Rising East Online

Stratford City

Split Endz

—Anthony Gunter and Paul Watt

Stratford, London E15, is generally a place you pass through onto somewhere (anywhere) else. Or, if you have roots in the area, you might affectionately refer to it as ‘the endz’.

For some, it will always be a foreboding place, full of back street pubs teeming with old school gangsters – somewhere best avoided for fear of muggers, druggies and drunkards. For others, ‘the endz’ is a place of familiarity, friendships and family – yes, it might be full of druggies, fraudsters, muggers, and violent idiots, but we know most of ‘em, in fact we went to school with ‘em. Then there are the swanky, new arrivals with their luxury apartments overlooking the newly annointed Olympic village, attracted by the appeal of the City in 20 minutes and Paris within the hour.

So there you have it: old Stratford, young Stratford and new money Stratford – cheek by jowl. But how will the place be staked out by the various groups who currently hold pieces of it?

Since July 6^th 2005 Stratford has been under the Olympic spotlight. But what about the developments of the last 10 years or so? What has been their impact upon this soon-to-be Olympic city? They have not made Stratford more attractive to all its existing population. During this last decade, many of the most upwardly mobile have been keen to get out.

In common with other corners of East London, Stratford has undergone rapid demographic change, as witnessed by the continuing exodus out to Essex by the white working classes. Interestingly, although only a trickle at present, increasing numbers of black Caribbean residents are also making the journey out to the near ‘Far East’. To compensate for this ‘white flight’ (and even ‘black flight’), newer residents of Stratford include those from Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia, resulting in ‘super’ ethnic diversity.

The physical environment of Stratford has also undergone dramatic change as demonstrated by the construction of Stratford interchange incuding bus station, Jubilee Line extension, Channel Tunnel rail extension, and the Docklands Light Railway. Partly prompted by transport links, house prices were soaring in Stratford for a number of years prior to the added spice of the 2012 Olympics. Consequently, slowly but surely, the image of the tough, violent, forgotten, bombed out working-class area that was Stratford is being painstakingly transformed (or spun) into something altogether more postmodern, artsy, trendy and upmarket. One question that needs to be asked is whether Stratford will follow the gentrified examples of previously rough and ready but now ‘hip’ places such as Hackney, Brixton and Clapham.

However much the spin doctors and the PR gurus try to repackage and rebrand Stratford, particularly in light of the 2012 Olympics, this hitherto forgotten corner of East London will always be ‘the endz’ to a sizeable group of its disenfranchised residents. It is difficult to envisage these residents – especially the younger constituents – melting quietly into the background whilst Stratford is further sanitised, cleaned up and sold off to the highest bidders.

As the politicians, business leaders, and other interested parties get set to sell the Olympic dream in E15, it is easy to forget the daily realities of many local people who have yet to benefit from the various regeneration initiatives of the past decade. Why then should these same residents believe that they are to be the major beneficaries of this latest new broom? Many questions remain unanswered regarding the future (and past) of Stratford, and it is essential that the voices of all its stakeholders (new and old) are listened to amidst the growing Olympic clamour.

Dr Anthony Gunter is Senior Lecturer in Criminology, School of Law, University of East London. Dr Paul Watt is Visiting Research Fellow at the London East Research Institute, and Reader in Urban Studies, Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College. Together they are embarking on research into contested spaces in the regeneration of Stratford.

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