Manor Road’s nineties and early noughties housing blocks can be found tucked away behind leafy parks and recreation grounds. Venture towards the high-street – Barking Road – and you will be reminded that this quiet locale is still in London. Modern high-rises and construction sites, sit between impressive red-brick Victorian architecture as if to emphasise the areas transitional character. While the high-street is currently the nucleus in terms of retail and some leisure, there are also two new town centres on either side of the A13 flyover, bringing glossy cafes and shopping centres within walking distance. The east side of this neighbourhood is more rugged – Project Park is an industrial area where storage, manufacturing and distribution businesses are based. Though traditionally the area is largely of a working class background, many professional newcomers are attracted by the proximity to Canary Wharf. A Jubilee line service runs from Canning Town to Canary Wharf in four minutes, while the Star Lane DLR stop is close by meaning the area has a direct link to Bank. Gainsborough and Star Primary Schools are local and have been rated ‘good’ by Ofsted.

The history of this locale has been centred around the shipbuilding works which arrived in the area in the mid-1840s, just after the first settlements arrived on the marshes by the River Thames. The trajectory from then on, has been one underscored by the manufacturing industry, a social movement, football clubs and stadiums. Henry Tate’s factory was a notable employer taking on local workers and those from all around Europe. His sugar refinery was one that looked after its labourers and the Tate Institute was opened in 1887, to provide entertainment. Samuel Silver’s factory was not so socially mindful, however, and in 1889 3,000 of his workers staged a three-month strike at which Karl Marx’s daughter was present. In 1895, a group of workers from the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company gathered as “The Irons” to form a new football club that would, decades later, become West Ham United FC. During the 1910s, the shipbuilding industry took its toll and following the closure of the Ironworks, unemployment would curse the area for the century ahead. But the working men and women of West Ham knew how to entertain themselves: West Ham Stadium stood close to the area from 1928 to 1972, hosting speedway and greyhound racing. Reginald “Reg” Varney, star of the 76-episode series On the Buses, was also born in Canning Town in the south of the locale.

Star Primary School currently stands just north of Star Lane Park. Having been around since 1890, it has seen the locale through many of its developmental phases and seen a number of notable people pass through its doors, including the aforementioned comedian, Reg Varney. It was also a site of national significance in 1969 when Percy Dunlop, aged 83, became a record setter as the country’s oldest working teacher. Dunlop was awarded an MBE for his services to the education system.

Canning Town and its fringe neighbourhoods can be described as in transition from relatively run-down – a legacy of the previous century, to gaining the sort of slick and hip character currently, trickling in from neighbouring Stratford. While some prospective buyers are discouraged by the image that comes with predominantly council built neighbourhoods, property values are rising faster than the average due to excellent current and future public transport links.

Canning Town is currently at the forefront of a major regeneration scheme led by Newham Council. If you walk south for 20 minutes you will also be confronted with the newly opened Custom House Crossrail station from where you can get to Heathrow in just 40 minutes. New infrastructure such as this has led to a total investment of £3.7 billion in the area, which is projected to bring 1,000 new homes. The improved town centre will contain various amenities such as improved schools, leisure centres, workspaces and retail space. At the core of the new town centre, the glistening new Hallsville Quarter is spearheading the transformation to the area, creating a mixed-use pedestrian-only central hub which will be an integral part of the neighbourhood by the time the scheme is completed in 2024.