The Cambridge Heath postcode makes up the north-eastern portion of Bethnal Green. It is centred on Cambridge Heath Overground station, which is at the intersection of Bishops Way and Cambridge Heath Road and sits just two stops from Liverpool Street. Grand tree-lined Victorian terraces are a feature of this area, especially along the main thoroughfares and in the east near the approach to Victoria Park’s Bonner Gate. Alongside modern brick apartments, post-war council flats also dot the area, especially west of Cambridge Heath Road. Nonetheless, Victoria Park looms large despite sitting on the other side of Regents’ Canal at the edge of the postcode sector. Sewardstone Road, which parallels the canal, is divided into two portions – well-maintained Victorian terraces on one side, and post-war council flats on the other, a microcosm of the area surrounding one of London’s largest parks.

Cambridge Heath did not get its name from Cambridge – it was instead most likely called Centbeorht, after a Saxon who gave his name to the heath. From there it was corrupted to Cambridge, although it just as likely might have been Canterbury – both are similarly unconnected to the original name. The area dates back to the Middle Ages, although there was very little here at the time – the main development happened only later at the end of the 1700s, with terraced houses, factories and chapels being built. By the mid-1800s most of the area was fully developed, earlier than many parts of East London.

Bishop Charles James Blomfield envisioned that Bethnal Green should have a church named after each apostle in the Bible – giving St. James-the-Lesser its name when it was built in the 1840s. He was the Bishop of London, educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and was said to be ‘a very pretty scholar’. He spearheaded the effort to develop more churches and schools in the London area, in particular in Bethnal Green, Islington, St. Pancras, Paddington and Westminster.

Cambridge Heath Estate used to be called the Lenin Estate when it was built in the mid-1920s, when the council was controlled by communist-socialists, a reminder of the radical politics which flourished in this once impoverished part of London.

There is a Pagoda in Victoria Park which was originally built as an entrance to the city’s 1842 Chinese exhibit, at a time when China was beginning to open up to the west. However, this is not the pagoda which stands today; though the original was moved to Victoria Park, it gradually fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1956. Today’s version was introduced in 2010 alongside other landscaping and improvements to the park.

Slightly further south, The V&A Museum of Childhood, has been collecting childhood-related items for nearly 150 years and has one of the largest collections in the world. The Victoria and Albert Museum began pursuing this youthful theme when the Head Curator, Arthur Sabin, noticed that it was constantly filled with bored children. He then started a classroom with teachers, and sourced child-related objects, which Queen Mary (wife of King George V) contributed to greatly by donating her own childhood toys. The museum would grow in its collection until 1974, when all childhood related items were consolidated here, in a specialist museum in Cambridge Heath.

One issue which dominates perceptions of the area is that of crime and violence. Certainly, gang violence in the area is often picked up in the media – however, a local resident told us he has never seen that sort of thing in the past, and that he thinks the issue is exaggerated. Furthermore, he says that the area is safe and the community there is friendly. Overall, it seems that while the news may like to portray the area as dangerous, residents here feel like the issue is overblown and are overall a closer community than many other parts of London.

Delivering affordable housing in Bethnal Green is one of Tower Hamlets Council’s key priorities. The council has recently agreed to Section 106, which promises to drive up the quality of affordable homes in one of London’s fastest growing boroughs. Broadway East is an example of one of these developments, occupying the abandoned Marian Place Gasholders near Regents’ Canal. The development comprises 555 homes, including 35% affordable housing, and 1.75 acres of public open space which will retain the iconic frames of both gasholders no.2 and no.5.