Exploring London's Royal Docks (4K)

A walk around the Royal Docks in East London from Prince Regent DLR station past the Excel Centre and around the Royal Victoria Dock with a look at Millennium Mills. Then down through the new Royal Wharf development and the Thames Barrier Park before returning to the Royal Albert Dock and finishing at Cyprus DLR.
Episode #103
Shot in 4k on a Panasonic GX80
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Music:
Cylinder Five by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
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Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
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The Sea Beneath Our Feet by Puddle of Infinity

[@josephinebennington7247]

Most interesting. In the 60s, and me being about 14, I would do a circular bike ride via the old Woolwich Paddle ferries, from North Woolwich through Silver and Canning towns and back via the exhaust-smoke filled Blackwall Tunnel. The area was populous, busy, and industrially fascinating. Very spooky to see that bustling area now empty.

[@Everywhere2]

I love going places with you, John.

[@MrCooper83]

I lived for 5 years around that area. In West Silvertown and later we moved to Barrier Pt. Road, right next to that park. That area is one of the best I ever lived. So quiet, I have great memory living there. You can have a wonderful view from that footbridge. The only problem is the noise, coming from the airport but you can get used to it

[@chrismccartney8668]

My late wife was born and bred in cyprus her nan lived in prefabs after being bombed out during the blitz she lived in the prefab until well intobthe 70s and she and my late wife would fiercly defend the people who they lived cheek and jowl with, many thought it rough area but in truth it was more like a rural village everyone relied on each other, and they were very community minded.. . And this continued when many were moved to Aldersbrook Estate on the border of Newham and Wanstead one of the nicest and best kept estates in east London possibly because it had a continuing strong community spirit. Chris

[@Darren14]

My great grandad moved from south of the river to West Ham, he was a merchant Seaman then in his later years was a dock labourer in the Royal Docks upto his death in 1926. I've never visited the docks area, your video has opened my eyes John. Many thanks for the vlog

[@sarac.3259]

Maybe that was less unusual then but to move north of the River from south - or vice versa - is almost like moving to another country to most people I know (in S.London)! My maternal great grandfather was apparently a Thames waterman and my grandfather worked in Billingsgate so I find the Thames so interesting. History - and family history especially - seems more fascinating the older I get.

[@earthredalert]

I used to live in Canning Town for a couple of years. I always felt like it was empty, even with people around. A place that has had its heart and soul ripped out of it. Pretty sad. I used to walk around the docks and think of the society, jobs and camaraderie that used to exist. None of that community spirit exists now. You're lucky to see and speak to an English person.

[@ashtray314]

The sombre music definitely captures how sad it is that all the historic buildings are being destroyed for some ugly buildings

[@rickysorhaindo1359]

That brought back some memories from my childhood, I lived in Berwick Road Custom House, my bedroom window looked out across to the Millers building and it used to look so white and clean when the sun was out, also saw the odd ship near it, that was a sight to see, the old slam shut BR trains going pass from Custom House to North Woolwich.... The area has changed beyond belief, but I will always have the memories of growing up in Custom House and the docks. Thanks for the video mate.

[@stevegee7593]

Hi John I did that same walk 2 years ago, and I had the same impression of the emptiness, lots of building and no people.

[@orsoncart9441]

Great. Peace and quiet. No wonder it costs a lot of money to live there.

[@christinetaylor6179]

Just watched this video again and loved it so much. I have been away from London for 50 years now and as I join you on your walks I realise how much I miss it. Thanks for the memories John.

[@triestelondon]

An 1855 John Rogers would be walking around then going "I remember when this was all fields".

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Ha, exactly- talking about the marshes and the grazing cattle one of which set a record for size at Smithfield

[@donreed]

An 1855 Aaron Rogers would be walking around then going "I remember when I played football here when I was up in Green Bay" (it's in his preemptively written American Civil War memoirs published in 1858, two years before the war started. Most of it was plagiarized from the British General Burgoyne's memoir after he came home from Saratoga in 1778). [An Aaron Rodgers in 2021 plays quarterback for the American football team the Green Bay (WI) Packers. Burgoyne also tried out for the NFL and definitely would have made the cut, had the NFL existed in the 18th century. He was a rugged chap.]

