Rising East Online

London ’s Turning East

Lorraine Crowther

Have you ever been asked where you live, and received a less than pleasant reaction when your reply is ‘ East London’? At the mere mention of East London, many people automatically focus on its negative aspects. But when the same people think of areas west of the big city like Richmond, Kingston or Twickenham, a very different picture is formed. Generally, they assume that if you come from areas such as these, you are from a wealthy background and have had a posh upbringing.

Having been brought up in the West London borough of Richmond, I will admit that moving East was a big change for me. However in recent years, the status gap between West and East has started to close: West London is on the downhill slope and East London is on the rise.

Areas of East London have long been thought of as places where it is not safe to walk alone. But the threat of danger is now no stranger to the West. Figures compiled by the Metropolitan Police indicate that violent crime rates for the borough of Richmond have doubled since May 2000. Three years ago, 19-year-old gap year student Marsha McDonald was murdered just a few yards away from her family home in leafy Hampton. Her murder was followed by a series of attacks on local women of a similar age. A second murder occurred in mid-2004, when 22-year-old French student Amelie De LaGrange was attacked and killed on Twickenham Green. With high profile cases like these compounded by what is perceived as infiltration by ‘Chav’ culture, these areas are no longer as safely upper class as once they were. Many NIMBY types are having to come to terms with the fact that their backyard is not what they thought it was.

The mass of crime and violence remains higher in the East, but the rate of increase in reported crime is now lower than in the West. Furthermore, following the announcement that the Olympics will be coming to London in 2012, East London is soon to receive the makeover it deserves. Along with funding for transforming the local fabric, attitudes to East London are likely to change, too. The prospect of the Olympic torch being carried through the streets of Newham, is sure to lighten the load of negative connotations which the borough and surrounding areas have often been tagged with. The rest of London will have to come to terms with the rising of the East.

Lorraine Crowther is studying Journalism

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