The Roman Road market in 1968

Blogs-And-Stories

Crime & Legislation
Crime & Legislation

The Kray Twins: Notorious east London gangsters

Dangerous and famous in the Swinging Sixties

From our experts
From our experts

Grime music: From the corner to the mainstream

Grime is a Black-British music genre that gives the youth a sense of belonging and a global audience

From our experts
From our experts

The Backstreet: London’s iconic men-only leather bar

For 37 years, The Backstreet was an iconic part of London’s leather and gay bar scene

Rights & Activism
Rights & Activism

Sylvia Pankhurst: Suffragette, artist, activist

This famous votes-for-women campaigner set herself apart as an artist and social activist

From our experts
From our experts

Mapping the legacy of slavery in London’s Docklands

Traces of the transatlantic slave trade continue to exist in the Docklands landscape

From our experts
From our experts

Slavery legacies: Removing controversial statues in London

The removal of Robert Milligan’s statue in 2020 was part of a wider movement around the legacy of slavery

From our experts
From our experts

East London and the popularity of gospel choirs

How have gospel choirs from east London contributed to the UK’s musical soundscape?

Art & Design
Art & Design

Graham Sutherland’s eerie Blitz drawings

This south London-born artist recorded the carnage of the Second World War

Crime & Legislation
Crime & Legislation

Jack the Ripper

How the tragic murders of five women birthed an infamous East End crime story

Collections
Collections

British-Bangladeshis & the East End rag trade: A personal story

How Asma Begum’s parents travelled from Bangladesh in the 1960s to build a life in London’s East End

From our experts
From our experts

In search of East End food on Roman Road

Where pie and mash meets biryani and dal puri

From our experts
From our experts

Why fashion manufacturing moved away from London

From the 1940s onwards, here’s why many London-based fashion makers struggled to retain their base in the capital

From our experts
From our experts

Bartering at Billingsgate Fish Market

Art for memories: Ahead of their move to Dagenham, the fishmongers of Billingsgate Market have many stories to tell

Games
Games

Quiz: How well do you know London’s docks?

How much do you know about Docklands history? Play our quiz to find out!

From our experts
From our experts

Steeped in history: Tea drinking in Britain

The history of tea in Britain is deeply entwined with colonial histories of sugar and the East India Co.

From our experts
From our experts

My East End stories: Boxing belts to empire maps

Three Londoners share personal stories linked to East End artefacts

From our experts
From our experts

Untold stories: London docks' hidden multicultural past

Here’s how we’re missing a crucial piece of the life in London’s docklands

Collections
Collections

The 1889 London dockers’ and tailors’ strikes

When workers from two key local industries – tailoring and the docks – fought for better pay and working conditions