[@arthurscargill8010]

I worked for a couple of years out of an office built near the, now almost entirely filled in, East India Docks and the ambience you describe matches exactly with my memories of that time: so many new, and odd, buildings, so few people. Even the 30 storey building I was based in, designed, naturally, by a superstar architect, was only ever populated by a small handful of people. The whole experience was like living through a JG Ballard short story. Anyway, thanks for another fantastic, and evocative, video John.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

thanks for sharing that Arthur. I remember when I first moved to London in 1989 and going to a student party in Docklands and walking down all these dark deserted streets of newbuilds - seemed like the only people living there were students paying minimal rent

[@jackboggis270]

This is where I go boating with sea caders and it's an excellent area

[@alijones198]

Love the walks and music/ sound bites mak3s me feel melodic

[@4thEyeVision]

Beautiful walk

[@mickeybeam]

I lived near there in Custom House years back, now in New Zealand. Amazing & intriguing to see the gentrification going on along the Thames corridor there

[@LordMarkieMark]

I'm old enough to remember how the "docks" were in the 80's and the 90's and I prefer it the way it was with the old warehouses and flour silos. Beckton Gasworks was another great place to visit when it was still standing.

[@andreasjacovides4800]

Truly Fantastic video .

[@ronetharewood8194]

This is beautiful, thank you for this video John 😊

[@marsha1963]

I am really enjoying watching your walks. Love how you put it all together. Very relaxing music.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Thanks Shalom

[@robertyoung3864]

Fantastic video John, but I think you should explore Royal Albert Dock project more. They haven't been doing so well! Heard a lot of corruption happens there especially with a man named John Miu!

[@kingjames578]

Definitely agree with this, I pass here during my drives and it looks awefully slow

[@andreaandrea8506]

Thank you John. I'm moving to poplar in summer 2021 so its given me some insight.

[@_....J........................]

Thank you, Mr Rogers.

[@leonardthemachine]

It's like an empty movie set or an area abandoned, due to the news of the oncoming apocalypse, everyone having gone to their underground bunkers. Very surreal. You can almost hear the sirens. Great video, already looking forward to the next! Thanks John.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

thanks Leon

[@paularnold4440]

Thanks John . Like many people my Grandparents lived and worked around the docks. Everything would be unrecognizable to them now except perhaps the water|

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Great to hear from people with a family connection to the docks - touched so many lives - even my Dad used to drive a truck up from Wycombe to collect wood for the furniture factories, even from when Leyton had a working wharf on the Lea (now a housing estate

[@petarcholakov9748]

Great area! I've spent three years of my life living in this area. Love it!

[@aart_willem_van_wijk]

Thank you for this video. In the early seventies I visted the docks on board of a small Dutch coaster named Noblesse. The area has changed unrecognizable for me. Never realized me self the world of my childhood could change this much.

[@normathomas8276]

Those disused ware houses looked so creepy John thanx for another amazing film x

[@chrispointer123]

wonderful

[@liang3102]

Nice video, thanks for posting

[@john80c]

Great video John. The area has changed a lot since Alf Garnett worked in the docks.

[@RootlessNZ]

Thank you John for all your interesting videos. I appreciate your knowledge and your dedication to providing these gems. I'm just about to buy a book of yours online. I'm an expat East Ender from Mile End who's lived in New Zealand for 35 years and really misses London, with all its glories and its faults.

[@jde9095]

Very cool to see the Royal Dock district, almost sad in a way. Thank you for sharing John, take care.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

thanks for watching Darrell

[@TheLemonadedrinker]

I used to drive wagons in the Sixties and the docks and wharves were where I'd go to pick up stuff - coal, tennis shoes, sewing machines !! everything, it seemed. All flats now.

[@2760ade]

Was in that area recently (2024). Still lots of new office blocks and residential property, but (when the Excel doesn't have an exhibition on) no people about. It's beyond spooky! I wonder if these buildings are actually occupied, or maybe just too damned expensive!!? The Millennium Mills makes me think back to 1988, the Destination Docklands concert. It was used as a massive projection screen - what an incredible night that was, though got thoroughly soaked. Amazingly, they still don't seem to have developed the Mills. Thought they had big plans, many years ago, for the building?

