London/East

Many outer areas of East London were once part of the county of Essex. Essex is sometimes used as part of the postal address for these areas.
East London consists of the following boroughs:

• Barking and Dagenham — the borough includes:

• Barking
• Dagenham

Havering — the borough includes:

• Hornchurch
• Romford
• Upminster

Newham — the borough includes:

• Stratford - Location of the London 2012 Olympic Games. (Don't confuse this Stratford with Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, the birthplace of Shakespeare.)
• East Ham
• West Ham

Redbridge — the borough includes:

• Ilford
• Woodford

Waltham Forest — the borough includes:

• Walthamstow - This town was made famous by a teen pop band E-17 (the postcode of the area) who came from here and had a number of hits. Soak up the multicultural atmosphere.
• Chingford
• Leyton
• Leytonstone the birth place of Alfred Hitchcock

By plane

London City AirportLondon's fifth largest airport. A commuter airport close to the City's financial district, and specialising in short-haul business flights to other major European cities. There are also routes to holiday destinations that include Malaga, Ibiza and Mallorca.

The airport is east of the City of London and a short distance east from Canary Wharf. It mainly offers flights to major European cities by full service carriers. British Airways operates one flight a day to New York JFK using an Airbus A318 in an entirely business class configuration.
You may find that this may be your cheapest London airport to fly to, especially if you add £10 or more in transfer costs from outlying airports. It has a convenient link to the Docklands Light Rail (DLR). Minimum check-in time for most airlines is around 30 minutes, with some offering 15-minute check-in deadlines. Queues for security can be long at peak business times. Touchdown to the DLR (including taxi, disembarkation, immigration and baggage reclaim) can be as fast at 5 minutes, although 15 minutes is normal.
To get to the city centre the following options exist:

• By Docklands Light Railway (DLR)The DLR runs to Bank station. Change to the Jubilee line at Canning Town (for Canary Wharf or Stratford).

• By taxi

• By car10 km (6 mi).

• By busTake the 474 bus to Canning Town station and then the 115 or N15 into central London.

By Tube

• Victoria Line (Light Blue) to Walthamstow.
• Central Line (Red) to Woodford or Hainault.
• Hammersmith and City Line (Pink) to Barking.
• District Line (Green) to Upminster.
• Jubilee Line (Silver) to Stratford.

By DLR

• DLR to Canning Town then branches to Beckton, or London City Airport and Woolwich.

By train

• From Liverpool Street to Chingford and Ilford.
• From Fenchurch Street to Southend or Grays.
• From Stansted Airport, Ipswich, Colchester and Norwich to Liverpool Street.

By Overground

• The Overground line (Orange) is useful for getting across the district from Barking to Blackhorse Road.

Walthamstow

• Epping Forest19 km (12 mi) long in East London and Essex.

• Vestry House Museum

  phone: +44 20 8496-4391
  address: Vestry Road, E17 9NH
  Presents the history of Waltham Forest. The building was constructed to be a work house and has since been used as a police station and a private home. Its collection includes the Bremer car, built by engineer Frederick Bremer in 1892 it has a claim to being this first petrol-driven car made in Britain.

• Walthamstow VillageThe ancient nucleus of present-day Walthamstow centred around the 12th-century St. Mary's Church.

• William Morris Gallery

  phone: +44 20 8496-4390
  address: Lloyd Park, Forest Rd, E17 4PP
  Dedicated to William Morris, the Victorian arts & crafts designer and writer. Located in his old Georgian family home, Water House, which is now a Grade II

* listed building.

Ilford

• Redbridge Central Library & Museum

  address: Clements Rd, IG1 1EA
  Interesting structure from an architectural point of view. Unfortunately it is also the locale of choice for the native rude-boys to hang out, alas this is not due to the educational value of the institution.

• Valentines ParkA pleasant green area, Essex County Cricket team used to play on the pitch in the western side of the park.

