If not for the usual high street signage like Sainsubry’s, Argos, Primark and the old Lloyd’s Bank spanning East Ham High Street, one would be forgiven for forgetting for a moment that they are in fact still in greater London, or even the UK for that matter. For the most part the stretch resembles a marketplace or bazaar. Shop frontages spill on to the streets, cheap colourful toys and knick knacks, knockoff phone cases, spruikers selling call cards, men with tables lined with bowls of fruit and vegetables calling to passers by “banana one pound, one bowl of bananas one pound! Tomatoes one pound!”... In fact one pound seems to be the going price for a lot of things in “The Ham” (as I affectionately dub this part of town). In no more than six hundred meters, there is nine Pound or 99p stores providing budget goods guaranteed to break on day of purchase. My best find to date in one of these shrines to the shameful misuse of the world’s resources was a battery powered shaver that noted on the packet “this product has been deemed unsafe for sale in California due to high levels of carcinogenic materials”. Not so appealing? Check out what the other stores have on offer… Other shopfronts do a mixed business. Combinations such as Internet café/phone shop/newsagent/Western Union/takeaway food/ fruit stall are not uncommon; your local one stop shop, granted you can find the guy who owns the particular sub business you would like to purchase from, or the Western Union people aren’t using the phone line that the newsagent needs to use to sell you your phone top-up voucher and you end up waiting half an hour and being late for work… but that is another story. Finally, and for the real bargain hunter, a small black market trade is also done along the strip with the fencing of stolen phones and bicycles, cheap Eastern European cigarettes and pirate Bollywood DVD’s. What more could you ask for!?
East Ham is part of the borough of Newham an enduring working class centre of East London, and despite being brought to the world stage in 2012 as the borough holding the majority of the London Olympic sites and Olympic stadium and despite even the vast amounts of money that were invested in to the area in the times leading up to the games, Newham still tops the tables as the lowest income area in London as well as one of the worst areas for child, poverty, unemployment, overcrowding and other housing issues. Notwithstanding the stats and the lingering smell of dope in the streets, and if one turns a blind eye to the knife disposal bins that advise the local hoodlums to “get a life, bin that knife” Newham does rate as only the tenth highest centre for crime in greater London and the general feeling on the streets is safe and communal. The nights are quiet and there are few people in the local pubs, partly due to the fact that no one has much spare cash to spend at the pub, but also, a lot of the locals just aren’t the drinking type.
While there are still remnants of the old white British dominated East London of days gone by like the St Georges flag flying patrons of the White Horse (a local watering hole favoured by the paler more shaved-headed folk of the area) East Ham and Newham as a whole seems to be a fine example of an ethnically diverse community working at its best. Sure people have their differences but there is rarely much bloodshed over it. The 2011 census shows Newham to be the most ethnically diverse centre in London, with large numbers of South Asian, Afro/Caribbean and Eastern European residents. This makes for an interesting, vibrant community. Green Street for example is the largest shopping centre of South Asians in London. On religious festivals such as Diwali the Hindu festival of the lights, the street is packed with revellers, families and friends and the celebrations go on in to the night. On this same strip, once every week or so the greatest community draw card for the borough is also played or plays!? the great West Ham football club. Trailers and pop up chippie and burger stands appear as if from nowhere, maroon and blue jerseys take over the field of vision as pub patrons flow over in to the streets to suck down a few pre game pints. The streets buzz with cockney banter while pies and mash and jellied eels are consumed in good old east end fashion. The united bloodthirsty cries of Newham locals can be heard from miles around.
All in all, I can’t complain about living in East Ham, While it is a little further from the centre of the city than I am used to, The Ham has a great community and much more to offer than first meets the eye. There is a true family vibe and many friendly and interesting people knocking about. While there is not much more for visitors in the area to do than wander about, take in the atmosphere and grab a good curry, it is worth checking out to see how those who haven’t yet secured that Thames River view apartment in Westminster actually live.