[@tomdearie2279]

Great Video John. The area has a peculiar retro sci fi vibe I find. A vision of the future that seems to have already become the past or maybe just never arrived.

[@TetinKlimente]

Blade Runner

[@AlFred-cc6wm]

my grandad helped build similar cranes @ butlers warf in the 20's & maintained them til he retired in the 70's (about then I think)

[@JohnRogersWalks]

I bet he had some great stories

[@johnhodiak8919]

Hi John - thankyou for another great walk. I keep expecting you to turn a corner and see J G Ballard coming towards you shouting, “I told you so”.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Thanks John - I'm sure Ballard's ghost is very busy these days

[@yosifdonchev3880]

Very well edited video and very informative too, but i have to disagree with a lot of the comments, saying that this place is empty and deserted. I have been living in that area for 4 years now ( 3 years in beckton and 1 year in Gallions, where he ended the video ) and trust we have a good number of people.. a lot of young people, because of the UEL, also ExCel brings a lot of attention , but not that many residents , and what is the problem with that , every time i go to Stratford i become nervous... east ham is just a jungle , barking is full of people too, Newham hospital area is packed as well, and these areas are all around me.. it seems that my only place of peace and quiet is Beckton/Gallions point .. unfortunately it will not be like that for too long, many new residential buildings are being build right now, and i can see that many people are moving in the area , so soon this area will begin to overpopulate too, which is a shame, cause i really like it now - one of the most remote places in zone 3 east London . I love that area.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

thanks for sharing that perspective Yosif, always great to hear from local residents in an area that I'm just passing through

[@Pierlover]

Wonderful video! Amazing what's going on in the area and how different it is now to how it looked in 1958 when I was there on a school trip. We took a boat from Tower Bridge and the docks were in full swing - as docks! The father of one of our class worked there in a clerical position and I can still picture him standing, waving to us as we passed. And I can remember our teacher pointing out a ship unloading sugar - 'but it's not white, miss!' someone said. The residential areas with nobody about are such a contrast with then - it really did look like a beehive!

[@JohnRogersWalks]

thanks for sharing that Douglas - it's so difficult now to imagine it as a thriving dock - particularly in the age of containerization where the docks are run by robots

[@theblindfoldep]

There was quite a few more enormous grain mills on the south side of Royal Victoria Dock than is left now. Even Millennium Mills has been reduced in size considerably with the demolition of the silos at the rear. If you want to see Royal Victoria Dock as it was in 1986, check out the music video for The Smiths "Ask" by Derek Jarman which was shot on the north wharf of the dock..

[@JohnRogersWalks]

thanks for that reference, I'll look it up. I think I need to do another walk around that area

[@tommyxbones5126]

When we was kids we called millennium mills "Spillers" cos it was the only thing we could read - no one in our little gang knew what a millennium was or how to say it

[@H71BCD]

Most of the other flour mills were demolished in the early 90’s. The massive - and gloomy looking CWS mill which was on the left of the concert was demolished around 1993 and there are a series of photos online showing this. It would have made a good prison.

[@richardpicking4459]

Its hard to imagine just how busy the area was until you look at old pictures of the docks, with ships berthed two or three abreast. Before Dad was sent abroad during the war he spent time on fire watching duties on the roof of the old mill. Must have been scary with bombs raining down around you! Not sure from the video if the place has developed a soul or a sense of community yet - has it?

[@JohnRogersWalks]

thanks for that Richard - my word it would have be hot down there during the war - a lot of bombs hit the whole area throughout the war. I wouldn't want to say whether it's developed a sense of community, it looked fairly solid and settled around parts of Silvertown, as for the rest of the newer parts it may take a bit longer

[@davejones5822]

mad that now the xcel is a corona centre..crazy days

[@robertbarling5601]

Thanks for another wonderful video john. It was of particular interest to me as both my grandfather and my uncle worked at the east india docks. How it has changed. Bob.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Pleasure Robert - amazing how things can change relatively quickly - there's a video on here where I walk out to the new docks at London Gateway

[@markymark560]

Very nice video. The Thames barrier is for tidal surges. Sea levels are not rising.

