A Home Fit To Live In
Housing in Canning Town in the 1950s, 60s and 70s
Open Doors
People have been making their home in Canning Town since the 1840s, when the area grew rapidly due to the neighbouring docklands and newly opened factories. During the Second World War, nearly 85% of these houses were destroyed in the Blitz. The 1950s began a time of rebuilding in Canning Town. In 1951, only 50% of households in England had an indoor toilet. The government issued a slum clearance programme in 1954. Social housing peaked during the 1950s, with many new homes being built in Canning Town including the Keir Hardie Estate built in 1948.
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"All of the front doors were always open (...) anyone could walk in (...) total friendship for everybody.” - John
After the War
"Being born in 1946 and then being a toddler in the 50s I realised that a war had been on."
- Pat
"The docks areas were heavily bombed during the blitz (...) I remember growing up, playing on debris (...) we didn’t realise at the time what they were but they were all of the houses that used to be there and were no longer there."
- John
"Bonfire night would come around and we’d be on the debris, building these great big stacks of wood with a Guy on top, and all the parents and everybody would come around and set fire to it (...) we’d have our celebrations there, as well as in the backyard."
- Roger
Paintings by Canning Town-born artist, Terence Claydon.
Daily Life
"Our windows used to be covered in ice – it was that cold. And you could only light the fire at 4 o’clock in the afternoon because we didn’t have enough coal."
- Johnny
"Doesn’t matter when you wanna go a toilet, middle of the night, the toilet was outside, y’know … you’d have to go. (...) Us being upstairs, we had to come all the way down, go out into the back yard. (...) It was one of those toilets that were with a high flush, so there was a chain."
- Roger
"The scullery was a little old sink, a little gas water heater and one of them meat safes - no one had fridges in them days. (...) Meat safes were like a tall narrow cupboard with a dropdown door that you worked on and you kept meat in there. I think some of them did have a marble shelf which kept it a bit cooler, you know, kept your spam from going off."
- Terry C
Pat's family ran a greengrocers in Canning Town, set up originally by her grandparents. They owned several shops and ran a stall at Rathbone Street Market, selling their fruit and veg.