Barking

• Eastbury Manor House

  phone: +44 20 8227-5216
  address: Eastbury Square, Barking, IG11 9SN

Stratford

• Theatre Royal Stratford East

  phone: +44 20 8534-0310
  address: Gerry Raffles Square, E15 1BN
  Watch a live performance: comedy, music and more.

• Queen Elizabeth Olympic ParkSite of the London 2012 Olympics and the ArcelorMittal Orbit with the world's longest slide.

• You can also watch football at West Ham United, who play in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home ground is London Stadium, capacity 60,000, in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Their women's team plays in the Women's Super League, with home games at Rush Green in Romford.

Walthamstow

• Bicycle along the River Lea or Epping Forest.

Walthamstow

• Selbourne WalkWalthamstow's shopping mall, with the usual selection of shopping mall type shops. It has been mostly closed since a major fire in July 2019.

• Walthamstow High Street marketAll manner of items may be purchased here.

Ilford

• The Exchange Shopping CentreIt was one of the largest American-style malls when it was constructed in the early 1990s. Although now it has an extensive array of shops now it can only really be considered a bog standard shopping centre. The town centre has most high street chain shops.

Goodmayes is a great area for really good cheap Indian/Pakistani food.

• The Pantry CaféTraditional British café. Different menu options are placed on the wall to make ordering easier "I want a 4, I'd like a 9" but the friendly owner will of course accept any variation you want. This café beats the chain hotel breakfasts for price and quality. Stay away if you want haute cuisine.

Walthamstow

There are a number of cafés and restaurants down the high street.

• Kebabish

  address: Hoe St
  Does a nice kebab and also tasty Indian food.

• Thainese

  address: Hoe St
  Halal Singaporean Chinese and Thai, black pepper crabs, chilli lobster, private rooms, prayer rooms

Walthamstow

• The Ferry Boat Inn

  phone: +44 20 8808-4980
  address: Ferry Lane, N17 9NG
  A quaint country-style pub in a lovely river side setting.

• The Goose

  phone: +44 20 8520-4751
  address: 264 Hoe St, E17 3AX
  Updated Victorian gin palace. Popular with commuters.

• Ibis Hotel Stratford

  phone: +44 20 8536-3700
  address: 1A Romford Rd, Stratford E15 4LJ
  104-room hotel with the usual identikit, Ibis set-up.

• Newham Hotel

  phone: +44 20 8534-8400
  address: 349-353 Romford Rd, Forest Gate, E7 8AA
  Budget hotel in the Forest Gate area of Newham

• Viking Hotel

  phone: +44 20 8534-7861
  address: 162 Romford Rd, Stratford, E15 4LD

• Devonshire Hotel

  address: 94 Station Lane, Hornchurch, Essex, RM12 6LX
  Opened in 2011, it is a family-run boutique hotel with free wi-fi and secure parking. Some rooms have been adapted to allow for easier access. Breakfast & homemade snacks available.

• Travelodge London Stratford

  phone: +44 871 984 6502
  address: High Street, Stratford, E15 2JG
  Usual Travelodge set-up. New hotel, spotless rooms with private facilities. 24-hour bar. Friendly staff prepared to go the extra mile. Price - depends, can be as low as £30 for a double room if you pay well in advance and pay up front ("Saver Rate").

• Sunborn London

  phone: +44 203 714 8111
  address: Royal Victoria Dock, London, E16 1AA
  Luxurious 4-star yacht hotel. London's only and one of a kind yacht hotel situated at the Royal Victoria Dock in London. This floating hotel boast of their surrounding views of Canary Wharf, ExCeL and O2 Arena and the hospitality. It also has a sea themed tea room named Under The Sea Afternoon Tea.

• Ridgeway Hotel

  phone: +44 20 8529 1964
  address: 115-117 The Ridgeway,North Chingford, London E4 6QU

• Hackney
• East End of London
• Hornchurch (including Rainham and Upminster)
• Epping