[@grandmasterbeats9732]

These Mills have almost got those iconic Wanstead Flats concept.

[@diannereeks1150]

Haven’t heard anyone say fuddy duddy for years. Made me smile

[@karlcrook3780]

I sailed out of these docks for four years 1959 10 63

[@MH-ln6pv]

I think the 'toy town' scene at 08:20 is the set of the 'Truman Show'

[@Signals927]

I used to deliver ships stores to the docks between 1957 and 1960 out of Leadenhall market.

[@leophillips5723]

9 min 34 seconds. That’s one of the buildings I work in (Lettings office for Peabody Housing lol) great video as always 😎😈👌🏾 very informative.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

thanks Leo

[@rarmstead]

Hi John, I'm so glad you are walking the docks, did you miss the Silvertown Explosion monument?

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Thanks - walked round Greenland Dock with Iain Sinclair last week, fascinating spot. I did somehow miss the Silvertown Explosion monument

[@tilerman]

What i notice when i walk this area that despite the amount of housing and buildings, it just feels dead. No soul, a lot of the area so sterile. And its also so sad that so much of our land is sold to overseas developers. 'An area of opportunity', for the rich. That one plot of land (Millenium Mills) is probably worth many tens of millions. When developed it will be ugly just like whats happened to the eyesore around Battersea power station. Sorry for being downbeat but a lot of the change i see in my city i just don't like. Otherwise, thanks John, love your walks.

[@TheCinderellaman10]

These apartments are way too expensive, all these new apartments being strung up in East London will only attract outsiders, the locals won't have a chance to afford anything. Its very sad to see this. All diversity will be gone

[@anomalousoddity]

couldn't agree more. There's no life left. The flats lay empty when we have tens of thousands of people needing homes in London - corruption on an unfathomable scale

[@Dave01611]

the joys of capitalism

[@johnentwhistlesurelysamsun1840]

Thankyou john i just love your video's as it keeps me going in these somewhat represive times as i have always been facinated by the east end river and used to take a boat from westminster pier to Greenwich and that was in 1965 so i saw it more or less how it was, i never thought about converting those c19 warehouses into lush apartments, i nearly bought one, i feel to much was demolished as they wern't quite sure what to do with them at the time when the docks started closing, now those massive ships are far to large for the thames and also all those containers they carry, in the past they used Billhooks to hoist those sacks and cranes and am glad they have left some their in situ as a reminder of how it used to be, All automation now of,course with those containers!!

[@roverenderalligator9104]

The London Gateway Docks are indeed fully automated. Tilbury, no not really. Plenty of blokes driving mobile container gantries around the place there. It's dog eat dog with the lorries. 😄 In comparison London Gateway is quite relaxing.

[@adelegeorgemcneil3709]

I ❤️ becton I used to go there with my family and my dad used work in graylands in becton as a security guard

[@giancarloschiralli2435]

THANK YOU...Fr this...😎😎😎

[@borderlands6606]

Good that you've shown us the new docklands so I don't ever have to visit in person. I recall a boat trip through in 1979 at the very tail end of the working docks. It was pretty grim, but not as desolate as the new version. Does it come alive in the evenings, or is the place a wholly virtual entity?

[@JohnRogersWalks]

I think on the north side it's fairly dependent on what's happening at Excel, but I have seen people around the cable car area on summer evenings before. I think it'll take a bit of time for the rest of it to come alive a bit more

[@tweekUE]

So many parallels with the Manchester Ship Canal docklands in Salford.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

I'd really like to walk that one day

[@borderlands6606]

+tw eek that's true. However Salford Quays (aka Media City) is busy in the evenings with the Lowry, concerts, triathlons, etc.

[@tweekUE]

It is. It's also patrolled by security on segways. High strangeness.

[@borderlands6606]

Blimey. Not very Taste of Honey, is it?

