Much of London’s success in history has revolved around the Thames and the city’s access to water. However, it wasn’t until the 17th century, that Londoners started to seriously use the water access of the East End. In the 1690s, a dock was built at Rotherhithe; this location worked so well that further docks were built close by, including West India Dock and St Katherine Dock. The docks attracted workers from all over making the East End a densely populated area. Although the businesses at the docks helped promote London’s commercial businesses, this was not a wealthy area and it suffered from problems with poverty and crime.
During the Second World War, the docks made the East End a prime target for German bombing raids. There was some rebuilding work after the war and the docks continued to operate. But, by the 1970s, the city’s docks were not big enough to deal with container ships and much of London’s industry moved out to ports with deeper water access.
By the 1980s, all of the East End’s major docks had closed down. This caused locals a lot of problems. Unemployment rocketed and the area once again became known as a problem place in social, economic and crime terms.
In the early 1980s, the government set up the London Docklands Development Corporation to try and pull things together and make something happen. New business rules were established including tax exemptions and capital allowances – this made the land immediately more attractive to businesses and probably kick-started the whole
