The East London neighbourhood now full of abandoned buildings

If you walk through North Woolwich, it won’t take you long before you spot a few buildings looking rather worse for wear. Originally an area of heavy industry, once the Silvertown Docks nearby saw trade wind down, North Woolwich became a reluctant residential area. Its police station slap bang in the middle of the neighbourhood closed its front desk in 2013, and around the corner the National Rail[1] station saw its last passenger train in 2006.

Yet North Woolwich[2] isn’t a community down and out, with redevelopment sites progressively springing up along its prime waterfront location, offering impressive views for future riverside apartments. While its location certainly has its benefits for estate agents, it has been a challenge for transport planners. The abandoned station now sits adjacent to a tunnel portal which takes London’s newest railway, the Elizabeth line, under the Thames to Abbey Wood.

Despite numerous attempts from London City Airport to get an Elizabeth line station reinstated in the area, which would support North Woolwich, the GBP19 billion Crossrail[3] project did not include one. North Woolwich Police Station lasted over 110 years but the area is now policed from Barking, with the building remaining vacant (Image: Callum Marius)

It means the neighbourhood’s 5000 residents have to rely on the DLR and two TfL bus routes (473 and 474) instead. Demand for public transport is strong, and growing, as 49 per cent of households there don’t have access to their own vehicles, and future developments have been planned without provision for car parking to encourage residents to travel sustainably.

To complicate matters further, congestion on the area’s roads is problematic. Isolated from its namesake by the Thames, North Woolwich is mostly thought of as the holding area for the Woolwich Ferry[5]. This means vehicles often queue through its streets, especially in the past two years where industrial action has plagued the service[6].

The public toilet building is now prone to vandalism and anti-social behaviour (Image: Callum Marius)

There is some good news for transport provision in the area though.

TfL plans to use longer, new DLR trains[7] on more frequent services through King George V (the effective replacement station for North Woolwich since December 2005), and as a result of various new housing proposals, there should be improvements to walking and cycling provision. In the meantime, the impressive Grade II-listed abandoned station sits like a rusty jewel in a crown of abandoned buildings. Across the road, smashed windows mark the former public toilets building and the former police station is only identifiable thanks to the word ‘POLICE’ engraved on its archway.

Streets are lined with hoardings where industrial units once stood, and every few blocks buildings are left neglected, waiting to come back to life.

Trains ran from the abandoned station here to Richmond via Stratford and Willesden Junction via the current DLR and Overground routes. This was originally part of the station concourse. (Image: Callum Marius)

Want more from MyLondon? Sign up to our daily newsletters for all the latest and greatest from across London here.[8]

References

1. ^ National Rail (www.mylondon.news)
2. ^ Woolwich (www.mylondon.news)
3. ^ Crossrail (www.mylondon.news)
4. ^ London Underground: Tube strikes could continue until Christmas over TfL pension changes (www.mylondon.news)
5. ^ Woolwich Ferry (www.mylondon.news)
6. ^ industrial action has plagued the service (www.mylondon.news)
7. ^ longer, new DLR trains (www.mylondon.news)
8. ^ here. (www.mylondon.news)