[@grahamcooksley9788]

Nice video, what (if anything) have they done to the Millenium Mills? From early in the video and from one angle it just looks like a facade now but later on it still looks like the complete building. Loved the RVD from Jean Michel Jarre's Destination Docklands gig in 1988 and always have a wander around when in London

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Thanks Graham. There have been so many plans for the Mills over the years - as far as I can tell it's a playground for Urbexers

[@drg111yt]

Thank you John. My mum was born nearby in Leyes Road E16, now largely demolished. Dystopia on Thames, eh?

[@missmontyp872]

This was a good walk.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

thanks monty

[@missmontyp872]

John Rogers my gr8 gr8 grandad worked on the docklands. He was born in Haggerston.

[@stuartroyle1402]

loving these stories,,,the parallel of modern development with the victorian expansion is remarkable,,,i wonder how long before decay and decline follow?,,,,not wanting to sound nega tive but just observing and thinking about how the modern world is accelerating.

[@tomstopper5281]

Could you do a walk of woolwich up to shooter hill. It is such a nice place.

[@ArthurStone]

Awesome; thanks John :D I know this area quite well from the 90's. The magical realism runs deep here. Returning from work in Canary Wharf Tower I met a sozzled journalist (Telegraph actually) on a double-decker bus; he excitedly told me that the Canary Wharf skyline was designed after an illustration from Coleridge's Kubla Khan with the Thames taking the place of the River Alph. Will a 'gentleman from Porlock' interrupt this vision?

[@JohnRogersWalks]

What a wonderful story - thanks Arthur

[@CyclingSteve]

There's no one around because there is nothing to do there, it's always windy and the noise from the airport can be deafening. As an ex-UEL student I much preferred Barking campus, they should never have moved to the docks.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

I did wonder what it must have felt like for the students

[@Mudhooks]

I cannot tell you how much I enjoy your walks! I’m in Canada but love London and its history. Being unable to walk much, myself, because of back problems, I am sort of living vicariously through your videos. I often use Google Maps and Streetview to look a little closer to the places you pinpoint. Sometimes, though, I find it hard to find them. I’m always REALLY happy to finally find something. The one thing that makes very me sad is the ever increasing encroachment of luxury flats along the shore of the Thames and along the rivers feeding into it. I wonder how the old gods of the rivers feel about it?

[@sarac.3259]

Was having a conversation recently about the fancy flats near the river - and how time has changed people's perception (and cleaner air too than in years gone by). Have you seen Jago Hazzard? You may enjoy those. I have only recently discovered John - always so interesting and knowledgeable. I live in London two miles from Greenwich. Have never visited Canada but would like to one day.

[@Mudhooks]

@@sarac.3259 I haven’t seen it. I do love London but haven’t really been further afield in my trips as an adult. We went to Hampton Court Palace once as my then-husband had arranged a visit to the British Museum textile conservation lab there (he did a six-month internship at the British Museum) and we toured the palace, as well. I seem to recall that we went to Eton on that same trip though I remember nothing of it. We also went to Greenwich several times to see the naval museum. I wanted to see The Queen’s House but my husband dawdled and he finally cam out after it had closed. It was my last full day in London. I had wanted to go to Kew and down onto the foreshore.I later discovered that he knew the naval museum inside out because he went there every weekend. When I was about 5, my mother and I went to England and Scotland to visit relatives and see the sights. I remember a LOT of that trip which is amazing, considering my age.

[@ianbutton1174]

Another great video well done In my opinion a lot of the character has gone from the area since being redeveloped with the people who worked and lived there being priced out and can't afford to live there

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Thanks Ian - yes it's a strange place now. I've just seen that the area where the Newham offices are is actually called Newham Dockside now

[@rarmstead]

I also noticed the Steam Ship, 'Robin'. The oldest complete Steam Ship in the world.

[@tomwright4969]

Its almost impossible to think there is any area in east London that hasn't been gentrified in the east end. Barking and Dagenham is still pretty rough around the edges, but this film studio they are thinking of building as well as the Barking Riverside development may change that. Rather sad really.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Very true Tom - there are pockets still but the large sites are being gobbled up by the developers

[@tomwright4969]

John Rogers That's right. I feel like blaming the Olympics as all of those developments seem to swarm all the way from there into canning town and north Woolwich. The retail park at Gallions reach feels very ungentrified and new-townesque, it looks outdated in comparison to the glass pinnacles nearby.

