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East London is the outer eastern part of London, north of the River Thames.

Understand

Many outer areas of East London was once part of the county of Essex. Essex is sometimes used as part of the postal address for these areas.

East London consists of the following boroughs:

  • Barking
  • Dagenham
  • Newham — the borough includes:
  • Stratford - Location of the London 2012 Olympic Games. (Note: this is not Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, the birthplace of Shakespeare.)
  • East Ham
  • West Ham
  • Ilford
  • Woodford
  • Walthamstow - This town was made famous by a teen pop band called E-17 (the postcode of the area) who came from here and had a number of hits. Soak up the multicultural atmosphere.
  • Chingford
  • Leyton

Get in

By Tube

  • Victoria Line (Light Blue) to Walthamstow.
  • Central Line (Red) to Woodford or Hainault.
  • Hammersmith and City Line (Pink) to Barking.
  • District Line (Green) to Upminster.
  • Jubilee Line (Silver) to Stratford.

By DLR

  • DLR to Canning Town then branches to Beckton, or London City Airport and Woolwich.

By Train

  • From Liverpool Street to Chingford and Ilford.
  • From Fenchurch Street to Southend or Grays.
  • From Stansted Airport, Ipswich, Colchester and Norwich to Liverpool Street.

By Overground

  • The Overground line (Orange) is useful for getting across the district from Barking to Blackhorse Road.

See

Walthamstow

  • 1 Epping Forest (tube: Central Line), +44 20 8508-0028, . Dawn-dusk. 19 km (12 mi) long in East London and Essex. Free.
  • 2 Vestry House Museum, Vestry Road, E17 9NH (tube/rail: Walthamstow Central), +44 20 8496-4391, . W–Su 10:00–17:00. Presents the history of Waltham Forest. The building was constructed to be a work house and has since been used as a police station and a private home. Its collection includes the Bremer car, built by engineer Frederick Bremer in 1892 it has a claim to being this first petrol-driven car made in Britain. Free.
  • 3 Walthamstow Village (tube: Walthamstow Central / rail: Walthamstow Central/Wood Street). The ancient nucleus of present day Walthamstow centred around the 12th century St. Mary's Church.
  • 4 William Morris Gallery, Lloyd Park, Forest Rd, E17 4PP (tube/rail: Walthamstow Central), +44 20 8496-4390, . W–Su 10:00–17:00. Dedicated to William Morris, the Victorian arts & crafts designer and writer. Located in his old Georgian family home, Water House, which is now a Grade II* listed building. Free.

Ilford

  • 5 Redbridge Central Library & Museum, Clements Rd, IG1 1EA (rail: Ilford). M–F 09:30–20:00; Sa 09:00–16:00. Interesting structure from an architectural point of view. Unfortunately it is also the locale of choice for the native rude-boys to hang out, alas this is not due to the educational value of the institution.
  • 6 Valentines Park (tube: Gants Hill). A pleasant green area, Essex County Cricket team used to play on the pitch in the western side of the park.

Barking

Do

Stratford

Walthamstow

  • Bicycle along the River Lea or Epping Forest.

Buy

Walthamstow

  • Selbourne Walk (tube: Walthamstow Central; just over the road). Walthamstow's shopping mall, with the usual selection of shopping mall type shops.
  • Walthamstow High Street market. early-approximately 5:30PM. All manner of items may be purchased here, an example of the amazing bargains to be found is a carrier bag full of bananas for £1.

Ilford

  • The Exchange Shopping Centre. Was one of the largest American style malls when it was constructed in the early 1990s. Although now it has an extensive array of shops now it can only really be considered a bog standard shopping centre. The town centre itself has most high street chain shops.

Eat

Goodmayes is a great area for really good cheap Indian/Pakistani food.

  • The Pantry Cafè (Ten seconds' walk from Stratford High Street DLR, on the same side of the road). Traditional British cafè. Different menu options are placed on the wall to make ordering easier "I want a 4, I'd like a 9" but the friendly owner will of course accept any variation you want! I stayed in a chain hotel in Stratford, and was treated very well, but this cafè beats the chain hotel breakfasts for price and quality. Stay away if you want haute cuisine. Go for it if you want a "greasy spoon" at reasonable prices.

Walthamstow

There are a number of cafés and restaurants down the high street.

  • Kebabish, Hoe St. Does a nice kebab and also tasty Indian food.
  • Thainese, Hoe St (turn right from Walthamstow Central), +44 20 8509-9668. 12-midnight. Halal Singaporean Chinese and Thai, black pepper crabs, chilli lobster, private rooms, prayer rooms expensive.

Drink

Walthamstow

Sleep

Connect

Go next

Routes through East
The CityEast End  W  E  Epping, EssexEND
The CityEast End  W  E  END
The CityEast End  W  E  END
WestminsterGreenwich  W  E  END
BloomsburyNorth London  S  N  END
The CityEast End Template:Lfarrow Beckton branch ←  W  E  → Beckton branch → END
Southwark-LewishamEast End Template:Lfarrow Stratford branch ←  S  N  → Stratford branch → END
The CityEast End Template:Lfarrow Woolwich branch ←  W  E  → Woolwich branch Template:Rtarrow GreenwichEND
CamdenHackney Template:Lfarrow North London Line ←  W  E  → North London Line → END
HampsteadNorth London Template:Lfarrow Gospel Oak to Barking Line ←  W  E  → Gospel Oak to Barking Line → END


This district travel guide to East is a usable article. It has information for getting in as well as some complete entries for restaurants and hotels. An adventurous person could use this article, but please feel free to improve it by editing the page.