Heritage and history of Roman Road, Bow, Globe Town

Pelican Cottage in the 1970s when the yard was Bates Scrap Metal Merchants, a few years after Marion and her parents had left. The front door is bricked up and the house left in disrepair.

The story of Pelican Cottage and William Press Yard

May 26, 2021May 31, 2021 Citizen Journalist 436 Views 0 Comments 4 min read

Recently discovered archive photographs of Pelican Cottage reveal its links to the neighbouring William Press Yard and life in ‘fifties

The Junior Suffragettes at the East London Federation of Suffragettes' New year party at Bow baths, East London, in 1916. Middle row, left, sixteen-year-old Rose Pangelly plays the panpipes.

The Junior Suffrafettes at the East London Federation of Suffragette's New year party at Bow baths, East London, in 1916. Middle row, left, sixteen-year-old Rose Pangelly plays the panpipes.

Cultural heritage Suffragettes

Book review: Natural Born Rebel, a biography of Sylvia Pankhurst

May 19, 2021October 22, 2021 Tabitha Potts 301 Views 0 Comments 4 min read

Our book reviewer Tabitha Potts reads Natural Born Rebel, Rachel Holmes’ biography of Sylvia Pankhurst, which tells the riveting story

The old Four Corners headquarters at 113 Roman Road

Photos by Four Corners ©

Cultural heritage Culture & communities Local

Camera as liberation: the founding of Four Corners and Camerawork

May 6, 2021May 7, 2021 Anna Lamche 227 Views 0 Comments Features 5 min read

As Four Corners edges towards a full reopening, we glance back over its radical history, inextricable from that of the road it serves.

Bow, Globe Town, Stepney and Bromley-by-Bow poverty map, 1898, Charles Booth.

Cultural heritage East End & Cockney Local Society

Charles Booth’s poverty map of London: where does your street rank?

April 24, 2021June 11, 2021 Siva Thangarajah 49819 Views 0 Comments Features 3 min read

Charles Booth’s poverty maps have been digitised by the London School of Economics allowing us to compare streets then and

Sylvia Pankurst with Emmeline and Christabel, 1911, before the family feud that led to the foundation of the East London Federation of Suffragettes.

Local Society Suffragettes

East London Federation of Suffragettes: How a family rift sparked a militant movement

April 22, 2021April 23, 2021 Anna Lamche 387 Views 1 Comment Features 2 min read

Sylvia Pankhurst’s militancy led to the foundation of East London Federation of Suffragettes.

Nurses dancing around the Mulberry Tree at the London Chest Hospital, Bethnal Green

Cultural heritage East End & Cockney

Folklore of the East End: A Blind Beggar, Phantom Flusher, and miraculous Mulberry Bush

April 21, 2021April 26, 2021 Evie Breese 489 Views 1 Comment 7 min read

We delve into the myths, legends and folklore that coats the streets of London’s East End. London’s East End is

John Rogers, street historian and psychogeographer, East London.

John Rogers, who identifies as a psychogeographer. Photo by Travis Elborough

Cultural heritage Local Society

John Rogers: Exploring the ‘terra incognita’ of Roman Road

April 19, 2021April 19, 2021 Sam Shaw 331 Views 2 Comments 6 min read

London’s unofficial street historian talks Bow’s hidden gems, psycho-geography, and the unexpected politics of an East End stroll

Getting their vaccine, Art Pavilion, Mile End. Photoessay by Rose Palmer.

Photography by Rose palmer

Cultural heritage Culture & communities Local Society

Vaccine stories: Injecting hope at the Mile End Art Pavilion

April 10, 2021April 9, 2021 Evie Breese 526 Views 0 Comments Features 9 min read

Mile End Park’s stunning Art Pavilion has been turned into a vaccination centre to play its part in the fight

The old Bow Bridge, shortly before demolition in 1832.

Cultural heritage East End & Cockney Local Society

How Queen Matilda’s dip in the Lea created Bow Bridge

April 4, 2021April 21, 2021 Citizen Journalist 380 Views 0 Comments 3 min read

The history of Bow Bridge is an invisible but important element of our identity, giving its name to the neighbourhood

The People's Army suffragettes training in Victoria Park, 1913

Cultural heritage Local Suffragettes

The Suffragette People’s Army of Victoria Park

March 1, 2021February 26, 2021 Tom McGhie 477 Views 2 Comments 3 min read

As the Suffragettes began to use more radical tactics on their quest to change democracy – the West End was sacked in late 1912 – they started to encounter police repression, who saw them as a ‘threat to national security’.

Reverend David Pilkington, otherwise known, as Captain Dave on the gloating church, Genesis

Photo by Gilbert McCarragher

Cultural heritage Culture & communities Local Society

Captain Dave: All aboard the Floating Church!

February 18, 2021February 20, 2021 Tom McGhie 500 Views 2 Comments Features 6 min read

Moored up in Hackney Wick is the Floating Church. This barge-come-chapel is run by Reverend Dave Pilkington, a man who

Labour MP George Lansbury in a crowd of people and holding a young boy

Cultural heritage Culture & communities Local

George Lansbury Labour MP for Bow and Bromley: ‘a great, servant to the people’

February 15, 2021May 8, 2021 Citizen Journalist 315 Views 0 Comments Features 3 min read

George Lansbury, former MP of Bow and Bromley, is remembered by all for his immense devotion to the people of the East End. Unlike many politicians who were born into the life of education and power, George Lansbury was truly a man of the people. Hardships from his early years shaped him to be a compassionate and fervent ally to women and the working class of the East End.