Canary Wharf, little-big village

People have been working on this patch of London for most of the last millennia, and probably longer. Some of them lived in dwellings not much better than mud huts and never saw a building with more than two storeys. For them, the Thames and its shipping was their living.

Now the waterway is simply an elegant backdrop to a cluster of soaring buildings, dominating the east London skyline and visible for twenty or so miles across the Kentish countryside. 

For the last couple of centuries, these parts had a turbulent history bringing wealth,   commerce, migration, refugees, the Luftwaffe … But what’s it like now? Who goes there (apart from the tourists)?  We set out to find out.

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Donna and Karen, Londoners, early twenties, “Yes, work here, like it, social life’s nice, (Donna)  Karen interrupts to say “it’s a much better atmosphere here in the summer, you can sit outside, you got all seating areas outside the bars, but in the winter its quite limited in what you can do really ‘cos you’re kind of just stuck. Its quite compact.

Q: “What about the architecture, do you find it a bit … oppressive?”

Both: “No I quite like it.

Dave (systems analyst): “No, I don’t mind the place, it certainly doesn’t repel me .. look, I’ve got a meeting …” exits.

Anna, student, from Alicante, Spain, arrived four months ago, lives four stops away on the DLR, says: “It’s fine”. Works as waitress in upmarket Italian espresso bar, finds London generally “aggressive, But people here are nice.”

Alan (professional type): “It’s okay, everything’s here, got a good office, it’s lively, better than the City, anyway. But I wouldn’t want to spend the rest of my life here.”

Evelina (Polish student, catering assistant, very good English): “Well, I do like it, everything’s here the same size. I worked in Oxford Street, I live quite close now. Everything’s close, so that’s really good.You don’t want to go long distances, especially when you finish work.”

Q: “So this is your local village, so to speak? Do you find the architecture a bit overwhelming?”

Evelina: “   I’m from south Poland, from a small town near to Krakow, not from a big city, so that was big change for me as well.     

Q: “Will you be going back, do you think?”

Evelina: “Definitely. I’ve been here for a while, eight years now. It’s my hope that Polish government change everything in my country, get smarter so they get jobs and stuff, I definitely want to go back.”