areas of east London by bike interesting. Crisp Street market also looked interesting (as does Roman Road as you have written about previously) but didn't get there this time.

What were people thinking about when they built this type of area back in the 70's?

Roger Stocker | 16.01.14 - 10:16 p.m. | #

The 'people' who built Stroudley Walk back in the 1970s probably thought they were doing everyone a great favour, and it would be a great improvement on what was there before. Maybe the local people all said they'd love a nice big market square, crowded with jolly stalls, and a nice sheltered colonnade with some lovely new shops, like in Florence, and some nice modern flats for them to live in, all safely pedestrianised so people can walk about and chat to each other as they go about their business. The fact that, in the intervening 40 years, local people stopped supporting the market and the shops, and don't meet each other in the pedestrianised square, and their flats have become rather down at heel, isn't necessarily the fault of the people who built it in the first place.

Anyway, we don't need to surmise, as all the original planning consultation documents and newspaper clippings from the time must be in the archives somewhere.

ActonMan | 17.01.14 - 1:51 a.m. | #

Sir, I bow to your better judgement. I'm most likely not old enough to remember that type of society and the make-up of the area has changed over the years, both population, industry and recreation. The A102 slices the area in half and is a huge barrier to getting around.

Roger Stocker | 17.01.14 - 5:18 p.m. | #

This DG entry made me want to make some Bow 'Now and Then' comparisons to see how much the area has changed, i've only just got round to making the first two.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tetramesh/sets/72157644214316371

Tetramesh | Homepage | 23.04.14 - 7:46 p.m. | #

Poor old Bromley. According to the regenerators, everywhere in E3 is Bow these days. Maybe they should rename the tube station Bow-by-Bow.

langdon | 21.08.14 - 4:48 p.m. | #

Bow Tandoori, a gem of Bromley-by-Bow, has now closed for good.

Nick Heath | 24.11.22 - 4:03 p.m. | #











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