[@markellis796]

Die another day was filmed on that dock with Piers Brosnan, I know because I was there working on the new dockside development 1997- 2001, dont' go for swim in it you'll have the squirts for a week!

[@Oldfogey2014]

Fascinating video...I used to live round the Royal Victoria Docks. They close the bridge there at 10pm to prevent people from committing suicide....bit sad really.

[@madincraft4418]

Crazy how deserted it is insuch a crowded city

[@andrewbanham8433]

Great video John Very mixed feelings especially with my two disliked words foreign investment comes up. Like a mid table premier league team the uk has become a selling country.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

that's a great analogy Andrew

[@Alper_potuk777]

London city airport is a madness

[@wilko330]

I used to cycle to the Woolwich ferry as a lad in the 60's from Rainham when the docks where in use but a lot quieter than in there heyday obviously, I would not recognised it now it's just another soulless development.

[@luxford60]

I work at the Newham Council offices that you walked padt towards the end. It's an odd area, feels very remote. The "newest business district" is called ABP, which I think stands for Asian Business Park, and is owned by the Chinese Government. Watching in February 2021, so haven't physically been there for 11 months now.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

thanks for the info Christopher

[@mariana4059]

This area certainly has an eerie post-apocalyptic feel to it. Maybe those empty streets and pavements are roamed by zombies at night ...

[@JohnRogersWalks]

they certainly are during Comic Con for sure (plus a million other characters)

[@talesfromtinpanalley-thedo6198]

My god! A town called Dystopia

[@lellymapommscymbillnos336]

The Docklands is just one huge liminal space.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Very true

[@rupertferguson9673]

The following description, taken from 'CO-VISIONING A common, community, collaborative vision for Silvertown Quays, Newham'; describes the possible reason for some of the environmental anomalies that you encounter on this walk John: 'The major disadvantage is that the area is zoned in monolithic single-type usage zones like residential, commercial, and cultural. There is a lack of mixed-use typology thus making each zone completely disconnected with one another. It obstructs vibrancy, accessibility and connectivity within the area making the everyday life harder for the residents. The opportunity for the area hence, would be to reconnect all the adjacent areas with more diverse and mixed uses, as well regenerate historical landmarks.' Here is a link to this document in pdf format: www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/development/sites/bartlett/files/co-visioning.pdf The other thing that I noticed is the complete lack of literary references to the area by any of our major writers. For example, Bram Stoker, in whose time these docks would have been in their heyday, makes no reference to them whatsoever in his novel 'Dracula'; which is set in part at nearby Purfleet: although Poplar, Mile End and Bethnal Green all get a mention.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Great comment as ever Rupert. Interesting about the lack of literary references, I wonder if it was because it was 'new' and 'modern' without the heritage of Limehouse, Wapping, Bermondsey

[@rupertferguson9673]

It's probably because the 'Chattering Classes' never ventured down there. It was a pretty nondescript patch of marshland before it was developed.

[@thfccfht]

good video John, struggled to hear sometimes cos of the soundtrack too loud

[@JohnRogersWalks]

thanks for the feedback - getting the right mix can be difficult sometimes

[@stevenspraggs4953]

that whole area has changed sice i was a kid i am 54 now i remember all the old warehouses etc it was a grand area i just do not like this modern look i remember looking out of my old school window central park east ham and seeing all the cranes in the distance it was a fantastic site i could write so much more indeed they was happy day's more importantly this great football club has it's roots there spartacus-educational.com/WHhistory2.jpg i just can not find the words anymore to say what a brilliant job this man does on this i have run out of worrd now thank you john this is a must warch blog i have told loads of my mates to look at this such compulsive viewing really hope another docks one can be done woulkd love to meet john one day all the very best guvnor and thanks again

[@JohnRogersWalks]

thanks so much for that comment Steven - and posting the link to the West Ham story, can't believe I forgot to mention it. You're bound to bump into me wandering around at some point, I've met a lot of people who watch the videos when I'm out and about. Thanks for the support

[@samoinborut1339]

Is this still London?!

[@dambrooks7578]

Of course I wonder if these current Covid times have actually chamged the opinion for the need for physical office space... Those odd shaped buildings at UEL campus are designed to reflect (as apparently all new builds are required to do) some of the original gas works buildings they replaced. They are the students halls of residence and internationally are triangular in shape, have their own shower, toilet, desk, bed as well as phone, internet and wi-fi connection.

[@Ian-gw2vx]

Wow it has changed! I was here just over 30 years ago when Jean Michel Jarre used it for his Destination Docklands concert with his lasers, fireworks and giant projections on the old warehouses. Spillers seems to the only one left now.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

yes massive change Ian - there's another video on the channel that was a continuation of this walk around Gallions Point which is currently undergoing huge redevelopment

[@Ian-gw2vx]

So interesting to see after all those years although my visit was fleeting in gale force freezing rain. As you may be aware, Newham council decided to pull the concert days before it was to go ahead on grounds of safety. Jarre was rushing around looking for another venue but they managed to pull it together at the last minute and were given their blessing to go ahead, but unfortunately the weather had turned by then. . There is an interesting documentary about it if you want to see more of the area as it was then. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bqrQgIeahpWSY7M

[@donreed]

02:20 --- Empty, rusty buildings. Believe it or not --- I could barely myself when I saw it happen --- they can be salvaged/renovated. Hoboken, a city on the NJ side of the Hudson river across from NYC (USA), had much the same upright debris when the manufacturers fled NYC area in the 1960s-70s. They were dilapidated beyond belief, and yet, they were rehab-able (!)

[@davidandrews8963]

The docks homes for English working class ? A huge gust of wind just hit my building as a thousand pigs flew past not a chance it's expensive just to visit used to date a young lady in Wimbledon always left with a minus empty wallet

[@andylovejoy4121]

hi nice walke why didn't you visit the silvertown memorial? Silvertown explosion on 17 January 1917 was caused by german spy at a ammunition factory. looking forward to seeing gallions reach.

[@Christ_Is_King34]

andy lovejoy Mmm Gallions reach... where the smell of sewage never leaves your nostrils! 👍

[@JohnRogersWalks]

Thanks Andy, good point about the Silvertown memorial, didn't cross my mind to be honest

[@papabear90]

To think in a few decades time probably very little will even know or care a Dock ever existed at all. Just like now very little knows or cares field's and marshes existed before that. Imagine in 200+ years time. Maybe this area now will just be a memory as it is replaced by a futuristic something else beyond our comprehension. Time consumes everything eventually ⌛

[@raybarker5131]

I operate the CCTV around the docks I work at King George v dock

[@bridgetroll9]

Sea Level is dropping not rising.

[@johnmorph78]

i used to swim in there as a boy

[@disprogreavette8545]

I was just about to ask if anyone ever swims there.

[@trevorbarre5616]

Essence of inner Detroit?

[@Chasewillis820]

luxury tower flats for oligarchs

[@johnentwhistlesurelysamsun1840]

George V dock.

[@wibblywobblyidiotvision]

the houses on the south side are definitely '90s, I lived there for a couple of years around Y2K. Godawful soulless development, only made tolerable by the existence of the industrial remnants.

[@Zofsm]

To be fair, it used to have some godawful soulless people living in it, thanks mainly to its being marketed at the height of the pre-crash buy-to-let property boom.

[@peterbuckley265]

COMICON, WHAT IS THAT, IT IS NOT PUPLICISED.

[@JohnRogersWalks]

it's another world Peter

[@ThePORTYDAVE]

Ballardian bleak and somehow soulless. Thatcher would be proud!

[@jonathandriver3415]

Seems like it's from another country, not London at all.

[@GG-jw8pt]

Hi John. I think the word is ‘soulless’ . History has been erased, sterilized and the area stripped of character. Such a shame really.

[@keithkench9432]

Why do they always cower down to an architects wet dream, buildings that will never stand the test of time and are faceless.